Crimes of commission and omission

I often wonder what the BN regime would do without its commissions. Not just commissions as in kickbacks and slices of the action for its members, cronies and other rent-seekers, but commissions as in bodies charged with protecting the public.

The Election Commission, for example, the organisation supposedly responsible for the conduct of free and fair elections, but which actually ‘commits' elections like so many crimes, as clearly riddled as they are with bias and bribery.

And the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, which condones and commits the very offences it's sworn to uncover and investigate, by consistently omitting to carry out its duties.

Nobody is fooled by such token actions as the announcement by MACC head Abu Kassim Mohamed (left) that a file has been opened on the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for his blatant attempt to buy votes in the recent Sibu by-election.

Both the MACC and EC have witnessed Najib and other Umno bigwigs openly offering inducements to voters on countless previous occasions without complaint or intervention, so this ‘file-opening' is clearly a fraud.

If the MACC had the slightest degree of genuine commitment to performing its role, it would have a file a foot thick on Najib by now, considering all the scandals that erupted during his tenure as minister for defence.

Why no file on Najib, I wonder, on such significant concerns as the Scorpene submarines ‘commissions', the ‘disappearance' of fighter-jet engines, the sourcing of C4 explosives, or the erasing of Altantuya Shaariibuu's name from immigration department arrivals records?

And as long as the MACC is so keen to demonstrate its commitment to its anti-corruption role, why no action on many other outstanding cases, some of them so old that the statute of limitations must be close to expiring?

The allocation of Approval Permits, for example, to relatives and associates of former Minister for Trade, Rafidah Aziz (right) . Or the matter of Maika Holdings and the mystery surrounding millions of Malaysia Telekom shares that S Samy Vellu has so long claimed to be holding ‘in trust' for the Malaysian-Indian community.

Or the latest dodgy development in the Maika Holdings saga, the projected sale of this grossly mismanaged if not comprehensively looted investment vehicle at what appears to be a suspiciously discounted price.

Then there's the small matter of Mohamad Khir Toyo, whose magnificent mansion flaunts the fact that he amassed a fortune as menteri besar of Selangor, where it has now been revealed that during his term in office political cronies on the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) somehow managed to score low-cost housing units for themselves.

‘Lets make a deal'

When announcing the opening of a file on Najib for his "let's make a deal" offer to the voters of Sibu, MACC supremo Abu Kassim reportedly talked big, proclaiming that "all complaints about money politics will be investigated by the commission. It is our responsibility, we have to investigate, as long as there is a complaint."

But unfortunately, far from acting on any and every complaint, the MACC, like its previous incarnation, the ACA, is suspiciously compliant. Routinely failing to commit itself to any investigation likely to embarrass its paymasters or their pals, however reeking of ‘money politics'.

A classic example of this is its total failure to thus far investigate the Port Klang Free Zone fiasco, a multi-billion-ringgit farrago of fraud and other financial chicanery that has virtually vanished from public consciousness.

And no wonder, considering all the outrages that have occurred in the interim. More highly suspect and improperly investigated deaths in police shoot-outs and custody; endlessly unresolved human-rights and land-grab abuses against indigenous people and now massive cost overruns by Sime Darby on the Bakun Dam project; and of course that bloodiest of stains on the reputation of the MACC, the ‘suicide' of Teoh Beng Hock following questioning at its headquarters.

Amid all this mess came the launch of Najib's so-called 'New Economic Model', or as some critics have dubbed it, 'New Economic Muddle', which included fantasies like 'Zero tolerance for corruption' and "reduce wastage and avoid cost overrun by better controlling expenditure, establish (an) open, efficient and transparent government procurement process, and adopt international best practices on fiscal transparency".

Najib quickly followed-up his 'Zero tolerance of corruption' promise by making himself the hero of corruption in the ensuing two buy-elections that the EC committed on his behalf.

And now his government has made a mockery of his 'efficient and transparent government procurement' and 'international best practices on fiscal transparency' pronouncements with the untendered, uncontested and altogether unsavoury awarding of a betting license to Ascot Sports, a subsidiary of Vincent Tan's Berjaya Group.

PAS and other Muslim groups are crying ‘foul' at this on the grounds that gambling is haram.

But I haven't a shred of sympathy for this point of view, as the voices of the sanctimonious are seldom if ever raised against the more serious sins by the BN government, like lying, corruption, robbery and homicide.

‘Practice of cronyism'

What concerns me is that, as Tony Pua of the DAP was quoted as saying, "the practice of cronyism, rent-seeking and patronage of vested interest parties is continuing in broad daylight with the complete endorsement of Najib Abdul Razak."

Even more grotesque is that it's apparently third time lucky for Tan in the sports gambling stakes. He was reportedly granted a sports betting licence by former PM Mahathir back in 1987, but surrendered it in 1990 because it was "not lucrative enough".

Reinstated in 2003 but disallowed by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (left) when he succeeded Mahathir in 2004, now it's been re-approved.

In light of this scandalous decision, I get the strong impression that Najib is not too concerned about having a file opened on his activities by the MACC.

And why would he be, as long as the MACC is, despite its protestations of integrity and independence, as committed to condoning official corruption as the Electoral Commission is to committing crooked elections.

 

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DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he mentors creative writing groups. Soon to be published in Kuala Lumpur is a third book of his columns for Malaysiakini , following earlier collections ‘Mad about Malaysia’ and ‘Even Madder about Malaysia’.