13/11: Guarding an empty field
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Illegal gathering causes traffic chaos in city
New Straits Times, 11 November 2007
KUALA LUMPUR: A crowd of about 4,000 gathered for an illegal march close to Dataran Merdeka yesterday, causing massive traffic jams across the city.
Police had to use tear gas and water cannons to disperse the demonstration, organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections or BERSIH, a grouping of opposition parties and non-governmental organisations.
The crowd converged on Masjid Jamek and the National Mosque to march towards Dataran Merdeka but failed to do so when police cordoned off the area.
“Police had to resort to such actions because the protesters refused to disperse when ordered to do so,” Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said.
He said 245 people were arrested and later released after their statements were taken.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, speaking to reporters in Pekan, Pahang, said those involved in the protest had caused difficulties to the people, especially traders and businessmen who had to close their shops and offices.
“This should not have happened because they were warned not to hold the protest.”
He said police would investigate the incident and take necessary action.
“Such incidents affect the business community and the public. We always give priority to peace and don't want to make the life of ordinary people difficult,” he said.
Kuala Lumpur police chief SAC 1 Zulhasnan Najib Baharudin said more than 1,000 policemen were on duty to control the situation.
Musa had on Thursday warned people to stay away from the gathering as it could lead to trouble and disrupt public order. He said police doubted the real motives of the gathering.
On Sept 8, a ceramah by BERSIH in Kuala Terengganu had turned into a riot which injured several people, including four policemen. So far, 16 men and four boys have been charged under the Police Act 1967 in connection with the disturbance.
BERSIH had posted on the Internet that it planned to gather 100,000 people at Dataran Merdeka at 3pm yesterday to march to Istana Negara to present a memorandum calling for reforms to the country's election system.
Traffic came to a standstill within the city, on its perimeters and extended to Cheras, Damansara and the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban highway near Sungai Besi.
Police and Federal Reserve Unit personnel were forced to use tear gas, water cannons and baton-charge the protesters when they refused to disperse resulting in the crowd running helter-skelter.
Many of the protesters, who wore yellow T-shirts and bandannas, later gathered outside Istana Negara and some opposition leaders handed over a memorandum to palace officials.
Read my lips, S-L-O-W-L-Y this time. It was NOT a demonstration. It was not even a protest. It was a march to hand a Memorandum to His Majesty The Agong. Prior to that, a letter was handed to The Agong to inform His Majesty that a group of 100,000 citizens was requesting an audience to hand over this Memorandum. The Agong responded by asking that another official letter be submitted listing down the names of the half a dozen or so representatives who would be going into the palace to deliver the Memorandum on behalf of the 100,000 citizens. This was complied with on the Friday before that.
For all intents and purposes, the Agong did not say no to the request for an audience. He just wanted to know who would be those representatives of the 100,000 citizens; citizens of the Agong. And in accordance to His Majesty’s wishes, the names were officially delivered by way of letter the day before. Of course, the Agong would not be in the palace that Saturday. Even before the 10 November march everyone knew that His Majesty would be gracing the Monsoon Cup in Terengganu. This is an annual affair and the date of the Monsoon Cup had been fixed way before the 10 November march was even mooted.
But no one expected The Agong to personally receive the Memorandum. After all this is not proper protocol. Proper protocol would be to hand the Memorandum to a palace official nominated by His Majesty to receive it on behalf of His Majesty. The Agong does not even personally make official announcements, though these announcements may be on behalf of the government. The official announcements are always done by the Keeper of the Royal Seal. Such is the proper protocol and it was expected that proper protocol would be observed in this instant as well.
But this did not stop the government-owned media from spinning the story that The Agong was not in the palace but in Terengganu that day. They tried to paint the scenario that this was abnormal and reflects the failure of BERSIH’s official delegation in meeting the Agong in person to hand the Memorandum to His Majesty. Such a thing would not be proper and no way would BERSIH expect the Agong to do what is not proper. The dignity of the institution of the Monarchy needs to be protected and just because BERSIH wanted to hand a Memorandum to the Agong does not mean that His Majesty needs to push aside protocol and forsake the dignity of the institution of the Monarchy.
