Sarbani deathfall: Another complex delaying game, but Umno not in sight

Amid growing unease that the authorities had launched a new and complex "scam" to delay or even block the truth from surfacing, there is curiositiy as to why UMNO, the largest Malay political party in the country, is silent on the mysterious deathfall of senior Customs officer, Ahmad Sarbani.

The 56-year old assistant director of Selangor Customs was found dead at the MACC premises in Kuala Lumpur two months ago.

According to MACC, he had gone there on his own accord to see the Investigating Officer in charge of his file pertaining to the MACC crackdown of the Customs Department, which had netted 62 officers allegedly involved in a money-laundering racket amounting to more than RM3 billion.

The file was being shuffled from the police to the Attorney-General and vice-versa with no end in sight. Finally, Sarbani's family could not stand it anymore. They reached out for help.

On June 1, PKR leaders led by Nurul Izzah, N Surendran and Tian Chua led a small group to hand over a memorandum of protest to the Inspector General of Police at Bukit Aman, demanding immediate attention and an explanation on why the delay. Especially since, Sarbani's widow had on May 2 already lodged a police report alleging that the MACC Investigating Officer admitted to her that his men were involved in her husband's death.

Startling revelation

As a result of this startling revelation by PKR, which had previously been buried by the mainstream media, there was renewed public anger. Especially since the police and the AG were seen to be busy in a baiting game against Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim in relation to a sex video conspiracy hatched by 3 Umno members calling themselves the Datuk T trio.

Why did the police and the AG have so much time to join in the political 'fun-and-games' but no time to catch the real crooks? A serial acid splasher is still on the loose, Sarbani's widow had already given the police pretty good leads and yet nothing was done! These were the emotions and thoughts that raged high amongst the Malaysian public.

Not surprisingly then, on June 2, the police quickly announced they would forward a suggestion to the AG that a Coroner's Inquest should be held to determine the cause of Sarbani's death.

The sudden new-found enthusiasm of the authorities to work on the Sarbani case sparked a trail of sarcastic comments as well as praise for PKR for making 'the mountain come to Mohamad'.

But even so and above all else, there was dissatisfaction and a feeling of another let-down by the Najib administration.

The PKR leaders, who had handed the memo to the IGP, demanded to know why an inquest? Is this not an even worse form of delaying tactic by the police and the AG? Why are they trying to cover up for the MACC?

As of press time, there is still no word from the AG as to the inquest recommendation. Will the file be passed back again to the police just like the Datuk T sex video case?

Same long and winding road to nowhere

To be fair, this won't be the first time such a complex delaying game has been foisted onto the Malaysian public. In July 2009, Selangor political officer Teoh Beng Hock died from a similarly mysterious deathfall after interrogation by the MACC at the Shah Alam headquarters.

An inquest was begun, even though at that time there were already accusations that the authorities were trying to buy time for the MACC to brush up their story for the courts. Like in the Sarbani case, the MACC claimed it was suicide while the family was adamant there was foul play.

Nevertheless, Prime Minister Najib Razak insisted, promising a Royal Commission of Inquiry if the inquest proved unsatisfactory as Teoh's family had feared it might.

For those who have not been following the local legal scene, the Malaysian judiciary is regarded as being in one of its worst phases of disrepute. Critics say there is hardly any distance between the courts and the political rulers, adding that legal decisions and justice are now decided on the basis of political needs of the ruling BN government, and not public interest.

Then after an 18-month inquest, the Coroner gave the verdict that Teoh's death was neither homicide nor suicide. In a bid to quell the public outrage that followed, Najib agreed to an RCI but insisted on choosing its panel members without consulting the Teoh family or the Bar Council.

This resulted in the Teohs boycotting the RCI, which has since ended and its final report due to be handed over to the King for his approval on June 24.

The drawn out pattern that can be traced from the Teoh case is the basis for the current dissatisfaction over the Sarbani case. Why traverse the same long and winding road that has led to dissatisfactory outcomes, despite the vigilance of the Teoh family.

PKR vice president N Surendran is among those who fear that the Sarbani inquest will yield the same sort of open verdict, followed by a similarly lame and skewed RCI.

"We demand that the outcome and conclusion of the police investigation into the death of Sarbani be revealed to the public. The public and Sarbaini's family is entitled to know why there are no answers yet on why Sarbaini died," said Surendran.

"The police and the Attorney General must explain their reasons for calling for an inquest and why their investigation has abjectly failed to explain this death. We reiterate that there should have been a swift investigation and prosecution of all those involved in or responsible for Sarbaini's death."

Can the Malays rely on UMNO

On a political note, it is interesting and very telling that none of the BN parties especially UMNO, UMNO Youth or Malay rights group Perkasa have demanded swift action for Sarbani, unlike PKR and PAS.

In the case of Teoh Beng Hock, even Najib himself alluded to the fact that Beng Hock was Chinese and his death was being played up by DAP to score political points with the community.

Was the PM being cynical or making excuses for himself and his coalition, which includes MCA and Gerakan?

Now is the chance for Najib, who is also UMNO president, to show what is meant by sincerity if the Pakatan was just trumping up Beng Hock's death for political gain.

As it is, there is mounting unease that as the largest Malay political party in the country, UMNO has ignored the demands for justice from the Sarbani family. When he died, several UMNO ministers made their way to his home and clucked their condolences to his widow and children.

But that has been all they have done.

Interwoven into Sarbani's death is the multi-billion ringgit money-laundering scam that Sarbani and some 60 other Customs officers were being investigated for. According to news reports of the dragnet which took place in late March, before his shocking death, police and MACC had uncovered piles of cash and even gold bars in the homes of several officers.

While the MACC was quick to claim credit for the swoop, Sarbani was probably the highest ranking officer nabbed and his family have insisted he was innocent. Whatever the truth is, for so many billions to be involved, it is inconceivable that the higher echelons of UMNO were not somehow involved.

As the ruling party for the past 5 decades, little goes on especially in the government agencies without their involvement. Most of the top civil servants are also UMNO members with allegiance and ties to various party warlords.

Will this be another case of the ruling elite and the MACC going for the small fish while intentionally leaving the big 'crocs' unscathed?

Seriously, what do the average Malay and Malaysian families have to do to gain the attention of the mighty UMNO? - Malaysia Chronicle