Remove the A-G and Reform

by Din Merican

GE 13 is just around the corner. Everyone can feel it. If not, why  would PM Najib Tun Razak go around the country making apologies for the past sins of Barisan Nasional. Why would he scrap the Public Service New Remuneration Scheme (SBPA) which had caused much anger to most civil servants except those who would benefit from it like the mediocre Ketua Setiausaha Negara (KSN-Chief Secretary) Tan Sri Sidek Hassan who mooted that stupid scheme.

It is worrisome that the “UMNO Culture” to reap personal benefits has permeated into the once respected Malaysian Civil Service in such brazen manner that top civil servants would dare to create compensation schemes to benefit themselves instead of the lowly paid civil servants who they are supposed to care for.

Fortunately, Prime Minister Najib has now seen the light and scrapped the SBPA. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister did so only after this issue had been strongly highlighted for months by the Opposition. Sidek Hassan’s contract of service should be immediately terminated for making the government look so bad in this flip-flop policy. He must be held fully accountable for this gaffe.

GE 13 is also the reason why Shahrizat Jalil had to finally step down as Minister. But it is laughable that Wanita UMNO should hail that as her noble act of being a “sacrificial cow’’ over the NFC scandal. It is ridiculous that the rest of the UMNO top leadership should try to make her resignation look like a heroic act to the extent that yesterday TV3 carried interviews showing support for her.

Let’s get our facts right. Shahrizat’s ministerial post depended on her term as a Senator. She was made a senator because she had lost in GE12 in 2008. So, the then PM, Abdullah Badawi, smuggled her into the Senate (Dewan Negara) in order to make her qualify to be a minister. That explained her smugness in shrugging off the NFC scandal as nothing to do with her despite the fact that the shareholders and directors are her children and husband. She must have felt that she owed her office not to the electorate but solely to the Prime Minister. That is what happens when you cheat in elections and appoint losers as cabinet ministers when they feel they are not  accountable to the electorate.

The truth is now revealed. Shahrizat’s “resignation” on Sunday (March 11) is to avoid the embarrassment ofher from being seen walking hand in hand along the court corridors with her husband, the NFC Executive Chairman Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Salleh Ismail (right), who was charged in court yesterday for Criminal Breach of Trust (CBT) and other offences.

It would be embarrassing for her, as a sitting minister, and for UMNO which had defended her and the NFC Board. They had previously  blasted the Director CCID Dato Wira Syed Ismail Syed Azizan for going public to say that the Police had already recommended that the NFC Directors be charged but the decision to prosecute is the prerogative of A-G Gani Patail.

“UMNO Culture” of Arrogance

That “UMNO Culture” of arrogance can be seen repeatedly in the examples of Dr. Awang Adek (left) and Azalina Othman who shamelessly admitted that they had received money, not less than RM300,000-  in their  private accounts, but made it look as if it was for a noble cause.

It is repulsive that the MACC can accept such explanations without doing anything, whereas Teoh Beng Hock and Ahmad Sarbaini were detained, subjected to intense interrogation and subsequently died in the hands of the MACC over mere allegations of petty change. In the case of Ahmad Sarbaini and others, their assets were frozen pending investigations. Are the assets of Shahrizat’s family, Awang Adek’s and Azalina’s frozen pending investigations? What is apparent to the public is that when UMNO strongmen and strong women openly admit receiving bribes and justify their acts of gratification, the MACC seems powerless to act.

 Gratification Culture ala UMNO

The “UMNO Culture” of gratification can be seen in the Kidex RM2.2 billion project awarded to Emrail Sdn Bhd and Zabima Engineering Sdn Bhd, two companies owned by UMNO lawyer Hafarizam Harun(right) and UMNO former Chief Justice Zaki Azmi, as a reward for their efforts to oust the Pakatan Rakyat state government in Perak.

GE 13 is very near when you see Tun Ling Liong Sik’s defence being called in the trial over the PKFZ scandal. That is a lesson they learned from the Altantuya’s murder by C4 case when they released Razak Baginda without calling for his defence whereas it was Razak who hired the Police UTK boys to help him out of that problem.

In the end, Razak is a free man enjoying himself in London from the Scorpene submarine multi-million ringgit commission while the UTK boys are in prison on death row.  Sadly, that is the Malaysian story where the big and powerful go scot free and the small people become scapegoats and are left to pick the pieces.

The Fate of DSP Baharin, DSP Hong et.al

That was also the fate suffered by DSP Baharin, DSP Hong and those other policemen who were victimised in 2007. For 4 long years they had to suffer being suspended from work and ostracised by the Police Force that they had loyally served. Thus, I was very happy when Dato Ramli Yusuff paid tribute to these fearless rank and file officers during his 60th Birthday on  February 29, 2012.

Many friends asked me why I was not there at that birthday celebration. I told them that I do not mix socially with Dato Ramli even though I may have made him the cause celebre’ of my writings. I have been writing about Dato Ramli and his lawyer Rosli Dahlan, not because they are my friends but because they have become a just cause for us to fight for.

A Witness to MACC’s manipulation of facts

I did not know them when I first started writing about their cases. I came to know them when I attended the many court sessions and saw how the MACC manipulated facts and the MACC DPPs like Kevin Morais, Zulqarnain and even its Director of Prosecution Razak Musa (infamous for strangulating himself in the Teoh Beng Hock Inquest) aided and abetted such manipulations especially when Kevin the Faggot lied in court while giving evidence under solemn oath to tell the truth, nothing but the whole truth.