The IGP proudly announced to the world that the police succeeded in frustrating the move by the marchers to assemble at the Dataran Merdeka. They failed in their objective, boasted the IGP. The police won, the people lost.
As they say, those who forget history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. You ignore history at your own peril. Hitler learned this the hard way. The beginning of the end for Napoleon was when he opened two battle fronts by engaging Russia. Hitler did the same and suffered Napoleon’s fate. Then, Hitler wrongly guessed where the Invasion of Normandy would take place just like the British before that in Singapore. The Allied forces landed in the least expected place and from thereon it was plain sailing all the way to Berlin.
Saddam too made the same mistake. He thought that the Allied forces would land in Kuwait and he sent his entire army to laze on the beach while waiting for the Americans and their buddies to sail straight into death’s door. Saddam cannot be blamed for thinking so because for weeks before the Iraqi invasion CNN had showed live footages of the Allied forces rehearsing the ‘Kuwait invasion’ which involved landing craft from ship to shore. Saddam should have remembered what happened to the British in Singapore. But he did not. How could he when for weeks CNN had showed scenes of the Allied forces training for an invasion by sea? Instead, the Allied forces parachuted into Iraq and caught the Iraqis completely by surprise. The Iraqi army was dissected into two and the South could not help those few trapped in the North. Iraq fell before you could finish screaming ‘Oil for Food Scandal’.
Yes, greater men than Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had been tricked and their armies massacred as they looked the other way. So Abdullah should not take it too hard or too personal. After all, Hitler and Saddam are certainly larger people than any Malaysian Prime Minister. And if they too could swallow a Red Herring -- hook, line and sinker -- can we blame Abdullah who is not even a fraction of these two?
No, in spite of the IGP’s happy rhetoric and boastful statement that the police won and the marchers lost, the opposite actually holds true. The organisers never intended to converge onto Dataran Merdeka. This was a mere Red Herring.
Of course, the hype over the months leading to the march gave the impression that there was going to be a gathering at Dataran Merdeka. And it was going to be at 3.00pm on Saturday, 10 November 2007. Even the party leaders were made to believe so and all and sundry were geared towards this gathering at Dataran Merdeka. The organisers even applied for a police permit to hold this ‘gathering’, which was of course rejected. And the organisers continued announcing that the 3.00pm gathering at Dataran Merdeka would not be aborted in spite of the rejection of the police permit. And the reason the police rejected the application for the permit, other than for so-called security reasons, is that because the organisers had not obtained permission from City Hall to use Dataran Merdeka for the gathering.
The whole country was made to believe that an illegal gathering would be held at Dataran Merdeka. Even the top echelons of the political parties thought so, as did the government and the police. But only a handful of the planners knew what the real game plan was. Not even the committee members or the ‘field commanders’ were privy to the details. They were only told that ‘Plan A’ was to gather at the Dataran Merdeka. But there would be three other plans; Plan B, Plan C and Plan D. So wait for Saturday morning and they would be told whether it would be Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, or Plan D.
But there was no Plan A. There was also no Plan B, Plan C or Plan D. There was only one plan, to march to the Istana Negara. And to be able to do this the police needed to be sent to Dataran Merdeka. And they went there. And they guarded an empty padang which was deserted except for the occasional swallow that landed to look for a stray worm. And while the police idled away in the hot sun followed by soaking rain, the field commanders were told to pass word to their group that the assembly points had been changed. Abandon Dataran Merdeka. Instead, head for the five designated assembly points.
