Lines blurred: PMX’s anti-graft crusade doubters widen to encompass ex-Madani backers

 

UNLIKE three years ago when he was cherished as the supreme leader who would detox Malaysia from the evils of corruption, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is very likely to get trolled these days every time he harps on his Madani government’s desire to combat corruption till its roots.

This was evidently so as PMX who is also the Finance Minister vowed not to protect anyone, including his own staff who are linked to corrupt practices.

“If there is a case involving civil servants and, coincidentally, they are our personnel, then it should be reported,” he passionately outlined in his keynote address at the launch of International Anti-Corruption Day in Putrajaya on Friday (Dec 5).

“So imagine if they are from my own office – I’ll not protect them. I’ll inform (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner Tan Sri) Azam Baki and will not shield anyone. They are not exempt from the law.”

Alas, detractors have wised up to calls from within the Madani government machinery itself – chiefly from former economy minister and ex-PKR No. 2 Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli – who has expressed unsurmountable doubt on the desire of the Madani administration to fight corruption.

In fact, the Pandan MP has attributed Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) trouncing in the recent 17th Sabah state election to voters’ disappointment with the outcome of reforms, especially in cleansing the country of corruption.

This aside, Rafizi has also cynically challenged PMX and his former senior political secretary Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin to sue Datuk Albert Tei, the businessman in the centre of Sabah’s mining license scandal, in civil court to prove their innocence over his allegation of their involvement.

Backed by Rafizi’s deemed insider’s knowledge of the Madani government, PMX’s detractors are now made of not only those with opposition-slant stance but even disgruntled PKR grassroots members (the Hiruk faction) who are furious with the ousting of Rafizi from the core PKR leadership.

Therefore, whatever comes out of PMX’s mouth on battling corruption will be brushed aside as simply charade or empty rhetoric to impress the ignorant.

Such is the reaction gauged from the Facebook Reel of PMX and MACC on PMX gracing the International Anti-Corruption Day event which together have amassed more than 4K comments, over 12.8K likes (with majority laughing emoji) and over 350 shares at the time of writing.

Many went on to question MACC’s integrity for having exempted PMX and the graft buster’s head honcho Tan Sri Azam Baki from its investigation even though their names were implicated in a series of viral videos shot by Tei.

“MACC needs to be transparent and trustworthy. The truth must be upheld,” justified one commenter.

“The receiver and giver of bribes must be punished even if they are PMs lest the punishment shall be meted out in the hereafter.”

One commenter even reminded Malaysians of the Circassian proverb, “When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king; the palace becomes a circus”.

Last but not least, few commenters re-capped how Deputy PM Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi can be conveniently granted a DNAA (discharge not amounting to acquittal) despite having 47 corruption charges at prima facie level. 

- focus malaysia