Deja vu for MACC in leadership crisis – Terence Fernandez

[superadmin]

LAST weekend’s #TangkapAzamBaki rally calling for the arrest of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Tan Sri Azam Baki lent a sense of déjà vu to those whose memory has yet to fail them.

It was 15 years ago that a similar rally calling for the head of the anti-graft chief was held – only this time instead of Kuala Lumpur, it was held in Putrajaya with the final destination being the Prime Minister’s Office.

Also, this time, instead of being organised by youth movements, the rally on March 6, 2007, to hand over a memorandum of protest to then prime minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was led by political parties such as PKR, PAS and Gerakan.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) was suffering a crisis of confidence.

Its then director-general Datuk Seri Zulkipli Mat Noor was accused of, among others, corruption, abuse of power, living beyond his means and even sexual impropriety.

The accusations were made in 2007 by a former ACA officer Muhammad Ramli Manan to then Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Bakri Omar, where the alleged offences were committed when Zulkipli was in the police force.

Zulkipli was police chief for Johor and later Sarawak before being appointed as the first police officer to head the ACA.

There were contradictory statements as to the probe into the allegations with Zulkipli saying he was cleared while then attorney-general Tan Sri Gani Patail reported as asking Bakri’s successor Tan Sri Musa Hassan to speed up investigations.

In fairness, Zulkipli was cleared later on but by then the credibility of the ACA was tattered and bruised.

Transparency International (TI) had placed Malaysia at 44th place in 2007 in its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) – a drop from 36th spot previously.

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