Thousands of SMSess floated in the air that Saturday morning. A chain reaction was triggered that sent everyone aiming for the new meeting points. They were told they should assemble at these new points and from there ‘crash’ into Dataran Merdeka by force. 4,000 police, however well-armed they may be, are no match for 50,000 marchers. But would they invade Dataran Merdeka with children, women, one-legged men on crutches, those in wheelchairs, old men, and so on, in their midst? No, the plan was to march to the Istana Negara. That was the only plan. And the march would be a breeze with no obstacles to hinder them considering all the police were vigilantly guarding the extremely deserted Dataran Merdeka.
Yes, that was the plan. The plan was to deliver a Memorandum to the Agong. It was not to invade Dataran Merdeka. It was not to battle the police. It was not to put the children, women, one-legged men on crutches, those in wheelchairs, old men, and so on, at risk. It was to march to the Istana Negara to deliver a Memorandum. And that was achieved.
Yes, it is true that the entire Kelang Valley was paralysed that day. But it was not paralysed because of the march. It was paralysed because the police had sealed all the roads leading into Kuala Lumpur. 50,000 marchers were caught in this jam. 50,000 marchers could not get into Kuala Lumpur. So it became a march of 50,000 instead of 100,000. But whether it was 50,000 or 100,000 what does it matter? The Memorandum to the Agong reached the Istana Negara nevertheless, even with a mere 50,000 marchers. And that was what we wanted and that was what happened.
We will talk more about the 10 November 2007 march in the next episode. Yes, there is more to talk about. We need to talk about the allegation that this was an opposition event, we need to talk about the allegation that the Monarchy is being dragged into politics, we need to talk about what we hope to achieve with all this, we need to talk about what comes next, and much more. In the meantime, let us sit back and gloat about how the Royal Malaysian Police was sent to guard an empty field the whole day long while we casually strolled to the Istana Negara for our appointment with the Agong. Oh, and before I sign off, Saturday is ‘wear yellow day’. Wear anything yellow every Saturday whether it is a shirt, T-shirt, scarf, tudung, baseball cap, ribbon on your lapel, wrist band, etc. Just make sure it is yellow.
Daulat Tuanku!
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Illegal gathering causes traffic chaos in city
New Straits Times, 11 November 2007
KUALA LUMPUR: A crowd of about 4,000 gathered for an illegal march close to Dataran Merdeka yesterday, causing massive traffic jams across the city.
Police had to use tear gas and water cannons to disperse the demonstration, organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections or BERSIH, a grouping of opposition parties and non-governmental organisations.
The crowd converged on Masjid Jamek and the National Mosque to march towards Dataran Merdeka but failed to do so when police cordoned off the area.
“Police had to resort to such actions because the protesters refused to disperse when ordered to do so,” Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said.
He said 245 people were arrested and later released after their statements were taken.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, speaking to reporters in Pekan, Pahang, said those involved in the protest had caused difficulties to the people, especially traders and businessmen who had to close their shops and offices.
“This should not have happened because they were warned not to hold the protest.”
He said police would investigate the incident and take necessary action.
“Such incidents affect the business community and the public. We always give priority to peace and don't want to make the life of ordinary people difficult,” he said.
Kuala Lumpur police chief SAC 1 Zulhasnan Najib Baharudin said more than 1,000 policemen were on duty to control the situation.
Musa had on Thursday warned people to stay away from the gathering as it could lead to trouble and disrupt public order. He said police doubted the real motives of the gathering.
On Sept 8, a ceramah by BERSIH in Kuala Terengganu had turned into a riot which injured several people, including four policemen. So far, 16 men and four boys have been charged under the Police Act 1967 in connection with the disturbance.
BERSIH had posted on the Internet that it planned to gather 100,000 people at Dataran Merdeka at 3pm yesterday to march to Istana Negara to present a memorandum calling for reforms to the country's election system.
Traffic came to a standstill within the city, on its perimeters and extended to Cheras, Damansara and the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban highway near Sungai Besi.
Police and Federal Reserve Unit personnel were forced to use tear gas, water cannons and baton-charge the protesters when they refused to disperse resulting in the crowd running helter-skelter.
