Mat Sabu: Set up RCI on Hang Tuah vs Hang Jebat

The government should set up a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to determine who is right between the legendary warriors Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat, the Amanah president Mohamad Sabu said.

Widely known as Mat Sabu, he said this at a forum in Kuala Lumpur last night while riling against corruption and the abuse of government institutions in Malaysia.

“Government institutions are not used to combat crime and corruption, but for political retribution. An RCI is now being used to investigate the foreign exchange (forex) scandal of 20 years ago; an RCI will be used to investigate the Memali Incident… why does this take 30 years?

“That is why I am proposing that an RCI must be set up to determine who is right between Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat,” Mat Sabu said at the forum on a possible partnership from talks between Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia and Pakatan Harapan.

Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat are two out of five companions who lived under the reign of Sultan Mansur Shah of the 15th Century Malacca sultanate.

Legend purports that the duo later turned against each other in a seven-day duel that became a parable of loyalty versus justice, in which Hang Tuah slew his childhood friend upon orders of the sultan.

Meanwhile, the ongoing RCI was set up to investigate Bank Negara’s forex losses in the early 1990s, during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tenure as prime minister and Anwar Ibrahim’s tenure as finance minister. Mahathir is slated to testify at the RCI next Monday.

Opposition: RCI politically motivated

The opposition has claimed that the RCI is politically motivated to discredit the two leaders ahead of the 14th general election, especially since an RCI on more current issues, such as the 1MDB scandal, has yet to be called despite demands to do so.

The government has also said that it is considering an RCI on the 1985 Memali Incident. Mahathir was prime minister at the time of the incident.

Najib had said that the government would gather public feedback first before deciding on the matter.

Meanwhile, Mat Sabu said Pakatan Harapan should cooperate with anyone who wants to join in the effort to topple the BN-led federal government, which he said is corrupt.

This, he said, would make it easier for future governments - including Harapan-led governments - to be defeated in elections should they become corrupt as well.

Also present at the forum was the former de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim, who argued in favour of backing Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia and its chairperson P Waythamoorthy.

“I don’t know how strong Hindraf is now. They say Hindraf is not as strong as before; they are asking, ‘Hey Datuk, why are you going to Hindraf?’. I said I’ll go to anyone who wants to change this government. That’s all.

“Whether Waythamoorthy is a good Indian leader or not, I said I’ll leave it to the Indians to decide, not me. At least he is open about it: He wants to change this government, so we have to support him,” Zaid said. -Mkini