Election Double Jeopardy for Najib - Attorney General of Malaysia and Anti Corruption Chief
Election Double
Jeopardy for Najib - Attorney General of Malaysia and Anti Corruption Chief.
Even Najib's
detractors and opponents will now admit that he has formulated practical and
visionary policies for his country. He has organized his development programs
into "transformation packages - ETP, GTP and
so on. His policies are transparent and bottoms up with workshops dan road
shows held to include feedback from the grassroots. This is a far cry from
Mahathir's dictatorial and crony inclined approach.
Najib has survived a
political "coup" in 2015 largely due to his political acumen in
selecting the right core advisers. The
political market talk is that Najib has never been more stable politically and
is ready to face the coming elections. Obviously he has many more challenges to
overcome which will be created by the opposition led by Mahathir.
However, two months
ago, institutional developments in Malaysia seems to threaten his political
stability again. It even can become an election issue that will unnecessarily
take away votes from his ruling Barisan Nasional party.
Since Ghani Patail's
involvement in the 1MDB task force, the AG chambers of Malaysia has been under
the watchful eye of both urban and rural Malaysia. Allegations of corruption,
even if untrue, against both the AG and the MACC chief does not hold well for
the image of these top brass and the institution they are heading. This is
especially so when no effort has been made to refute them!
Raja Petra owns and
writes for Malaysia Today on the internet.
Raja Petra first
brought to light these allegations against the AG, Apandi Ali, implicating
directly the role of a member of Parliament, Azeez Rahim, another very close
aide of Najib. The
political circle in Malaysia perceive that nowadays Petra writes for Najib's
interests. Hard
copies of Petra's writings together with Malay translations are now making the
rounds in rural and Malay urban Malaysia. Some
circles are reading this episode to mean that Najib is serious about wanting to
rid the institutions of corruption and that this is his boys are paving the way
for the boss - a clean, trustworthy AG chambers.
The MACC chief,
Dzulkiflee is
being seen as a political animal who is more keen on promoting himself rather
than getting on with the task of fighting corruption. He has spend tons of the
people's money on ostentatious programs, so called to fight corruption, but
calculated for self promotion rather than institutional promotion. He goes on
youtube channels, sprouts out poetry, attends political (BN organized) events,
sermons in mosques and such events ordinarily carried out by politicians.
Even before the
expose of his not syariah compliant adventure with a married women became
public, he was already being seen as a liability to Najib vis a vis
credibility. Inner circles know that Dzulkiflee
has a pact with Awang Armadajaya, the key senior man in AG Chambers with his
eyes on the AG's position after Apandi retires in June 2018. Awang at the same
time is positioned as an aide of Apandi! Dzulkiflee
and Awang play their card very well keeping their close relationship not so
obvious to AG. They
both use Islam as a powerful tool to influence and move upwards in their
career. In Malaysia, where the majority are Malays, this works. More on
Dzulkiflee and Awang will follow later on this blog.
Looking at
complicated power play involving Apandi Ali, Dzulkiflee and Awang as the trojan
horse, it is no surprise to many in the circle the apparent spat between Apandi
and Dzulkiflee.
The challenge facing
Najib now is this: will he remove these political liabilities and restore
confidence in the AG chambers and MACC or will he push it under the carpet
until it starts burning?
Syed Kamran Ali
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