Many of the protesters, who wore yellow T-shirts and bandannas, later gathered outside Istana Negara and some opposition leaders handed over a memorandum to palace officials.
Read my lips, S-L-O-W-L-Y this time. It was NOT a demonstration. It was not even a protest. It was a march to hand a Memorandum to His Majesty The Agong. Prior to that, a letter was handed to The Agong to inform His Majesty that a group of 100,000 citizens was requesting an audience to hand over this Memorandum. The Agong responded by asking that another official letter be submitted listing down the names of the half a dozen or so representatives who would be going into the palace to deliver the Memorandum on behalf of the 100,000 citizens. This was complied with on the Friday before that.
For all intents and purposes, the Agong did not say no to the request for an audience. He just wanted to know who would be those representatives of the 100,000 citizens; citizens of the Agong. And in accordance to His Majesty’s wishes, the names were officially delivered by way of letter the day before. Of course, the Agong would not be in the palace that Saturday. Even before the 10 November march everyone knew that His Majesty would be gracing the Monsoon Cup in Terengganu. This is an annual affair and the date of the Monsoon Cup had been fixed way before the 10 November march was even mooted.
But no one expected The Agong to personally receive the Memorandum. After all this is not proper protocol. Proper protocol would be to hand the Memorandum to a palace official nominated by His Majesty to receive it on behalf of His Majesty. The Agong does not even personally make official announcements, though these announcements may be on behalf of the government. The official announcements are always done by the Keeper of the Royal Seal. Such is the proper protocol and it was expected that proper protocol would be observed in this instant as well.
But this did not stop the government-owned media from spinning the story that The Agong was not in the palace but in Terengganu that day. They tried to paint the scenario that this was abnormal and reflects the failure of BERSIH’s official delegation in meeting the Agong in person to hand the Memorandum to His Majesty. Such a thing would not be proper and no way would BERSIH expect the Agong to do what is not proper. The dignity of the institution of the Monarchy needs to be protected and just because BERSIH wanted to hand a Memorandum to the Agong does not mean that His Majesty needs to push aside protocol and forsake the dignity of the institution of the Monarchy.
The IGP proudly announced to the world that the police succeeded in frustrating the move by the marchers to assemble at the Dataran Merdeka. They failed in their objective, boasted the IGP. The police won, the people lost.
As they say, those who forget history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. You ignore history at your own peril. Hitler learned this the hard way. The beginning of the end for Napoleon was when he opened two battle fronts by engaging Russia. Hitler did the same and suffered Napoleon’s fate. Then, Hitler wrongly guessed where the Invasion of Normandy would take place just like the British before that in Singapore. The Allied forces landed in the least expected place and from thereon it was plain sailing all the way to Berlin.
Saddam too made the same mistake. He thought that the Allied forces would land in Kuwait and he sent his entire army to laze on the beach while waiting for the Americans and their buddies to sail straight into death’s door. Saddam cannot be blamed for thinking so because for weeks before the Iraqi invasion CNN had showed live footages of the Allied forces rehearsing the ‘Kuwait invasion’ which involved landing craft from ship to shore. Saddam should have remembered what happened to the British in Singapore. But he did not. How could he when for weeks CNN had showed scenes of the Allied forces training for an invasion by sea? Instead, the Allied forces parachuted into Iraq and caught the Iraqis completely by surprise. The Iraqi army was dissected into two and the South could not help those few trapped in the North. Iraq fell before you could finish screaming ‘Oil for Food Scandal’.
Yes, greater men than Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had been tricked and their armies massacred as they looked the other way. So Abdullah should not take it too hard or too personal. After all, Hitler and Saddam are certainly larger people than any Malaysian Prime Minister. And if they too could swallow a Red Herring -- hook, line and sinker -- can we blame Abdullah who is not even a fraction of these two?
