‘Govt must investigate Musa Hassan’

Never trust an individual who badmouths his organisation, much less an organisation which he had helmed for four years, says ex-MACC advisory panelist Robert Phang.

PETALING JAYA: The government should initiate investigation against former IGP Musa Hassan  over claims of his alleged triad links, his alleged role in undermining several senior police officers as well as alleged abuses of power during his tenure as the police chief.

Making this call today, former MACC advisory panelist Robert Phang, said only such an investigation, or even perhaps a royal commission, would reveal the truth about Musa.

“Musa has no sense of loyalty to the organisation that has given him his livelihood and his lifetime career.

“As a rule-of-thumb, I will never trust an individual who badmouths his organisation, much less an organisation which he had helmed for four years,” said Phang.

Phang was referring to Musa’s revelations earlier this week that the police force had been infiltrated by criminal elements and that the current IGP Ismail Omar was weak in heading the police force.

He also claimed that there had been political interventions, including from the Home Ministry, even during his time as the IGP. He said the presence of criminal elements was the reason for the rising crime rate in the country.

Coming to the defence of the police force and Ismail, Phang said the crime statistics had increased under Musa’s tenure and the situation had only started to turn around after his retirement in 2010.

“If truth be told, Tan Sri Ismail Omar, the current IGP has now managed the Herculean task to return crime rate to the pre-Musa Hassan time.

“Thus Musa’s attacks against Ismail is clearly unwarranted and below the belt. The current IGP has managed to clean up the mess left by his predecessor, both in terms of crime rate and in terms of restoring the morale of the police force.

“What I see before me is that Musa has failed as a leader when he was the IGP, and currently lacks the humility to comprehend just that,” said Phang.

‘I remember history’
Phang, a member of the National Crime Prevention Foundation, also revealed his knowledge on Musa’s contract extensions as the national police chief.

“I am an old man, and I remember history. Musa says that after he clashed with Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein on his powers as IGP, his contract was terminated. That is a lie.

“The truth is that Musa had his contract extended twice. He was so cunning that he placed people who can pose no threat to him in the succession line of the PDRM.”

He added that Musa had also ensured that those who can succeed him will retire before him, and claimed that Musa had a mercurial rise to become the IGP by “fixing people up”.

“There are still people from the force with enough knowledge about all these. Some had been sidelined, others faced trumped-up charges, and one even had prepared a statutory declaration to reveal the truth,” he said.

Warning to PKR
Phang also expressed bewildrement over PKR’s alleged role in bringing Musa back to the limelight despite all this while claiming that he (Musa) had played a major role in Anwar Ibrahim’s persecution in both the sodomy charges.

“If Musa is backed by PKR, then I must express my utmost disappointment that PKR appears to be a desperate party.

“Let me remind PKR that its very existence came about after Anwar’s black eye incident. Has PKR forgotten that Musa had tried to fabricate medical reports that the injuries were self-inflicted?”

He said that PKR should disassociate itself from Musa because “supporting his cause will mean that the leadership of PKR has no principles”.

He said the party should ask itself why Musa was now attacking the goverment whereas he was once its key perpetrator.

The PKR link is being made as Musa’s press conference was called by a newly formed NGO called Malaysian Crime Watch Group (MyWatch), believed to be backed by the party and helmed by the party’s mid-level leaders. Musa is the patron of MyWatch.