COMMENT | The credibility of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s vow to battle corruption in Malaysia crumbled to dust when deputy public prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar asked for and got a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) for 47 corruption and other charges against Anwar’s deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Not only is this an irretrievable and irreversible setback to Anwar’s nascent but loud plan to crush corruption, it raises questions as to whether multiple charges against former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak may be similarly withdrawn by the prosecution on the same basis of selective prosecution.

Najib, who is in jail following successful prosecution...