COMMENT It is another wild goose chase for the media people when dealing with someone like Badrul Hisham Shaharin who is also known as Chegubard.

 

I am not sure what was on the Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) leader’s mind, when he wanted to lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) against the Selangor government over the purported change of land usage of Paya Indah Wetlands.

On Aug 2, I was at the Selangor state assembly when it was in session. On the same day, Badrul Hisham had called a press conference to hit out at the Selangor state government and both the Menteri Besar Azmin Ali and the state exco member Elizabeth Wong, for allegedly selling the Paya Indah Wetlands to a developer.

I attended a separate press conference by Wong on the same afternoon in response to Badrul Hisham’s wild allegations, and collected materials from her office.

It is obvious from Wong’s documents that there is really no case at all - at least, based on my investigation.

Check your facts first

On one hand, in an article in Utusan Malaysia it is said that the Paya Indah Wetlands is a world heritage site (or warisan dunia). The article was provided by Badrul Hisham.

Badrul Hisham then claimed Paya Indah Wetlands was a Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance site, but a check on http://www.ramsar.org/ will prove Badrul Hisham’s claim to be false.

What is obvious is that Paya Indah Wetlands was gazetted since 1998 by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) as a Wetlands Reserve under the National Land Code. It was never even under the Ramsar Convention or designated a World Heritage Forest, for which environmentalists would have jumped onto the bandwagon to whack the Pakatan-led state government.

Having just looked into another case, what is the difference between Badrul Hisham’s accusations and that of MCA Religious Harmony Bureau deputy chairperson Ng Chok Sin who played up the issue of the remains of St Joseph’s chapel, calling it a church and getting everyone so stressed up thinking that the Kajang Municipal Council had done some mischief to demolish an entire church building?

Or, what difference does it make compared to what previously NGO Persatuan Minda dan Sosial Prihatin (PMSP) founder Ramesh Rao did, when he called a press conference on behalf of former private investigator P Balasubramaniam’s wife, A Santamil Selvi, for her to read out an apology to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor, after being promised financial help, purportedly from public donations?

It took two Australian journalists from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to expose Rao’s hidden agenda and the whole press conference just collapsed, with Rao storming out of the room.

Najib is right in saying that cash is king but I wonder for how long? When light shines, darkness has to go into hiding.

Now, in the Paya Indah Wetlands controversy, it appears to me that Badrul Hisham has not even done his homework. By throwing accusations and confusing even the media people, all it takes is just a little effort to shed some light so that the public can now have a clearer picture.

Badrul Hisham claimed that the present Menteri Besar Azmin Ali has given away a part of Paya Indah Wetlands to a developer, when four other menteris besar in the past had refused to approve the ‘land conversion’. This is his straight allegation.

He claims that he has lodged a report to the MACC, but I have not been able to verify the claim independently. On the other hand, Wong, in her prompt reply, welcomed the MACC to investigate the case.

If I were in her position, I would be laughing away because the facts are all there.

In her press statement dated Aug 26, Wong had stated in my translated version from her statement in Bahasa: “I have in fact advised them (Badrul Hisham and his team) as early as Aug 2, 2016 to file the complaint with the MACC, but they are the ones who took so long to lodge the complaint. Instead they are issuing all sorts of inaccurate information through their press statements.”

What exactly is the basis of Wong’s confidence?

Just a simple comparison of the lot numbers of the land concerned shows how wrong Badrul Hisham is in his allegations.

The land that is being developed currently belongs to a private developer and is tagged Lot 68054, while the wetland covers an area of 450.76 acres and it sits on two lots, 4827 and 3974. Any pre-school child will be able to spot the difference in the numbers.

Meanwhile, we are being led on a wild goose chase but then, that’s news!

In order for my readers not to think that any of us is distracted from the Malaysian Official 1 issue, shall I ask if Badrul Hisham would turn up for the TangkapMO1 demonstrations today at Dataran Merdeka? Would he speak up against corruption himself?

Maybe, for his own political mileage, that would be a better platform indeed.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.