Friday Jottings: Yesterday’s corruptor is today’s saviour
TOMORROW is Malaysia Day.
According to Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, it is disrespectful to hold a rally on such a day as planned by those protesting the withdrawal of corruption charges against Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
To him, the opposition Perikatan Nasional could have chosen any other day because Sept 16 – Malaysia Day – marks a celebration of which, among others, respect and compliance with the law are of the essence.
Further to that, Saifuddin was of the opinion that the rally on that particular day was disrespectful to tolerance, unity, and love among various races and religions, especially among friends in Sabah and Sarawak to whom the day is very important.
While it sounds like a wise and sober concern, underscoring it, his critics pointed out, smacked of hypocrisy especially when Parti Keadilan Rakyat, his party, was literally born from street demonstrations.
By any token, protesting against corruption is as Malaysian as it gets, and conducting it on any day, including Malaysia Day, should be the embodiment of what the new Malaysia should be.
One that is uncompromising against the scourge of corruption and a check to the authorities whenever they slide from responsibility.
It is as good, if not better than the causes pursued by PKR and DAP during the heady days of reformasi.
Saifuddin’s critics were also not about to let him forget that he was one of the prominent PKR leaders who flew to Taiwan to attempt to influence Barisan Nasional MPs who were in the then administration, to support the opposition and basically topple the democratically elected Government.
Ironically, the whole episode which occurred in 2008, was orchestrated to culminate on Malaysia Day hence it being dubbed the September 16 Move.
If Saifuddin and his team had succeeded, Malaysia Day would have probably taken a backseat and the day turned into Freedom or Liberation or simply Reformasi Day.
Such manoeuvres were fine to both their supporters and apologists. Issues such as a backdoor government, insulting Malaysia Day, or back-stabbing, would have been trivialised and mocked.
Neither would they admit that their demonstrations and rallies, which took seed in the late 1990s had never ceased except for the interregnum when Pakatan Harapan took over the Government between 2018 to 2020 and now since December last year, for obvious reasons.
Their demonstrations in the 1990s were disruptive and on several occasions violent and they were held weekly, disregarding the inconvenience caused to shoppers, security forces, and ordinary people.
In fact, in 2022, PH leaders and supporters were still into protest rallies, the significant one being the rally to call for the arrest of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.
It was held without a police permit nor were the protesters allowed to demonstrate. But the protest was actually unnecessary as Azam today sits pretty in office and is now ordained and blessed by the very same PH leaders who wanted Azam charged and removed.
But PH’s volte-face is not confined to Azam.
In fact, Azam is just the tip of the iceberg and of lesser significance compared with the stance and treatment of Zahid, first made the Deputy Prime Minister and now the prosecutor’s withdrawal of the 47 prima facie cases which had been established against him.
Zahid’s appointment as DPM was justified as a move to ensure the Government could be formed and supported without the possibility of being toppled via the backdoor, an attempt not much different from the September 16 Move of 2008 which was later emulated by the Sheraton Move.
It was stomached even by the non-partisan, while apologists worked overtime that the alternative would be the ‘fearsome” green wave.
There were attempts to “warn” apologists of Zahid’s appointment that the next move would be the dropping of his cases.
These “warnings” were again dismissed, mocked, and trivialised.
Actually, it doesn’t require a Nostradamus to predict such eventuality as the tell-tale signs as well as the writings on the wall were pointing towards that.
Simply put, when PH was with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, they took on the might of BN and took all the kleptocrats and corruptors to court. Today, to the ordinary, non-partisan voters at least, the present PH set them free.
Regardless, when it finally occurred, it seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for the likes of MUDA president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman who decided to dump the Government and become an opposition MP.
Instead of accepting that the Zahid issue had truly compromised the PH and Government’s integrity and their commitment to combat corruption – they trained their guns on Saddiq, urging him to resign on grounds that he had won the Muar parliamentary seat because the PH had stayed out and supported him.
The more crude and boorish supporters and apologists of the PH reminded Saddiq that he had been defended by DAP lawyers in his court cases while others demanded that these lawyers withdraw their services.
DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke was one who reminded Saddiq of his party’s and PH’s support for the latter to win the seat and not on his own merit.
Little did Loke realise that raising the issue with Saddiq only led to critics pointing out that if there were anyone who should resign it should be the whole PH and BN leaders and MPs.
They had not only misled voters in the campaign by promising to ensure that Zahid is prosecuted, that he was indeed corrupt and had abused his position and that they would never compromise on their fight against corruption.
It was they who sang the song mocking and denouncing Zahid and BN leaders for robbing the nation clean. Whichever way Loke and his ilk attempt to turn the issue around, the crux of the matter is that they had convinced the electorate of Zahid’s guilt and that they would never be part of him and Umno.
Zahid’s cases being dropped had swung the pendulum of justifications and compromises to the extreme other end and Saddiq’s departure from their midst summed it all up.
Their responses not only exposed their preparedness to stomach all the evils they stood up and fought against but also their shamelessness in committing them.
And the hypocrisy about rallies seems like a tale from a distant land.
Shamsul Akmar is an editor at The Malaysian Reserve.