No, in spite of the IGP’s happy rhetoric and boastful statement that the police won and the marchers lost, the opposite actually holds true. The organisers never intended to converge onto Dataran Merdeka. This was a mere Red Herring.
Of course, the hype over the months leading to the march gave the impression that there was going to be a gathering at Dataran Merdeka. And it was going to be at 3.00pm on Saturday, 10 November 2007. Even the party leaders were made to believe so and all and sundry were geared towards this gathering at Dataran Merdeka. The organisers even applied for a police permit to hold this ‘gathering’, which was of course rejected. And the organisers continued announcing that the 3.00pm gathering at Dataran Merdeka would not be aborted in spite of the rejection of the police permit. And the reason the police rejected the application for the permit, other than for so-called security reasons, is that because the organisers had not obtained permission from City Hall to use Dataran Merdeka for the gathering.
The whole country was made to believe that an illegal gathering would be held at Dataran Merdeka. Even the top echelons of the political parties thought so, as did the government and the police. But only a handful of the planners knew what the real game plan was. Not even the committee members or the ‘field commanders’ were privy to the details. They were only told that ‘Plan A’ was to gather at the Dataran Merdeka. But there would be three other plans; Plan B, Plan C and Plan D. So wait for Saturday morning and they would be told whether it would be Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, or Plan D.
But there was no Plan A. There was also no Plan B, Plan C or Plan D. There was only one plan, to march to the Istana Negara. And to be able to do this the police needed to be sent to Dataran Merdeka. And they went there. And they guarded an empty padang which was deserted except for the occasional swallow that landed to look for a stray worm. And while the police idled away in the hot sun followed by soaking rain, the field commanders were told to pass word to their group that the assembly points had been changed. Abandon Dataran Merdeka. Instead, head for the five designated assembly points.
Thousands of SMSess floated in the air that Saturday morning. A chain reaction was triggered that sent everyone aiming for the new meeting points. They were told they should assemble at these new points and from there ‘crash’ into Dataran Merdeka by force. 4,000 police, however well-armed they may be, are no match for 50,000 marchers. But would they invade Dataran Merdeka with children, women, one-legged men on crutches, those in wheelchairs, old men, and so on, in their midst? No, the plan was to march to the Istana Negara. That was the only plan. And the march would be a breeze with no obstacles to hinder them considering all the police were vigilantly guarding the extremely deserted Dataran Merdeka.
Yes, that was the plan. The plan was to deliver a Memorandum to the Agong. It was not to invade Dataran Merdeka. It was not to battle the police. It was not to put the children, women, one-legged men on crutches, those in wheelchairs, old men, and so on, at risk. It was to march to the Istana Negara to deliver a Memorandum. And that was achieved.
Yes, it is true that the entire Kelang Valley was paralysed that day. But it was not paralysed because of the march. It was paralysed because the police had sealed all the roads leading into Kuala Lumpur. 50,000 marchers were caught in this jam. 50,000 marchers could not get into Kuala Lumpur. So it became a march of 50,000 instead of 100,000. But whether it was 50,000 or 100,000 what does it matter? The Memorandum to the Agong reached the Istana Negara nevertheless, even with a mere 50,000 marchers. And that was what we wanted and that was what happened.
We will talk more about the 10 November 2007 march in the next episode. Yes, there is more to talk about. We need to talk about the allegation that this was an opposition event, we need to talk about the allegation that the Monarchy is being dragged into politics, we need to talk about what we hope to achieve with all this, we need to talk about what comes next, and much more. In the meantime, let us sit back and gloat about how the Royal Malaysian Police was sent to guard an empty field the whole day long while we casually strolled to the Istana Negara for our appointment with the Agong. Oh, and before I sign off, Saturday is ‘wear yellow day’. Wear anything yellow every Saturday whether it is a shirt, T-shirt, scarf, tudung, baseball cap, ribbon on your lapel, wrist band, etc. Just make sure it is yellow.
