Malaysia back to the days of Al Capone due to govt inaction from Dr M's time - Jui Meng

News that police have formed a special task force to investigate the attempted murder of MyWatch chief R Sri Sanjeevan has been met with cynicism.

Doubt surrounds the ability of the police to carry out an independent investigation while a question mark hangs over the political will of Prime Minister Najib Razak and his government to get to the bottom of corruption in the police force and its long alleged links to the underworld.

"We have to face it. Malaysia is in a state of lawlessness. The latest shooting reminds me of the Al Capone movies where the line between the cops and the mobsters was invisible and you had open gunfights and killings on the streets," PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.

"In the early 2000s, Ong Tee Keat who was then the MCA Youth chief sent a dossier he compiled of the links between the syndicates and certain government leaders to Dr Mahathir (Mohamad, the former prime minister).

"But nothing was done, Mahathir didn't want to do anything. Is it any surprise that we have now regressed. My wife just came back from Bangkok and while we like to think that it is is a 'sin city', it is actually much safer than here."

Sanjeevan due to expose certain cops this week

The special task force to probe the Sanjeevan case is to be headed by Bukit Aman CID director Hadi Ho Abdullah.

Sanjeevan was shot at close range at 4.30pm on Saturday at Taman Cempaka, Bahau. Unknown gunmen on a motorbike had made an attempt on his life. He is now in a critical but stable condition in the Tuanku Jaafar hospital in Seremban.

News of the shooting has shocked the nation, especially as more information emerges that Sanjeevan was about to expose the names of certain cops who were linked to drug kingpins.

"I met Sanjeevan on Friday night. He talked about a list of drug related offences and wanted me to expose them. I said I will look at it later," MP for Pasndan Rafizi Ramli said on his Twitter.

"Sanjeevan wanted my help to expose cops with links to drug syndicates."

Why didn't police act on Sanjeevan's reports, why allow him to be a sitting duck

Meanwhile, police have admitted that the shooting could be an act or revenge by the underworld. According to Seremban police chief Osman Salleh, the 29-year-old Sanjeevan had previously alerted the police on illegal gambling activities in the state, especially in Jelebu and Jempol.

As a result, Sanjeevan had received death threats and duly reported these to the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman, said Osman, adding that they were also looking into several other possible motives.

Gobind Singh Deo, the MP for Puchong, has warned the police to take extra care of Sanjeevan's safety. He also demands an explanation as to why the police had not reacted faster given that Sanjeevan had already lodged complaints with them.

"We must be sure that those assigned to this case are in no way connected to the complaints made by Sanjeevan in the past. More importantly, the IGP should tell us what happened to the reports lodged by Sanjeevan prior to his shooting. Were there investigations and if so, what came out of it?" Gobind said in a statement.

"It is even more disheartening to read that Sanjeevan had complained hours before he was gunned down that he received news that 'a cop had told some syndicate fellow that he would get them firearms' and planned shots to be fired at his house to scare him and his family. The question is having been informed about the attempt on his life or harm upon him and his family and knowing that there were previous attempts on his life, did the police take any steps to protect him before he was shot?"

Malaysia Chronicle