Charges on Opposition lawmakers; Guan Eng demands explanation from MACC

Ilona Andrew

14 Oct 2021

By Ilona Andrew

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP has called on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to explain why opposition lawmakers such as Warisan’s Labuan MP Datuk Rozman Isli are charged, but not pro-government lawmakers who switched their support to the government or the Prime Minister.

Its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng stated that MACC and the Attorney-General Chambers were seen to have consistently and selectively charged only those who opposed to the government or the Prime Minister.

Previously, MACC chief commissioner Datuk Azam Baki said the commission had opened 687 investigation papers between January and August this year, including 149 investigation papers in the “high-profile, public interest and sensitive” category, while 538 were in the ordinary category.

“This lends weight to Pakatan Harapan (PH) Presidential Council’s assertion that MACC has been weaponised as a political tool to threaten and intimidate opposition lawmakers to induce them to support the government, especially when they have a tenuous and unstable Parliamentary majority.

“Under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, MACC is no longer seen to be an impartial, independent and professional organisation battling corruption at the highest levels, without fear or favour,” he said in a statement today.

Guan Eng asserted that MACC must come clean on the five cases of political corruption involving party hopping by MPs subjected to inducements or intimidation, where MACC investigations fizzled out after they jumped to support the government.

Among them, he listed former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman who attempted a backdoor government in Sabah, and former Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who offered political posts and positions in Government-Linked Corporation (GLC) in exchange for political support.

“Five PKR MPs rejected inducements or were subjected to intimidation to defect and support Muhyiddin namely Putatan MP Awang Husaini Sahari, M. Karupaiya (Padang Serai), S. Kesavan (Sg Siput), Michael Teo Yu Leong (Miri) and Sekijang MP Natrah Ismail.

“No action against those trying to trigger the defections of the 5 PKR MPs,” he said.

Guan Eng said Malaysia’s rankings in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) declined from 51st in 2019 to 57th in 2020.

“The failure of MACC to do their duty professionally and responsibly when the complaint comes from none other than the former IGP, will only cause Malaysia’s CPI rankings to slip down further this year,” he stressed.