Daulat Tuanku!
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Ever since I assumed the post, I must say that public perception towards my department is much better. The Star and the other press have given us good coverage and input. We will definitely fight against corruption and I can assure you the ACA is going to be more open so that the public can judge for themselves whether we have done our job within the confines of the law. I rather make the ACA a respected agency than a feared one -- Anti-Corruption Agency Director-general Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan
Just before the recent Hari Raya holidays, a lawyer from one of Malaysia’s leading law firms was arrested and detained overnight in the ACA lockup in Putrajaya. (Read: The land of Walt Disney). What was this lawyer, Rosli Dahlan, guilty of? Did he bribe a government officer? Did he pay RM50 to a policeman to avoid getting fined RM300 for speeding? Did he solicit and receive a bribe from a supplier or contractor as an inducement for dishing out lucrative contracts? No, his ‘crime’ was acting as a solicitor for a senior police officer who was being accused of accumulating RM27 million in undeclared assets.
We must take note of one thing here. The police officer, the Director of the Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID), was not being investigated for accumulating the alleged RM27 million in assets. They are not concerned with how he accumulated those assets over 37 years of service. They are just concerned with the fact that he did not declare them. His ‘crime’, therefore, was not in how he acquired those assets but in not declaring them. There is no crime involved here as far as the accumulation of assets is concerned. The ‘crime’ is that he did not declare them.
The Director of the CCID engaged Rosli as his solicitor. It was Rosli’s job as the solicitor to reply to the ACA query. And Rosli did. And for doing exactly what the Federal Constitution of Malaysia says every Malaysian citizen has a right to do -- to engage a lawyer and defend himself/herself against a criminal allegation -- Rosli himself came under the ACA investigation.
The ACA then asked Rosli to also declare his assets. Rosli wrote back asking for further clarification but the ACA ignored his query. Instead, they came to his office and in full view of the office staff arrested him, handcuffed him while roughly manhandling him resulting in injury, and threw him into the lockup for the night. The following day, Rosli was charged for failing to comply to an ACA directive.
Soon after that, the Director of the CCID too was arrested and charged for failure to declare his assets. He was slapped with four charges but the figure did not come to the RM27 million that was initially leaked to the media. How this RM27 million figure came about and who leaked it to the media will remain a mystery. Nevertheless, the charge stated a figure slightly over RM1 million and nowhere near the RM27 million that everyone thought was involved here.
But Rosli was not the only victim. The CCID Director’s two sisters too were taken in by the ACA. And it was reported that as soon as the Director left to perform his Umrah (small Haj), they brought his sisters in again to extract a ‘confession’ from them.
Ealier, similar tactics were used against another police officer (Read: Blow away the whistle-blower). In this case, the wife and children of this particular police officer were detained by the ACA and he was asked to report to the ACA office if he would like to see his family released. They then took his statement which was used to charge him later. But that is not the icing on the cake here. What would be the icing on the cake is that in the seven charges filed against him and his subordinate, the names of the informers or whistle-blowers were mentioned. This is as good as signing the death warrants of the whistle-blowers. Now, the organised crime syndicate knows who spilled the beans. How long do you think they have to live?
You want to be a Good Samaritan and help people in distress? You want to ‘assist’ the police and ACA in reducing the crime rate in Malaysia by becoming a whistle-blower? You want to do the job you are paid to do: that is, arresting criminals who are a danger to society? Please say ‘no’ to all three questions. And why is that? I will allow the following newspaper reports and documents speak for themselves. See whether you can figure out which are the police officers, which are the criminals, and which are the whistle-blowers. A word of caution though, it is not that easy to tell one from the other. And the whistle-blowers’ names have been documented on the charge sheet below. So this means their death warrants have already been signed by the ACA.
Oh, and one more thing, the ACA is actually feared and not respected, but only by those who go against the powers-that-be and refuse to obey those who walk in the corridors of power.
