I had said that Daim should not present the budget in Parliament if he was not prepared to first establish his integrity, as the 2,000 Budget would be the first casualty in terms of public confidence and credibility if Daim continued to keep mum on Anwar’s serious allegations which had received wide national and international attention as a result of the former Deputy Prime Minister’s court testimony.
The allegatons involving Daim which Anwar made in open court are:
I should have stood up in Parliament last Friday before he started on his 2000 Budget presentation to demand that he first cleared his name by responding to Anwar’s serious charges of corruption and abuses of power levelled against him, but out of respect for the office of the Finance Minister, I desisted from doing so.
I had thought that in the course of his budget speech, he would have taken the occasion to respond to Anwar’s allegations of corruption and abuses of power levelled against him, but I was wrong.
Instead, Daim abused the occasion of the budget presentation by launching into a wild and baseless political attack on the DAP, accusing the DAP of being no different from that of foreign subversives, and refusing to give way when I stood up for clarification.
Aware of my call to him to establish his integrity and respond to the
serious and specific charges of corruption and abuses of power which Anwar
had made against him, all he did was to devote one paragraph of his
2000 Budget speech to corruption, as follows:
This is an empty, meaningless and inane statement showing the utter lack of commitment of both the first Finance Minister and the Barisan Nasional government to fight corruption in high political and public places, which is most outrageous as only three days earlier, Malaysia attracted adverse international publicity with her poor ranking in the latest 1999 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI), the global anti-corruption coalition.
Malaysia slipped from last year’s 29th placing back to 32nd spot out of 99 countries.
A week earlier, the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) deputy director-general
(operations) Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan had taken pride in the 1998
Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by Transparency International (TI)
which had placed Malaysia 29th among the 85 countries surveyed worldwide.
ACA new mission: Malaysia among the ten least corrupt nations in
the world
I was very shocked that the ACA, an agency responsible for ensuring the highest integrity in public life, could be so complacent as to take pride that Malaysia was placed 29th among 85 countries as the least corrupt country, when Malaysia was placed 23rd in 1995, 26th place in 1996, and 32nd in 1997.
When last Tuesday (26th October 1999), Malaysia’s ranking in TI’s 1999 CPI slipped from 29th placing to 32nd position, there was no sense of failure, shame or responsibility on the part of the ACA.
My call to the ACA to come out with a policy statement as to why Malaysia had slipped further in the latest TI CPI and what new strategy it proposed to adopt to give Malaysia a more respectable ranking on TI’s CPI beginning next year, even suggesting a mission statement by the ACA to place Malaysia among the ten least corrupt nations in the world – and which is to be reflected in future TI CPIs - was completed ignored.
May be, by the time of the 2000 budget presentation, the first Finance Minister thought that the pressure to establish one’s integrity and clear one’s name was no more on him but on Anwar Ibrahim, as a day earlier, the former Bank Negara assistant governor Datuk Abdul Murad Khalid had made public his statutory declaration dated 26th October 1999 that former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had amassed a fortune of RM3 billion while in government through 20 "Master Accounts".
Murad alleged that he was personally involved in the payout of more than RM120 million to Anwar Ibrahim, individuals and organisations between 1992 to 1997:-
(1) to Anwar Ibrahim
- RM50 million
(2) Dato Abdullah Ahmad (UN) - RM 5 Million
(3) Dato Nasaruddin Jalil - RM10 Million
(4) Asia Pacific Policy Centre (APPC) & Douglas H. Paal
- RM 38 million (USD 10 Million)
(5) Institut Kajian Dasar - (IKD) RM5 Million
(6) Aliran & Dr. Chandra Muzaffar - RM5 Million
(7) ABIM
- RM 5 Million
(8) International Institute of Islamic Thoughts (IIIT) - RM 2 Million
(9) A UK-based Islamic Foundation - RM 1 Million
TOTAL - RM
121 Million
What was most incredible was that Murad had not produced a single shred of evidence to subtantiate his very serious allegations. Many of those named like Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, ALIRAN, ABIM, the Malaysia’s special envoy to the United Nations, Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad and Anwar Ibrahim issued instant denials, and Dr. Chandra and ALIRAN announced that they would be instituting defamation proceedings against Murad.
