YOURSAY | ‘The effort to uncover any wrongdoing is not treason but patriotism.’

Minister decries 1MDB audit leaks as 'treason', wants it plugged

Odin Tajué: Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak, one can appreciate your dogged defence of your boss, the prime minister. But here are five very basic lessons for you.

Lesson 1: The meaning of treason - The treason we are concerned with is the crime of betraying one's country.

Neither the party that has given a copy of the auditor-general's report to the Sarawak Report nor the Sarawak Report has done anything of that sort. Therefore, no treason has been committed.

There are what are known as ‘petty treasons'. These have no bearing on our lesson, as the Official Secrets Act (OSA) has absolutely no relevance to them.

Lesson 2: Do not make assumptions - You have assumed that the party who has given a copy of the auditor-general's report to the Sarawak Report has sold it to the latter. How could you be certain? Where is your proof?

The person could have been very upset at the seeming attempt to cover up what are believed to be extremely foul deeds and thus given it away gratis.

Lesson 3: Basic logic - If the auditor-general's report contains no incriminating information, there is no need to keep it out of the public eye. Since you have deprived the public of knowing its contents, then it must contain damning facts.

Lesson 4: The well-bred always keep their promises - Knaves, scoundrels, charlatans, thieves and similar scum of the human race habitually make empty promises.

The public was told last year to not speculate because the auditor-general would be ordered to scrutinise 1MDB's accounts, and that should his findings show that any wrongdoing had been perpetrated, the guilty would be brought to book.

It was implied here that the public would be privy to his findings. Instead, the public has been deprived of knowing them.

Lesson 5: Disprove with evidence - You have charged that the Sarawak Report has misled the public with what you have claimed to be misinformation. If that is so, show the correct information.

Bare denial, or accusation of falseness, is insufficient. If it were, any person tried in a court of law for any crime only needed to deny having committed it.

Okay. Class is over. Now, please read the above five basic lessons once more, this time slowly and digest them.

Not Convinced: I agree with Odin Tajue. It is not the whistleblower who has committed treason, it is those who have refused to act on the alleged mega corruption who have committed treason.

Malaccan: It is greater treason against the nation should the charges brought by Sarawak Report be true. His own hands will not be clean should that be proven.

It would be in his own interest and that of his descendants to ensure the truth be known by revealing in total the auditor's report as well as securing an open and credible investigation where those close and connected to the main actors of 1MDB cannot taint it.

At the moment, Salleh and his coterie of 1MDB defenders are digging themselves deeper into the hole they share with this national debacle. He should be wary he may never be able to extricate himself later.

The 1MDB has no national security value nor strategic importance. Hence the effort to uncover any wrongdoing is not treason but patriotism.

Anonymous_4031c: I’m still trying to figure out the security angle which the government has been constantly repeating to classify the audit report under OSA.

By all accounts, the 1MDB fiasco is a commercial venture gone awry because of issues relating to the management and use of funds, which is why it has attracted so much attention.

The fear of lack of transparency and events that have taken place relating to the investigations on this company have lent much credence to its critics and simply ignoring it is no longer a choice and those who seek to thwart and mislead the nation should be advised that the situation is no longer tenable, not least for the protagonist in the entire affair, but they can and ought to be held accountable when the dust has settled.

Ipohcrite: Indeed, many right-thinking citizens, not including Salleh of course, feel that classifying the auditor-general's report under the OSA was morally wrong and constitutes an act of treason, as it shields the wrongdoings of its management as well as top-notch politicians from the public eye.

And then we have self-serving politicians like Salleh who tries to spin it away by prosecuting the whistleblowers (who should be hailed as national heroes) and abetting in the cover-up of crimes by people in high places.

Whatsup: Treason? Those fleecing the country and hide it under OSA are the real traitors committing the gravest treason and must be dealt with the maximum punishment because they hold government positions.

Roar For Truth: Salleh, the person whom you deem a traitor risk his/her position and future to expose what kleptocrats stole from this nation.

He/she is a patriot to ordinary Malaysians and has more honour than some of you politicians who are a disgrace to this nation.

Yeohph: Indeed, those who perpetrate and those who cover up crimes against the nation are the real traitors.

Time for Malay rulers to save Malaysia

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