After the BN government fell in Selangor in 2008, I wrote a series of articles that exposed the excesses of the previous menteri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo and his wife Zaharah Kechik.
Among others were sojourns to Hawaii and Disneyland in Orlando, Florida where their entourage spent RM648,841 belonging to the state investment arm Perbadanan Nasional Selangor Berhad (PNSB).
About RM110,000 was spent on Khir’s lodging alone, while RM171,000 was spent on six single supplementary rooms, with some housing Khir’s children.
Zaharah and her entourage also visited Cambodia to “see how poor people lived” courtesy of Balkis (the Selangor Assemblypersons and MPs Welfare and Charity Organisation).
Two weeks later, police officers Wan Zainal Wan Mat and Albany Hamzah from Bukit Aman turned up at the office claiming they needed to record my statement about police investigations into the funds transfer from Balkis.
The following day, I penned these words: “Among others, they wanted to know if ‘I was instructed to write’ and if I had read the constitution of Balkis. If they had read all the reports on Balkis, they would have known that I quoted its constitution extensively.
“But no, they just cast the line hoping for a bite. The next question: Adakah kamu ada menyimpan perlembagaan Balkis? (Are you keeping a copy of the constitution?) Did they expect a ‘yes’ from me? Even if I had it, does that make it an offence unless, of course, they thought they were putting the fright into me?”
By this time, they had no more cards to play. They threw in the sai lang (Cantonese for wagering one’s entire stake) card : “Di manakah kamu dapat dokumen–dokumen berkenaan?” (Where did you get the documents from?) Was this an investigation into Balkis or a probe to trace the source of my documents?
Nothing came of it eventually but why this long story on an incident that happened 16 years ago?
‘Inaccurate information’
I see the same pattern emerging in the case of former Selangor menteri besar Azmin Ali who the police have summoned to give his statement on some remarks he made at the recent state assembly sitting.
Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan clarified that the investigation was initiated following a police report filed on March 14 by an officer from the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS), who alleged that the corporation’s confidential documents had been leaked.
“The officer claimed that some inaccurate information was disclosed to the public, which could potentially tarnish the image and reputation of PKNS,” Bernama quoted him as saying.
Now, was the cat let out of the bag?
Surely, if it was “inaccurate information”, it could not have come from confidential information. Are we to conclude that the documents contained “inaccurate information”?
If indeed the information was such, shouldn’t PKNS have clarified the issue by stating the accurate version and put the matter to rest?
If indeed something untruthful had been said, shouldn’t it be referred to the Parliamentary Rights and Privileges Committee to take appropriate action as we have seen in the recent past?
(By the way, only two parliamentarians - Fan Yew Teng and Mark Koding - were convicted for allegedly making seditious statements in Parliament.)
Surely, making false statements or allegations (unless they are of a criminal nature) does not come under the ambit of the police.
If so, then the police will have their hands full investigating the shouts of pencuri (thief), pembohong (liar) and penipu (cheat) which have reverberated in the halls of the august house.
Police ‘shifting goalpost’
There has been yet another twist to this episode. Azmin’s lawyer Sasha Lyna Abdul Latif has accused the police of “shifting the goalpost” over their investigations.
She said she had been informed during the numerous discussion sessions with the case’s investigating officer that Azmin was summoned over his remark in the Selangor legislative assembly.
“I can confirm that it is misinformation by the Selangor police chief (Hussein Omar Khan), in an attempt to avoid mounting criticisms for breaching state assembly privileges.
“The investigating officer had communicated with Azmin’s officer and me prior to the issuance of the notice under Section 111 (of the Criminal Procedure Code) that stated the date and time of the reported incident as being 3.30pm on Feb 28, 2024, at the Selangor state legislative assembly,” she said.
So, have the police put Azmin in the same predicament as I was many years ago just wanting to trace the source of the information?
Or will they start investigations on Sasha for claiming Hussein of misinformation? - Mkini
R NADESWARAN is a veteran journalist who writes on bread-and-butter issues. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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