Written by Stan Lee, PoliticsNow Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR (politicsnowmy.blogspot.com) - Speculation is swirling on the identity of the politician, whose "safe house" was raided by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and about RM5mil in foreign currency found and seized in connection to a sand mining venture.
However, given the toxic nature of politics in Malaysia and most of elsewhere in the world these days, the still-unnamed politician is likely to be from the Opposition or is someone influential who is at odds with the leader of the day.
"Most pundits think it is linked to a former senior leader from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's PKR party and since the Selangor chief minister's unit is involved, it is not that difficult to guess who," a veteran political watcher told PoliticsNow Malaysia.
"But who is going to stick their necks out now - either they may get sued by the politician or worse still, the Anwar government may come after them for even questioning if there has been abuse of power or revengeful politics at play to neutralize political foes or even get these foes to swing support back to PKR."
The current chief minister of Selangor is Anwar stalwart Amirudin Shari. He was preceded by two others who became openly critical of Anwar and left PKR after explosive public quarrels.
Azmin Ali, who is now a senior leader in the Bersatu party, which heads the PN opposition bloc, is remembered as a capable chief minister but he controversially defected from PKR, taking with him 10 Members of Parliament which led to a change in the federal government in 2020.
Before Azmin was the late Khalid Ibrahim, who also fell out with Anwar and joined Pas party. A well-respected corporate figure before joining politics, Khalid died of kidney disease in 2022.
"POLITICAL FODDER" - CORRUPTION VS ABUSE OF POWER
News of the MACC raid and shock seizure of the huge amount of cash broke over the weekend. According to news reports, the move follows the detention of two individuals, including a former senior executive from the Mentri Besar Selangor Incorporated or MBI on Thursday (Oct 10) in connection with a corruption case related to a sand mining concession.
Both suspects were alleged to have ties to a prominent politician who had significant political influence in Selangor. "One of the suspects revealed there was a safe house belonging to a politician, used to store bribe money," the source had said.
The raid on the safe house in Kuala Lumpur took place at 10pm on Saturday (Oct 12) which was rented by a businessman, where about S$1.53mil (RM5mil) in cash was discovered. According to the source claimed the cash was kept in the safe house at the direction of the politician.
The MACC also froze 15 bank accounts belonging to various individuals and companies.
So far, one of the suspects has been remanded for five days while the other was released by the court due to health issues. MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki has said the investigation is still in the early stages.
"Early stages means the case is not yet ready to take to court. To those who are cynical, it could also mean that the politician involved has time to negotiate with the powers that be," said the observer.
"Corruption is deplorabe and cannot be condoned. But so is abuse of power and the castration of freedom of speech and thought. Both are equally dishonest and dangerous. To me, Malaysia is still caught between a rock and a hard place with things unchanged for the better."
"In fact, the future is perhaps more perilous than before. In the past, the opposition and their media were brave and organized many activities and rallied. But now there's no coordinated strategy - no one to speak up for Malaysia anymore."
AT GREATER PERIL THAN BEFORE?
Ironically, Azmin's nephew was arrested along with three others in 2017 for allegedly mining sand illegally and bribing the authorities to turn a blind eye to such activity. Azmin was then the Selangor chief minister.
Even more ironically, his communications director was then Yin Shao Loong, who is now Anwar's son-in-law and the husband of Nurul Izzah. At that time, Yin had issued a statement saying: "This administration has been informed that one of those arrested by the MACC over allegations of involvement in illegal sand mining activities is the nephew of the Selangor Menteri Besar."
While Yin said the state government did not dispute the MACC's right to investigate, he also questioned how the information was leaked online even before the arrests were made. Yin said this clearly showed the existence of a conspiracy to tarnish the reputation of the chief minister and the Selangor state government, which has been led by PKR since 2008, ahead of the general election then slated for 2018.
"The Selangor government holds steadfast to the principle of transparency in all its dealings to ensure the needs of the people and the state are prioritised," The Straits Times had then reported Yin as saying, urging that the matter should not be used as political fodder.
Written by Stan Lee, PoliticsNow Malaysia
https://politicsnowmy.blogspot.com/
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