What was also most astonishing was the alacrity with which the ACA swung
into action on Murad’s allegations.
Zaki has done great damage to the reputation of ACA officers on
their independence, integrity and professionalism
Immediately after Murad’s press conference, the ACA announced the setting up of a special team to investigate into Murad’s allegations against Anwar headed by the agency's Investigations Division director Abdul Razak Idris.
The next day, ACA director-general Datuk Ahmad Zaki Hussin said that almost every paragraph of Murad’s seven-page statutory declaration contained some information on corruption or corruption practices.
Zaki said: "We consider Murad’s statement as information on
corrupt practices and they are serious because they are in a sworn statement".
Is Zaki suggesting that based on Murad’s 20-paragraph statutory
declaration, Anwar could be levelled with scores or even hundreds
of charges of corruption?
It is most astounding that the ACA director-general is prepared to accept Murad’s statutory declaration as sufficient prima facie evidence to institute anti-corruption investigations against Anwar, and even to plan to go globe-trotting to investigate Murad’s allegations on the US-based Asia-Pacific Policy Centre.
However, the ACA is not prepared to accord the same or even greater weight to the four police reports lodged by Anwar on corruption and abuses of power in the highest levels of government, naming the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the first Finance Minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin, the Minister for International Trade and Industry, Datuk Paduka Rafidah Aziz, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah and Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Gani Patail and former Malacca Chief Minister Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Cik, even though Anwar had backed up his police reports with documentary evidence.
While I welcome and commend Zaki and ACA for their unwonted speed in responding and investigating allegations of corruption in high political places, their independence, professionalism and integrity come under question when they seem to be playing to the tune of the Barisan Nasional government leadership in its 13-month political vendetta against Anwar.
Malaysians are entitled to know why the ACA should act with such alacrity on Murad’s statutory declaration but not on Anwar’s four police reports, when legal penalties are entailed in both forms of representations should there be any false reporting or false declaration.
Once the ACA acts synchronously with the Barisan Nasional leadership, serving its pre-election agenda to eliminate Anwar Ibrahim as a political threat, then ACA loses all its credibility and is seen only as another Barisan Nasional tool to make the next general election the "dirtiest" in the nation’s history.
Malaysians are entitled to ask why the ACA is making daily statements about investigations into Anwar on the basis of Murad’s statutory declaration, when the ACA had not dared to say anything about investigations into Mahathir, Daim, Rafidah Aziz and Rahim Tamby Cik based on Anwar’s police reports supported with documentary proof?
Why is the ACA showing such public zeal to pursue investigations against Anwar by making daily statements, which is completely lacking when it comes to Mahathir, Daim, Rafidah Aziz and Rahim Tamby Cik?
The ACA is not meant to be a cat’s-paw of the Barisan Nasional leadership in its political vendetta against Anwar, but is mandated and entrusted by the Malaysian people to be a fearless sword to strike against corruption, coming from whatever quarter.
If ACA has prima facie evidence to believe that it has good cause to initiate investigations against Anwar, it will have the DAP’s full support; but it must act without fear or favour and must be prepared to extend the same treatment to all the high-and-mighty in government, especially those named in Anwar’s four police reports.
Zaki has done grave damage to the reputation of ACA officers on their independence, integrity and professionalism by playing to the tune of the Barisan Nasional leadership on the matter of Murad’s statutory declaration.
Yesterday, the police had publicly offered to give whatever assistance needed by the ACA in their probe into Murad’s allegations about Anwar amassing RM3 billion fortune through 20 "Master Accounts".
Anwar’s four police reports on high corruption: What happened?
Let the ACA and Police explain what they have done with regard to the four following police reports on high corruption which had been lodged by Anwar:
In his first police report lodged on 9th July, 1999, Anwar referred
to a document of the Prosecution Division, Attorney General's Office dated
14 March, 1995 signed by Abdul Gani Patail, which clearly stated there
was prima facie basis to prosecute Dato Paduka Rafidah Aziz on five counts
of corruption under Section 2(2),Ordinance 22, 1970, namely:
In his report, Anwar said the Attorney General did not proceed with the charges due to the interference of the Prime Minister, Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Muhamad as a result of which the prosecution of Rafidah Aziz could not as yet be carried to completion. As such, the failure to do so in accordance with the provisions of the law tantamounts to Mahathir, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah, and Abdul Gani Patail having interfered in the carrying out of justice and acted against the provisions of the law.
