PAS today joined other opposition parties in urging Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to suspend ACA chief Zulkipli Mat Noor and Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum from their posts until corruption investigations against them are completed.

At the very least, the prime minister must nullify both men's authoritative powers, said PAS secretary general Kamarudin Jaafar.

"We do not agree with Abdullah's statement that those involved in the case do not need to be suspended."

"The severity of the charges itself, coming from the top ACA officer, and in the case of Mohd Johari (who was named in an anonymous posting for alleged bribery) clearly shows that they (both men) would compromise the nation's security," he told a press conference at PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The corruption scandal surfaced around Zulkipli when a report penned by former Sabah ACA chief Ramli Abdul Manan was highlighted by an anti-corruption watchdog on Feb 26. Days later, the police also acted on an anonymous posting on the Internet linking Johari to bribery allegations.

Not tough enough

Zulkipli will be called in for questioning soon, said IGP Musa Hassan yesterday, while the prime minister on Tuesday said Johari will remain in office pending the investigations.

Kamarudin said that the prime minister has not been "tough enough" on the two senior government officials.

"How can the PM said that the carrying out of their duties would not be affected. If the allegations involve merely traffic offences, then maybe it would not," he said.

In response to the corruption scandals, Abdullah said, "the bad things can be overcome if the good things are in control," at the Internal Security Ministry monthly assembly in Putrajaya yesterday.

The premier said the people are influenced by the negative reports in the papers about the police and do not see the police's efforts to quicken their response time to emergencies.