Anwar once lamented Musa's acquittal, Muda says it's now 'reformati'

Summary

• PM Anwar Ibrahim once cried double standards when charges against former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman were dropped.

• Muda acting president Amira Aisya Abd Aziz laments that the cries of reformasi have become reformati.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim once lamented corruption charges against former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman being dropped.

However, with Musa’s appointment as the next Sabah governor today, the youth-based party Muda lamented that it was just another case of reformasi becoming reformati (dead reforms).

In November 2018, Musa was slapped with 30 corruption charges involving US$50.1 million and 16 money laundering charges involving more than US$37.8 million and S$2.5 million.

Then in June 2020, the charges were dropped.

In a video on June 10, 2020 - one day after Musa was freed - Anwar lamented that this was a case of double standards in the justice system.

“The charges against Musa were dropped just like that, while I saw that a poor person is still in prison over a matter of hundreds of ringgit.

“If you are a teacher, or regular worker, factory worker or lowly government servant, if you commit an offence you will be convicted and fined or jailed.

“But if you are a big political figure (implicated over) hundreds of millions or billions of ringgit, you are let go. This is proven in the 100 ‘years’ of Perikatan Nasional,” he said.

Vested interest?

PN had marked 100 days in power on June 8, the day before Musa was freed.

Prosecutors in freeing Musa had cited the testimony of former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, who defended not charging the former Sabah chief minister with corruption as the monies involved were deemed as political funding.

Commenting on this, Anwar had questioned whether Gani had any vested interest in Sabah.

“Can’t it be questioned what is Gani’s interests in Sabah, be it land, personal, family or shares, that made it so easy to let go (of Musa),” the PKR president had said in the June 10 video.

Separately, Anwar also quoted a tweet poking fun at Musa for being acquitted while a labourer who stole petai was sentenced to 15 months in jail.

Musa’s appointment as the next Sabah governor - effective Jan 1 - comes against the backdrop of Anwar’s alliance with BN as well as the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition in forming the federal government.

Previously in 2023, there was also speculation that Anwar was courting Musa in an effort to strengthen Pakatan Harapan.

Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor - who is also fighting off corruption allegations and is reportedly seeking Anwar’s support - had nominated Musa for the governor post.

‘Regressive’

Commenting on the governor’s appointment today, Muda acting president Amira Aisya Abd Aziz lamented the move as regressive.

“The people thought the government would oppose corruption. Turns out the government wants to celebrate the corrupt.

“Don’t forget that the governor is appointed on the advice of the chief minister.

“The people will remember and continue to remember... when the cries of reformasi became reformati,” she posted on X.

Plagued by scandals

One of the scandals Musa was previously involved in concerned a Sabah businessperson who was caught in 2008 trying to smuggle RM40 million worth of Singapore currency into Malaysia from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) reportedly found that the money was earmarked for Musa and was part of more funds being deposited into a Swiss bank account containing US$30 million allegedly being held in trust for the then-Sabah chief minister by a lawyer.

Musa denied all allegations and in 2011, the government announced that investigation papers submitted to the attorney-general by the MACC allegedly showed that the monies were meant for political contributions to Sabah Umno, and not Musa himself.

Musa was the Sabah Umno chief at the time.

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