In his second police report lodged on 21st July 1999, Anwar alleged that Mahathir was implicated in the Perwaja scandal, where the steel mill chalked up RM2,985 million in accumulated losses and RM6,939 million in liabilities, making it the biggest financial scandal in the history of Malaysia.
Anwar, who was at the relevant time the Finance Minister, said that the Ministry of Finance had to appoint Price Waterhouse as independent auditors into the Perwaja scandal in early 1996 soon after being alerted that Perwaja was almost insolvent and would require massive injection of funds from the Government.
Anwar said that the appointment of auditors had to be done because several earlier attempts to obtain detailed information from the then management, particularly its Managing Director, Tan Sri Eric Chia failed as he repeatedly claimed that his actions had the support and under the directions of the Prime Minister. Anwar said that Eric Chia’s claim was further substantiated with letters written by the Prime Minister himself.
In the past few years, the Prime Minister, Ministers as well as the Anti-Corruption Agency wanted the people to believe that the reason why investigations into the Perwaja scandal could not be completed was because of the difficulty of getting foreigners to co-operate with investigations into the financial irregularities, improprieties and corrupt practices in Perwaja as the ACA had no power to call witnesses or others involved who are overseas.
With Anwar’s police report, Malaysians are entitled to know whether the real cause why ACA investigations into the Perwaja scandal are heading nowhere is because of the direct involvement of the Prime Minister in the Perwaja scandal.
Although there were "unusual transactions or payments" which involved foreigners, like the RM76.4 million allegedly paid to a fictitious company in Hong Kong, there were also "unusual transactions or payments" which were fully transacted in the country. One of them was the RM93 million disbursed for the Perwaja staff housing scheme in Kemaman and Gurun – working out to an average total cost of a unit of the single storey terrace house at RM121,000 in Kemaman and RM113,000 in Gurun – which were excessively exorbitant costs!
Malaysians do not want the ACA to continue investigations into the Perwaja scandal for another 10 or 20 years, when not only the Prime Minister but all the main players in the Perwaja scandal would no more be around, but to complete them within the immediate future as the ACA had been investigating it for five long years.
In his third police report on 30th July, 1999, Anwar alleged corruption by the first Finance Minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin, charging that Daim had received money and shares from three prominent corporate figures when he was finance minister from 1984 to 1991.
In his police report, Anwar attached letters written by Renong Bhd. chairman Halim Saad, Malaysia Airline System Bhd. chairman Tajuddin Ramli, and Land and General Bhd. chairman Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah to Daim in 1990, showing "clearly" that Daim received money and corporate shares worth about RM600 million. It is corruption if a finance minister personally receives wealth while in office.
According to the documents appended by Anwar to his police report, Halim's letter dated April 1990 stated that he was holding about 52 million shares of Faber Merlin Bhd. and 130 million Renong shares in trust for Daim. Wan Hamzah and Tajuddin similarly confirmed in separate letters at the same time that they were holding RM150 million and RM70 million in cash respectively in trust for Daim. Anwar said in his police report that he was quite certain that these amounts represented only a small part of the fortune Daim had acquired and that Daim was acting on behalf of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir (Mohamad) in certain cases.
In his fourth police report lodged on August 20, 1999, Anwar alleged that the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the ACA had concluded by June 1994 that there was prima facie case to prosecute the then Chief Minister of Malacca, Rahim Tamby Cik on four charges of corruption, based on the information supplied to the ACA by the former DAP MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Guan Eng.
Anwar said that based on Guan Eng’s information, the ACA also found that Rahim had accounts in tens of banks, numerous business interests and properties - that as of 31st May 1993, known assets owned by Rahim totalled RM39.8 million.
What happened to ACA investigations into Ling Liong Sik and Ling Hee Leong?
In the past three days, Barisan Nasional Ministers, including the MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik and Chief Ministers and Mentris Besar, including the Penang Chief Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon and organisations like MTUC and CUEPACs, had been demanding full investigations into Murad allegations against Anwar, but none of them had said a single word in demanding investigations into Anwar’s four police reports about corruption and abuses of power in high political places.
