In his 33 years of service in fighting corruption and bribery, outgoing Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Ahmad Said Hamdan regards Teoh Beng Hock’s death in July as the most significant of his career.

The MACC chief whose term ends tomorrow, said the death of Teoh, special officer to a Selangor executive councillor, on the fifth floor corridor at the Plaza Masalam building in Shah Alam after being questioned by MACC officers, had cast a deep impact on the commission.

macc official launch 240209 ahmad said According to Ahmad Said, it hurt his feelings most when MACC officers were belittled, threatened, and humiliated following the incident.

Although deep inside, he did not want to talk about the incident, it was undeniable that the incident had affected the performance and image of the commission.

"They may have forgotten that we have feelings and we were merely carrying out our duties. Let it be. Someday the truth will come out," he said at his farewell in Putrajaya today.

Ahmad Said urged all MACC members to look at the bright side and not “to point fingers or back stab one another”.

"I hope all MACC members would maintain high morality in facing the challenges," he said after delivering the duty handover note to his successor, Abu Kassim Mohamed.

Certificate of appreciation from Najib

He hoped his successor would be able to enhance the image of MACC and thus elevate the image of the nation in the bribery perception index ranking.

Ahmad Said started his career with MACC - which was formerly known as the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) - on July 1, 1975 as a senior superintendent at the ACA headquarters and in November 1998, he was appointed as deputy director-general 1.

In May 2007, he was appointed ACA director-general (currently known as MACC chief commissioner) until his retirement.

He also received a certificate of appreciation signed by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as an appreciation of his contribution to the commission.

- Bernama