“It’s a question of political will. You keep all the tools you have with you to help keep you in power. And that’s when political will goes out the window.”
– Terence Gomez, political economy professor
The allegations of the plutocrat or criminal class colluding with the MACC for mutual benefit are as real as it gets here in Malaysia.
Mind you, I really would not call this a corporate mafia, but more accurately a disparate “criminal adjacent cabal” allegedly colluding with an institution that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim places much faith in.
We have heard these allegations before when it comes to the police. All you have to do is look at the Copgate affair, where two inspector-generals of police - Musa Hassan and Abdul Hamid Bador - had a battle royale.
Here is a snippet that gives us an inkling of the nexus between the security services and organised crime - “Tengku Goh is reportedly an underworld boss who enjoyed Musa’s backing when Musa was Johor police chief.
“Musa was said to have eliminated all loan sharks, money-laundering syndicates, gaming and drug syndicates and crime lords in Johor, but allowed Tengku Goh to continue operating - until the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department found out about Goh’s activities.”
Of course, none of this could go on without the aid of the political class, which is supposed to be a check and balance when it comes to the state security apparatus.
But politicians are the worst, and it is not me saying this but Hamid.
“The most notorious ones are the politicians. They have no fixed principle. One day they will jump here, and another day, when they see an opportunity, they will turn the other way,” he said in the interview.
“When you politicise race and religion, it can bring down the country,” he added.
Brilliant strategy
So, it really does not look good for the prime minister, who, when in the opposition, concluded that MACC chief Azam Baki was part of the problem but now considers him part of the solution.
A brilliant strategy when you think about it. The MACC allegedly goes after certain corruption cases, which makes Madani seem like a more stable and honest government than the ones before it.
The rakyat loves it, especially when it comes to personalities of former regimes who, for decades, were operating with impunity. When MACC charges them, the rakyat is jubilant.
In 2020, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad twice warned the MACC to stop harassing his comrades or “we have to be very active in exposing all the wrong things that they carry out”.
It says a lot about the dysfunction, which could be classified as criminality, when the person who once led the Pakatan Harapan government can threaten to expose the alleged malfeasance of the MACC if they continue harassing his political operatives and ignore the fact that he supposedly has “evidence” of wrongdoing, which should have been reported to the “relevant” authorities.
Who is Azam working for?
Which brings us to an important question. Anwar said that Azam is a hardworking MACC head honcho, but what these allegations raise is, who exactly is he working for?
And this is the problem, with the prime minister robustly defending Azam despite the pressure from members of his coalition.
Now, while Madani may attempt to restrict the voices of the domestic press, it will have a far harder time attempting to silence the international press.
But then again, the political class is worried enough about these allegations that some are speaking up, and Madani's response to this is to set up a task force which doesn't even pass muster with operatives from Harapan.
Can the rakyat trust the investigations and findings of this task force set up to investigate Azam?
Of course not, which is why a handful of Madani operatives are demanding a royal commission of inquiry made up of credible individuals because anything less would be another sandiwara (theatre).
Government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil could not even utter what these allegations are, and the prime minister could not even place Azam on leave, which tells us how seriously the government is taking these allegations.
The more damaging of these allegations are of course, that Azam allegedly was working in concert with other MACC operatives with a criminal adjacent cabal.
Nobody in the cabinet has even mentioned this, which should make rational Malaysians wonder exactly how much of this was sub rosa (actions done in secrecy, confidence, or, informally, to avoid notice) and how much of this was business as usual, ignored or condoned by Madani.
Not only does the Bloomberg article zero in on specific personalities and incidents that are easily verifiable by any sort of transparent investigation, but it also relies heavily on insider anonymous sources.
This means that at this point, there are individuals within the MACC who, for whatever reasons, are leaking things to the international press.
When the ship starts leaking, it means that the rats will abandon the ship, and this means more leaks, which no doubt Madani will attempt to plug in the most heavy-handed manner.
Rafizi the disruptor
Rafizi Ramli continues to disrupt the narrative that all is kosher in Madani.
The fact that the former minister can make statements such as this - “I want to tell Anwar and Azam - I am a veteran when it comes to being arrested, raided, or put in lockup, I’m ready to go through it all again if he dares to try,” points to the weaponised nature of the MACC.
Here is a former minister and comrade-in-arms, telling the rakyat that Madani is possibly targeting him for speaking up against the prime minister and his graft buster.
It is as if Rafizi welcomes persecution by the MACC because it will be the final nail in the coffin for Madani.
The political apparatus in this country does not want any government agency to be accountable to Parliament. It does not want any public oversight of any government agency.
As long as these agencies are not answerable to elected representatives with powers to sanction aberrant behaviour, the outrage will continue without a solution.
Rabble rousers endeavour to make the public sceptical of government agencies to amass power, and when in power, force the public to place their faith in compromised agencies to remain in power.
MACC operatives who were responsible for the death of Teoh Beng Hock have not been brought to justice. Compared to that, colluding with a criminal adjacent cabal is child's play. - Mkini
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.