On 13th June 1997, I performed a public service and lodged a police report with the ACA to ask for full investigations as to how Ling Hee Leong, son of MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik could at the age of 27 embark on corporate acquisitions exceeding RM1.2 billion in a matter of months and whether there had been improper use and influence of his father’s political and Ministerial position.
I had said at the time that if Ling Hee Leong was able at the age of 27, without any track record, to have the prowess to embark on over RM1.2 billion corporate acquisitions in a matter of months completely on his own merit, then he should be an exemplary model for all aspiring entrepreneurs in Malaysia and ACA should show the whole country in its report how Ling Hee Leong could have catapulted into the billion-ringgit bracket of the corporate stratosphere without any improper political or Ministerial influence of his father.
More than two years have passed, and this is another high-profile file which the ACA has allowed to collect dust!
DAP calls for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to conduct public investigations into all the allegations of corruption, improprieties and abuses of power which had been made public, whether against Mahathir, Daim, Rafidah, Mohtar Abdullah, Gani Patail, Rahim Tamby Cik, Ling Liong Sik or against Anwar so that the truth can be out for all Malaysians and the world to see and I challenge the Barisan Nasional Ministers and MPs to respond positively to this proposal to show that they are not afraid of any high-level wide-ranging open inquiry into corruption and abuses in high political places.
Indonesia, which has a dismal reputation on corruption, placed on the 96th position on the TI’s 1999 CPI out of 99 countries, is making a start to clean up the Augean stables.
The new Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid at the swearing-in of his 35-member Cabinet on Friday warned them to lead "honest and simple" lives. He pledged a clean Government, a key reform demand, saying that any member of the Cabinet brought to court for any reason should immediately resign.
It will take quite some time before Indonesia could catch up with Malaysia’s national integrity system, but it would be a great embarrassment for Malaysia if Indonesia manages to improve its TI CPI rankings by leaps and bounds in the next few years, while Malaysia keeps slipping down the scale - even though we are still well ahead of Indonesia.
We must admit however that it is already a great national embarrassment to have Ministers and government leaders walking around the country and visiting foreign countries with charges of corruption and abuses of power hanging over their heads, which are not cleared because the charges could not make their way to court, even though the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Attorney-General’s Chambers have recommended prosecution.
What is even more embarrassing is that we have a senior Cabinet Minister who had been accused of serious charges of corruption and improprieties, and had done nothing to clear his name and reputation, now trying to transform himself into a crusader against corruption. I am referring of course to the first Finance Minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin, who wanted Bank Negara to check on the integrity of its officers after Murad’s statutory declaration alleging Anwar’s RM3 billion fortune through 20 "Master Accounts".
Daim does not seem to realise that Murad's allegations implicate Bank Negara, not on one or two occasions, but systematically over a period of years.
Call for independent investigation and audit of Bank Negara like Bank Bali
Murad was assistant governor of the bank. By his own admission, he was engaged in shady business while assistant governor. He did it under two governors in the bank.
Is it credible he could have done so, over such a long period of time, without the knowledge, even connivance, of others in Bank Negara? At the very least, if he did it, then it is more than possible others in the bank also did so for other persons or parties.
It suggests Bank Negara to have been involved in corruption, in money laundering and as a conduit of funds through shady means for shady purposes.
It suggests that some officers in Bank Negara implemented policies detrimental to the interests of the country.
It is time for a full and independent investigation and audit of Bank Negara, similar to that conducted on Bank Bali, to clear up the veracity of all these, however ridiculous, allegations.
I am shocked to read of the statement by the ACA Director-General Zaki Husin in yesterday’s Star quoting him as saying that civil servants no longer have any excuse to be involved in corrupt practices following the bonus and pay rise announced in the 2000 budget.
This is a gross insult to the honest and morally upright in the 800,000-strong public service. Is Zaki suggesting that all government servants who had taken bribes and committed corruption had good excuse before the 2,000 budget?
Corruption is the bane of society and must be wiped out without compromise or excuse. The greatest stumbling block to a successful war against corruption which does not discriminate between the ikan yu and the ikan bilis appears to be the ACA itself!
