WHEN MACC USED TO BE A FOUR-LETTER WORD

Too bad Teoh Beng Hock and Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed. May you turn in your graves. The MACC are now the good guys. So you two mother-fookers must be the bad guys.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

MACC used to be a four-letter word. Well, it is a four-letter word but I meant the other four-letter word…no, not Umno…the other one.

MACC or the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is supposed to be the agency that keeps politicians and civil servants honest. Of course, it also has powers to investigate corruption in the private sector and corporate world but its focus has been mainly in the public sector.

When it was first set up and was called the ACA or BPR it was headed by Malaysians whose reputation and service record were beyond question. Then, somehow, the agency began to go downhill and you would hear horror stories of selective prosecution or persecution, action meant to end the careers of rivals of certain politicians, deals being made through middlemen by those under investigation, of course for a fee, and so on.

It soon became apparent that the anti-corruption agency was merely the fox in charge of the chicken run. As the Malays would say: bagai suruh kambing jaga sireh. Invariably, the kambing would eat the sireh it was supposed to guard.

There was outrage when the MACC dropped investigations into certain high-profile cases such as the one against the ex-IGP Musa Hassan who was alleged to have links with the underworld that is involved in prostitution, drug trafficking, loan sharking and gambling.

No doubt it was not entirely MACC’s fault because the decision that there was no case against Musa was made by the ex-AG, Gani Patail. And this was in spite of eight statutory declarations signed by police officers and underworld operators that Musa was definitely not only involved with the underworld but was directing things.

Then we had the murders of Teoh Beng Hock and Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed, both who died while being interrogated by the MACC. These two incidents heightened the outrage against the MACC.

The MACC was alleged to be serving its political masters and was merely a tool to remove certain obstacles standing in the way of whoever it may be. Most Malaysians no longer had confidence and trust in the agency that was supposed to be the watchdog for the public but became a running dog instead.

The lawyer Rosli Dahlan and Commercial Crime Director Ramli Yusuff case was when the MACC really demonstrated what it was.

Ramli Yusuff was at that time investigating abuse of power and corruption in Malaysia’s national airlines, MAS. He then wrote to the then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi regarding the result of the police investigation and recommended that action be taken against those involved.

Ramli was swiftly arrested for alleged corruption and when Rosli acted for him as his solicitor he, too, was arrested and assaulted in the process. The court actually threw those so-called corruption cases out the window and the judge even commented that the witnesses were liars, the ex-IGP being one of them.

Then the MACC grew too big for its shoes. With the unbridled powers it had — save for times when the AG would order certain cases to be dropped — it decided to play the role of kingmaker in Malaysian politics.

When the plot was hatched to bring down Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, the MACC decided to join the gang of conspirators and do what it does best — fabricate charges against those they want to bring down.

But this time they did not find their victim such a pushover. Their victim fought back and with one swoop the MACC hunters have now become the hunted. And they do not like being on the receiving end of the persecution. They suddenly discovered that it is not a nice feeling after all.

So now the MACC is crying victim. They made so many people their victims. They even threw a couple out the window. But when the shoe is on the other foot they cannot take it.

However, they need not worry any longer. The opposition has now rushed to their rescue. Today, the opposition leaders visited the MACC office and pledged support. What the MACC did to Teoh Beng Hock, Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed, Rosli Dahlan, Ramli Yusuff, and so many more, have been forgiven. All those many cases that they dropped when the criminals should instead have been sent to jail are now forgotten.

The MACC is now the icon of virtue and the true fighters of justice and seekers of the truth. This is now MACC 2.0, which Pakatan Rakyat 2.0 and its new Islamic party member, PAS 2.0, fully support.

Too bad Teoh Beng Hock and Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed. May you turn in your graves. The MACC are now the good guys. So you two mother-fookers must be the bad guys.