Volunteer to go on leave of absence, Sivakumar

 

The MACC probe into an alleged corruption case in the Human Resources Ministry is much bigger and more serious than I had initially thought.

What started out as a normal investigation into migrant worker approvals and the subsequent arrest of three personal aides of Human Resources Minister V Sivakumar has now turned into something which should make all of us sit up and pay serious attention.

It looks like there was a plan to make some serious, dirty money by greedy people in authority to rip off the poor Bangladeshi workers and the government coffers. This is what happens when intermediaries or agents are involved in the recruitment process.

I have been told that this migrant worker recruitment is what has turned the ministry into a goldmine for unscrupulous characters.

The arrest of two Immigration Department officers who were temporarily placed at the Immigration Attaché’s Office in its consulate in Dhaka last Monday has opened another can of worms.

In connection with the arrest, MACC has frozen more than 20 bank accounts linked to individuals and companies in relation to the case. The frozen accounts and eight parcels of land that were seized so far were worth about RM3.1 million.

To the uninitiated, this is how dirty politicians and dirty civil servants make their dirty millions. Well, those who think they could get away with it making hay while the sun shines had better think again.

We are in the Madani era of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and our man of the hour is dead serious about getting rid of the deeply embedded corrupt practices in the country.

“No more of such nonsense”, the prime minister has declared umpteen times. To me, I am prepared to accept Anwar’s personal and political mistakes, if any, throughout his term.

As long as he succeeds in his anti-graft crusade, I will consider Anwar as having done his job and having served Malaysians with distinction as prime minister.

‘Not a suspect’

Meanwhile, the man at the centre of the migrant worker case is none other than the minister himself, Sivakumar (above).

He has been called in by the MACC for questioning and his office and home had been “visited” by the graft buster. No, no, no, it was not a raid, Sivakumar insisted.

An MACC source claimed that the minister, who arrived at the commission’s headquarters in Putrajaya about 10am on April 17, left more than 10 hours later. Of course, it was just for questioning, Sivakumar was not a “suspect”, so we have been told.

Rings a bell, does it not? Not too long ago, former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin was also called in by the anti-graft agency for questioning. The next day, he insisted that he was not a “suspect”.

A few days later, on March 10, Muyhiddin was arrested and charged in court on four counts of abuse of power and two counts of money laundering involving RM232.5 million.

Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin

I’m not implying that Sivakumar will also be charged but we’ll never know as we are not privy to what the MACC intends to do in the days and weeks ahead.

The opposition has requested the minister to resign; some wanted him to go on leave. However, Anwar does not think that his under-siege minister has to go down that route.

The prime minister’s stance is that Sivakumar need not step aside as the case was still being investigated and no charges had been brought against him.

Any prime minister would have made the same decision in defence of a member of his cabinet.  

But I think this Madani government could move another step forward by insisting that all its ministers implicated in MACC investigations should go on leave of absence until such time when the probe is completed.

Relieving the pressure

Here, I would suggest that Sivakumar volunteers to go on a leave of absence and allow the graft buster agency free rein to visit the ministry and question any staff to help in their probe.

There are such issues as internal department politics and office colleagues will feel uncomfortable in the presence of the minister and his aides who have been implicated in the MACC probe.

If Sivakumar would act like “a straightforward, honest, and no-nonsense person” as his DAP colleagues have said and voluntarily go on leave of absence, that would surely place him as a man of integrity and credibility.

The prime minister must surely be most pleased that one of his ministers has taken another step to prove his innocence. That is also in line with his Madani concept.  

This MACC probe, coming just four months into Anwar’s unity government, has embarrassed the prime minister and his supporters.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim

I will be open with Sivakumar and tell him the truth. The general public is suspicious. They find it difficult to comprehend how he is unaware of what his own private secretary, the minister’s confidante and his “gatekeeper” in the ministry, has allegedly been involved with agents of migrant workers.

The people want to know the truth and I think it is in the minister’s interest as well as the Madani government’s integrity that Sivakumar voluntarily goes on leave of absence.

A leave of absence is a way for employees who are experiencing out-of-the-ordinary circumstances to take time off work. Even the most dedicated employees can experience circumstances outside of work that affect their performance.

Sivakumar is in that situation now and he has to act. He is only human. The MACC probe must have affected him in more ways than one. Do not pretend that it doesn’t. - Mkini

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FRANCIS PAUL SIAH is a veteran Sarawak editor and heads the Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS). He can be reached at sirsiah@gmail.com.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.