So, when Dato Ramli called to invite me to his birthday, I told him that he need not invite me just out of gratitude and that we need not socialise or be seen together just because he feels somewhat indebted to me. What happened to him and Rosli Dahlan could happen to anyone of us. Thus, I have to tell their story so that it will never be repeated. It is to prevent this country from descending into a failed state.

It was brave of Dato ‘ Ramli to finally break his 4 years of silence to expose what happened to him, Rosli Dahlan and the other innocent Policemen. And all these point to the abuses of the people helming PDRM, the MACC and the post of the A-G.

In that sense, I agree with Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK) that there is no point in making new or additional laws, rules and regulations for better governance if the people we appoint to lead such institutions are unworthy of our trust. What we need to wipe off is the “UMNO Culture” which is not exclusive to UMNO or BN. That culture could also develop in the Pakatan Rakyat government and we, the people, whose votes can put the right people into power, must guard against such abuses.

That brings me to the public revelation made by Dato Ramli (posted by Hafiz Yatim of Malayskini reproduced below) of the abuses of power and of the system by the then IGP Musa Hassan, the MACC and AG Gani Patail to fix Dato Ramli and the other  innocent officers. Click: Hafiz Yatim ‘s Article

With Musa Hassan’s retirement, the new leadership of Tan Sri Ismail Omar has managed the crime index to show great improvement; street crimes are reduced; and the Along menace has subsided. There is also a display of independence by the Police when the current Director CCID Dato Wira Syed Ismail Syed Azizan went public about the  Police recommendation to charge the NFC Directors.

Syed Ismail was for many years Dato Ramli’s direct subordinate and had learned well from the misfortune that befell Dato Ramli  by making his recommendation public. In a way, Syed Ismail checkmated A-G Gani Patail from manipulating the NFC case the way he did with the MAS case.

Readers will remember that in March 2007, Dato Ramli had made a confidential recommendation to then Prime Minister (Tun) Abdullah Badawi that MAS Chairman, Tajuddin Ramli, should be charged. Dato Ramli even suggested that if A-G Gani Patail declined to do so, his CCID prosecution officers are legally qualified to prosecute the case.

This confidential report had angered A-G Gani Patail, but it was also a time bomb for UMNO. That was when A-G Gani Patail refused to prepare affidavits for the CCID leading to the release of the underworld figure, Goh Cheng Poh @ Tengku Goh, and instead charged the rank and file Policemen.

A-G Gani and Musa Hassan also conspired with the MACC, headed then by Ahmad Said Hamdan, to fix up Dato Ramli by false investigations and leaked to the Press to make up a story about the “RM 27 Million Cop”. This RM 27 million story immediately fizzled out once Dato Ramli was charged because all these were just fabrications and lies. I have previously written extensively on that and will not repeat the story again.

The point is that if Dato Ramli’s recommendation on the MAS-Tajuddin Ramli scandal had been made public like how Dato Syed Ismail makes public his recommendations on the NFC scandal, there would be little room for A-G Gani Patail to manipulate the case.

In any event, Dato Ramli’s victimisation arising from the MAS scandal was just another of UMNO’s project as is evidenced now by the settlement ordered by de facto Minister Dato Seri Nazri Aziz in his letter dated  August 8, 2011 that all the GLCs should settle their cases with Tajuddin.

Abu Kassim and the MACC

The MACC is now headed by Dato Seri Abu Kassim. Despite all my criticisms of the MACC, I am told that he is a decent man. Malaysians should be prepared to give Abu Kassim a chance to reform the MACC. If he can do what Ismail Omar is now achieving with the PDRM, then there is still some hope left for the MACC because I am told that there is a covert move to oust Abu Kassim. Obviously, some one there is hungry to succeed Abu Kassim. It would be unfortunate if Abu Kassim’s ouster leads to the resurrection of the “Unholy Trinity” where the PDRM and the MACC merely follow orders from A-G Gani Patail.

As for A-G Gani Patail, I am astounded that the Home Minister Dato Seri  Hishammuddin Hussein Onn has demanded for evidence of A-G Gani Patail’s  abuses. There is already so much evidence in the public domain.  In RPK’s most recent postings “ Reality & Fallacy” and  “ Denial Syndrome”,  there is posted a Statutory Declaration (SD) of Musa Hassan’s former ADC and referred to nine other SDs. It is pathetic that Hishamuddin should answer in that evasive way. As the Home Minister, he has at his disposal the extensive resources of the whole Police force, especially the Special Branch.

We, Malaysians, do not need to teach the Home Minister how to do his job or how to obtain intelligence. In any event, let me help the Home Minister by reproducing  below just two links, photographs and documents that had been previously written of the abuses and suspicious dealings of A-G Gani Patail:

a)   A-G Gani Patail’s Haj trip with Shahidan Shafie –A-G Gani’s Haj Trip with Shahidan Shafie Why is AG Gani Patail consorting with Tajuddin Ramli’s proxy? Is that why the A-G Chambers refused to take action against Tajuddin despite the recommendations by CCID? and

 b)  A-G Gani Patail’s involvement in the Ho Hup corporate tussle -Gani Patail and the Ho Hup Connection

Are these not suspicious conduct on the part of A-G Gani Patail that makes him unfit for that august office? Let the Home Minister answer that question.

As for Prime Minister Najib, there is no point to just apologise. The Prime Minister talks about good governance. Now is the time to show real political will. Now is the time to remove A-G Gani Patail and reform!