Mr ISA attacks Sosma

Mahathir is wrong. Khairuddin and Chang were not arrested for their loose tongue against 1MDB.

COMMENT

By Tajuddin Rosli

Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has come together with his out-of-favour Barisan Nasional leaders to voice disgust against the arrest of former Batu Kawan Umno vice chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan and his lawyer Matthias Chang. While Mahathir claims the arrest is due to their being vocal against 1MDB, in reality that is not the reason they were arrested.

If speaking against 1MDB is a reason to detain someone under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma), then Mr Conspiracy Rafizi Ramli, Mr Selective Criticism Tony Pua, Mr Always Right Lim Guan Eng, Umno rebel Anina Saadudin and many others would not be wandering around so freely.

Khairuddin and Chang were arrested and have been charged with attempting to sabotage the country’s banking and financial systems. It is not because of their loose tongue against 1MDB. In desperate attempts to condemn the country’s economy, Khairuddin and Chang had been going on a crusade to numerous countries lodging police reports against 1MDB and the government. They embarked on a journey to tarnish the country with the aim of hitting our economy. This would further undermine the ringgit and the entire nation would suffer the consequences.

Both Khairuddin and Chang have admitted to passing confidential documents to foreign agencies. Isn’t this an act of sabotage? Their arrest was definitely legitimate and warranted because procuring confidential documents by any means itself is a crime, let alone selling them outside.

When Mahathir said that the ringgit would not recover until Prime Minister Najib Razak resigned, he was indirectly telling us that he would continue to mastermind the destruction of the country’s economy by all means till his nemesis leaves and he gets to place his puppet at the helm again. It is an irony that people applaud the man who is actually making them suffer for his personal agenda. The arrest of Khairuddin has thwarted Mahathir’s attempts, and hence the new move with his old guards.

Mahathir attacked Sosma and claimed that his Internal Security Act was less abusive and was never used for political purposes. Mahathir claims responsibility for nothing. He says he is not to be blamed for the sacking of former chief judge Salleh Abbas and that the police were responsible for arrests under ISA when he was in power.

Tajuddin Rosli is an FMT reader