Candidates screened by MACC? NO WAY!

I look with the disgust the proposal that candidates from all political parties should be screened through by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) before the 13th General Election.

On the surface such a proposal looks good, until one starts to peel the skin and see how rotten the idea is at the core.

First, the MACC is under the prime minister himself. For this same reason, despite evidence that came out of the French judiciary that Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak could be involved in a high-profile corruption case in the Scorpene deal, no investigation has been carried out by the MACC.

This is despite its chief promising that all cases would be investigated without fear or favour; not even his predecessor is known to be neutral politically when his big mouth boasted that the MACC has enough evidence to charge Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (MB of Selangor) when such a decision to prosecute should only be made the Attorney General’s Chamber.

MACC itself is corrupt

Secondly, one finds it hard to forget that two men have died at the MACC office, within just a span of a few months. Despite the findings by the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Teoh Beng Hock’s death, what has MACC done to the two officials who were blamed for possibly causing Teoh’s death? The MACC is supposed to be an organisation with the highest integrity, but it has not proven itself yet – at least to me, as a rakyat and an observer.

Thirdly, with the Sabah Chief Minister, Musa Hassan’s case of RM40 million, one wonders why the MACC has not kickstarted any investigation into the origins of the money, especially when the money is from an overseas source, and the ICAC has said it will open the file again. One cannot deny the fact that, if NGOs can receive funding from foreign sources, Umno could even be receiving funds from perhaps Israeli sources, since the origin of the money as large as RM40 million is still unanswered.

Perhaps, it could be from another of George Soros’ organisations since we often hear such rationale being used by an Umno-led government to accuse NGOs of being funded by Israelis or George Soros in order to destablise the country. In my opinion, it is possible that, if Soros had wanted to destablise Malaysia, it would use Umno against Umno; therefore, the theory of the money coming from him should be investigated, and at best be proven wrong, so that the real source can be known to all.

Till now, the MACC has not satisfactorily answered the questions raised by rakyat as to the origin of the RM40 million.

Reporting to Parliament instead of PM

Fourthly, in a democratic nation, the MACC should be reporting to the Parliament instead of an individual.

If the MACC does not report to the parliament, why should the selection process of potential candidates for the GE13 be decided by the MACC? It makes no sense at all, especially when the MACC could have put the candidates on its radar from the beginning.

Political parties should have the ultimate discretion in selecting its candidates, unless of course, Umno is willing to put the MACC under the jurisdiction of a parliamentary committee instead of being another agency controlled by the prime minister himself.

Finally, my point is simple: what if MACC finds the candidate having some record of corruption? Is it ethical of the MACC or anyone for the matter, if information is leaked out, to create an issue during the General Election so as to influence the people’s perception?

MACC, in my opinion, should not allow itself to be used by Umno in a smear campaign, and I trust that there are enough people within the MACC to oppose such an attempt should it arise.

MAILBAG