COMMENT The inspector-general of police (IGP), Khalid Abu Bakar, cannot intervene at the last moment to stop the debate between Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan and Chief Minister of Penang Lim Guan Eng on the purchase of the bungalow and the sale of the Taman Manggis land.

It was Rahman who challenged Guan Eng to a debate in the first place and the latter agreed to do so.

Rahman was fully aware that police reports were lodged against Guan Eng and that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was in the process of investigating allegations against him.

Knowing that the debate might jeopardise the on-going investigations, why then did Rahman ask for a debate in the first place? Was he trying to be a hero to his friends in Umno?

Was he naive in enough to believe that Guan Eng would not take up the offer?

Rahman might have known in advance that the debate might not take place and there was a possibility that the police or the MACC or the attorney-general might intervene to stop it.

But why did Khalid not stop the debate when Rahman Dahlan first announced it and why did he allow so much discussion on the subject and the extensive one-sided coverage by TV3?

Was the urging for a debate a high drama staged by Rahman and his Umno colleagues to sidestep the controversy surrounding the 1MDB debacle, and most importantly, the ill-begotten funds that were deposited in the personal accounts of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak?

Quick to shoot Twitter messages

Are the funds that went into Najib’s accounts really from Saudi Arabia or were they from the 1MDB funds? The majority of Malaysians think that the latter might be the truth.

The IGP is a man with an acute sense of alertness and quick to shoot off messages via Twitter. Why did he not tweet and stop the debate when Rahman heroically proposed it? Surely, he is not without access to updated information about the daily happenings in the country?

Chances are very high that much looked-forward-to debate would be cancelled. Rahman says that he regrets that the debate will have to be called off due to police instruction.

What choice has Guan Eng? He has been accused of all kinds of things. He did not ask for the debate as he was busy defending himself and his family against the wild allegations perpetrated by those in power, particularly in Umno circles.

Perhaps Guan Eng looked forward to the debate so that he could publicly put forward his case to prove his detractors not only wrong but also the allegations were motivated by political considerations.

What is surprising is that the MACC was suddenly catapulted out of the doldrums by some strange forces to take a great interest in the matter of Guan Eng.

‘Why selective investigation?’

Nobody is saying that MACC should not do its job. But the why selective investigation and possibly prosecution?

The big players who allegedly squandered billions of taxpayers money are left free to roam the corridors of power in Putrajaya, but the man who brought fame and good governance to Penang is being hounded daily.

At this stage, we are not certain whether the forces aligned against Guan Eng might want a ‘pound of flesh’ from him?

Time and time again, we need to be reminded that we are not in Malaysia but in the imaginary world of ‘Bolehland’, where unimaginable things are possible.

P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the DAP state assemblyperson for Perai.