The Johore Mentri Besar, Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman promised to reveal Anwar’s "wrongdoings" at the right time while the UMNO Secretary-General and Information Minister, Tan Sri Mohd Khalil Yaakob said he would disclose "corrupt practices" by Anwar in Pahang, where he was at the time the Mentri Besar.
The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general Datuk Ahmad Zaki Husin was prompted by all these mass media announcements to call on any Mentri Besar or UMNO leader with information on Anwar’s "alleged misdeeds while he was in power" to report to the ACA directly so that the ACA could conduct an investigation.
Zaki said there were many groups in the Government and Opposition who had politicised the issue of corruption.
If Zaki is honest, he should admit that the Murad statutory declaration accusing Anwar of having amassed a RM3 billion fortune while in government without giving an iota of evidence is the most monstrous "politicization" of the issue of corruption.
The question is why the ACA played along with the Murad statutory declaration by itself lodging a police report to initiate investigations, when it should be Murad who should have lodged the police report and face the consequences of lodging a false police report if the allegations in his statutory declaration are found to be completely baseless and unfounded?
The reason given by UMNO President Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad for the UMNO Supreme Council decision last night that "green-light" must be given before any UMNO member make any disclosure of any wrongdoing by Anwar is quite laughable.
Mahathir said any disclosure made must be supported by documentary proof to ensure that there would be no wild allegations as these could not be defended if challenged in court.
Aren’t Murad’s allegations in his statutory declaration "wild allegations" as not a single accusation had been supported by documentary proof ?
Such a gag by the UMNO Supreme Council requiring any disclosure on any wrongdoing by Anwar to be referred to the UMNO President first is understandable if it applies to ordinary UMNO members or lower-level leaders whose political understandings are not fully mature.
But the UMNO Supreme Council gag of any disclosure of any
Anwar "wrongdoing" unless approved the UMNO President should not
apply to UMNO Ministers and Mentris Besar, who should know better that
they cannot make wild allegations without substantiation. Or has
Mahathir even lost confidence in the ability of UMNO national and state
leaders to handle the unprecedented UMNO and Barisan Nasional crisis
of confidence since the sacking of Anwar?
I call on Khalil and Ghani to explain whether they will
reveal Anwar’s corrupt practices or whether they are backing
down by using the UMNO Supreme Council decision last night
as an excuse, which could only mean all that they had been
hinting were mere "wild allegations" and not substantiated allegations!
If Khalil and Ghani have now realised that they had made wild allegations against Anwar, the least they should do is to publicly apologise to the former Deputy Prime Minister.
(5/11/99)