This is why the Barisan Alternative, in its Common Manifesto "Towards a Just Malaysia" made public on 24th October 1999, called for an independent Anti-Corruption Agency protected by the Constitution, directly responsible to Parliament and headed by a prominent Malaysian with authority as an important step to restore transparency, accountability and integrity in the country.
In fact, this is a proposal which is common to all the election appeals or demands which had been made by various sectors of society, whether it be the 17-Point Malaysian Chinese Organisations Election Appeals which has received the endorsement of over 2,000 Chinese organisations, "People Are the Boss" Declaration, "Return Governance to People" Declaration, Demands of Indian Malaysians For a Better Future, Women’s Agenda 1999, Declaration on Workers and Trade Unions Priorities initiated by 17 Unions or the People’s Manifesto.
General Election is not only a contest of political parties and candidates but also a contest of voices
Let me declare here that a general election is not only a contest of political parties and candidates, it is also a contest of voices, as the polling day would decide not only which political party and candidate wins, but also what are the voices which will prevail in policy-making for the next five years.
The approach of a general election is therefore the right and proper time for the voices of the people which had hitherto been ignored and disregarded by the government and Parliament to make themselves heard, whether in the form of appeals, wish-lists, aspirations or demands, for this is the very essence of a democratic system based on the principle of the sovereignty of the people - and it is wrong for anyone to regard such expressions as "threats" as the Prime Minister had once referred to the Malaysian Chinese Organisations Election Appeals.
It is the fundamental democratic right of citizens in a democratic society to make appeals or demands in a general election, for this is the time when the mandate of power is returned to the people to decide who should get a new mandate to rule - whether by renewing the mandate of the previous incumbent political coalition or to a new political coalition.
Citizens who cannot make demands, by expressing their aspirations whether in the form of Election Appeals or People’s Manifesto, do not enjoy the full rights of a democratic society but are only living in the half-light of democracy.
Only those who are undemocratic or have feudalistic mentality will regard such appeals or demands to voice out the people’s aspirations during election time as "threats" to the government or try to turn them into political irrelevance by declaring that they are not election demands but "a list of aspirations and appeals with no time frame for them to be realised or implemented" and completely unrelated to the forthcoming 10th national general election.
It is most regrettable that the Barisan Nasional government is completely out-of-sync with general aspirations of Malaysians who want to see an independent and autonomous ACA, which carry out its anti-corruption mandate without fear and favour, answerable only to Parliament.
But the ACA is not the only institution of state whose independence had been suborned and subverted after the uninterrupted 42-year political hegemony of the Barisan Nasional, which had been made worse by the 18-year premiership of Dr.Mahathir Mohamad - ousting or outlasting three Deputy Prime Ministers.
For instance, while the ACA shouts from the rooftops that it is launching
investigations into Murad’s allegations of corruption against Anwar based
on the former’s statutory declaration, what had the ACA done with regard
to serious allegations of corruption and abuses of power made in the Asian
Wall Street Journal defamation (AWSJ) case, viz:
Public confidence in the independence and integrity of the judiciary and the principle of rule of law is at an all-time low in the nation’s history, but the other important institutions of state are not spared in the multiple crisis of confidence afflicting the country - whether it be the office of the Attorney-General, the Auditor-General, the Election Commission, the Police, Bank Negara, etc.
For instance, I am still waiting for the Auditor-General Datuk Mohamed Khalil to break his silence to explain why he had not responded to my proposal that he conduct a special audit to ensure that there is no misuse of public funds and abuse of government facilities in Mahathir’s national pre-election tours as Barisan Nasional and UMNO President to drum up voter support.
Or is he in disagreement that there must be a clear distinction between Mahathir’s two positions, one as Prime Minister of the country and the other as head of UMNO and Barisan Nasional - that it is none of the business of the Prime Minister of Malaysia to campaign for votes for the Barisan Nasional, and when Mahathir goes round the country in his capacity as UMNO and Barisan Nasional President to drum up voter support for these political organisations, public funds and government resources must not be involved as it would be a blatant abuse of power, misappropriation of public funds and clear conflict of interest.
I am also waiting for the Auditor-General to explain why he had not queried as to why Barisan Nasional political gatherings, where Mahathir openly solicited the support of the voters for UMNO and Barisan Nasional, are telecast live on government television channel without paying advertising fees.
(1/11/99)