Call for public inquiry into “nine days of madness in Putrajaya” with Police and MACC on “war footing” against each other

The statement by the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar that the police will temporarily postpone the investigations on Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) alleged leakage of information which was published in the Sarawak Report portal is neither satisfactory nor acceptable.

Khalid said that although more people would be called to facilitate in the investigation, the case was postponed to avoid numerous assumptions and public perception.

When asked how long the investigation would be postponed, Khalid said: “We’ll see…I don’t want my friends at the MACC to think we are making some kind of harassment.”

This must be the understatement of the year, for in the past nine days, MACC officers were not treated as “friends” but virtually as “enemies of the state” by the police, as they were more than just “harassed”, but were hounded, arrested and – to use the words of the wife of MACC director of special operations division Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin, Datin Noor Haslina Abdullah on her FaceBook – “persecuted” by the police, to the extent that the MACC officers had to hold a special prayer session to seek divine intervention to carry out their anti-corruption duties and to protect themselves from Police attacks.

For nine days, Malaysians and the world saw Putrajaya succumbed to a mad frenzy, with Police and the MACC on war footing with each other.

There must be a full inquiry of who were responsible and whether there were “hidden hands” behind the “nine-day of madness in Putrajaya”, when there was a complete breakdown of orderly governance and the rule of law in the country.

This inquiry into the “nine-day madness in Putrajaya” of Police-MACC “warring” must be a full, independent and comprehensive one, even in the form of a Royal Commission of Inquiry or by way of a Parliamentary Inquiry, to ensure that there could be recurrence of this “nine-day madness in Putrajaya”.

The Friday statement by the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Datuk Zahid Hamidi as good as confirmed that the wanton arrests of MACC officers in the past week were related to the leakage of information on social media, most notably the alleged final draft of the charge sheet against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for the offence of corruption.

This has now been confirmed by Khalid who said the action against MACC directors and two senior officers was taken because there was a need to find how the copy of a charge sheet could be uploaded into the Sarawak Report portal.

The new Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali had in the first instance dismissed the draft charge sheet as false, and if so, this should be the end of the story.

When the police arrested and interrogated MACC officers in relation to the draft charge sheet, does it mean that there was in fact such a draft corruption charge sheet against Najib in the premises of MACC, and that this draft charge sheet had leaked out to the social media?

Which is which?

Let the Inspector-General of Police, the new Attorney-General and even the Home Minister Zahid fully explain to the people whether there was such a draft charge sheet against the Prime Minister for corruption, and that it had been leaked to the social media in violation of the Official Secrets Act?

Does this mean that the draft charge sheet against Najib for the offence of corruption is not false or figment of the imagination?

Why then did the new Attorney-General tell an untruth denying as a fake the draft charge sheet.

It is indeed a sad day for Malaysia that the first act of the new Attorney-General was to tell an untruth to the people of Malaysia.

Khalid should explain why several MACC officers were being investigated under Section 124B of the Penal Code, which concerns ‘activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy’.

Khalid has said that the police never intended to interfere with any investigations, let alone targetting any particular institution, especially the MACC.

The fact for all in Malaysia and the world to see is that the Police had acted as if MACC had become an “enemy” sanctuary, interfering with the MACC investigations, which will sow bad blood between the two agencies for a long time to come.

The first step for the restoration of good Police-MACC relations is for the immediate transfer of the two MACC directors, Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin and strategic communications director Datuk Rohaizad Yaakob the Prime Minister’s Office tomorrow onwards to be rescinded immediately.

Can the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister ensure that both Bahri and Rohaizad do not have to report to the Prime Minister’s Office tomorrow, and are returned immediately to MACC?