Three more cops held for falsifying witnesses’ statements
By LOURDES CHARLES
The Star, 24 October 2007
Three police officers – a deputy superintendent, assistant superintendent and sergeant – were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) for falsifying witnesses’ statements leading to the arrest of a businessman in Johor. The trio – from the Commercial Crimes Department (CCID) in Bukit Aman – were arrested at their office in Bukit Perdana by ACA officers yesterday. They are expected to be charged at the Jalan Duta Sessions Court today.
ACA Director-general Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan confirmed the arrests but declined to elaborate. It is learnt that the three allegedly falsified the witnesses’ statements to frame charges against a man, alleging that he was involved in illegal activities. The businessman was arrested under the Emergency Ordinance and placed under Restricted Residence in an east coast state.
The arrest of the three is the second such arrest by the ACA involving police officers and personnel falsifying witnesses’ statements. The ACA had on Oct 2 arrested two police officers who allegedly tried to frame Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan by forging and tampering with witnesses’ statements, claiming that Musa had freed three people detained under the Emergency Ordinance after receiving RM2mil.
The two – a chief Inspector and a lance corporal – were arrested in Kuantan and Kluang.
Two policemen held for falsifying statements
By LOURDES CHARLES
The Star, 3 Oct 2007
Two police officers who allegedly tried to frame Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan by falsifying and tampering with witness statements have been arrested. The two, a chief inspector and a lance corporal, were arrested in Kuantan and Kluang yesterday. They are both in their 40s.
ACA director-general Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan said they allegedly falsified the statements of seven witnesses as a basis to arrest three people under the Emergency Ordinance 1969 by claiming that they were members of a gaming syndicate. “As a result, the three were arrested by police officers from the Kluang district police headquarters on March 30,” he said.
The three men were freed after investigations into their cases and allegations arose of Musa ordering the three people to be freed after receiving RM2mil.
Ahmad Said said investigations showed that when the three were detained, Musa had received information that they had been framed. He said Musa ordered CID officers from the intelligence and operations division to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. ACA investigations later revealed that the IGP did not order or issue any instruction to release the three, he added.
“However, the IGP said if there was any abuse of power or fabrication of evidence, then they must be released,” he said. Ahmad Said added that CID investigations also revealed that the seven who were detained denied ever giving statements to the Kluang police about the involvement of the three people in a gaming syndicate.
As a result, the three were freed in April.
The chief inspector was arrested in Kuantan at about 3pm yesterday when he was called in for questioning while the lance corporal was arrested in Kluang at about 11pm. The officer who was arrested in Kuantan was previously in Kluang where he was attached to the anti-vice and gaming division.
Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said both were expected to be charged today with forgery and with using as genuine a forged document.
If convicted they could be jailed up to two years or a fine or both for each of the offence.
PREVIOUS REPORTS
1. Malaysia’s organised crime syndicate: all roads lead to Putrajaya
2. The roaches are scurrying and the rats are hurrying
3. Please, IGP, explain this!
4. The latest update on Infohub Sdn Bhd
5. The walls come crumbling down
6. No peace on Peace Hill
7. Who’s running the asylum anyway?
8. Blow away the whistle-blower
9. Nothing but a den of thieves
10. The land of Walt Disney
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Ever since I assumed the post, I must say that public perception towards my department is much better. The Star and the other press have given us good coverage and input. We will definitely fight against corruption and I can assure you the ACA is going to be more open so that the public can judge for themselves whether we have done our job within the confines of the law. I rather make the ACA a respected agency than a feared one -- Anti-Corruption Agency Director-general Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan
Just before the recent Hari Raya holidays, a lawyer from one of Malaysia’s leading law firms was arrested and detained overnight in the ACA lockup in Putrajaya. (Read: The land of Walt Disney). What was this lawyer, Rosli Dahlan, guilty of? Did he bribe a government officer? Did he pay RM50 to a policeman to avoid getting fined RM300 for speeding? Did he solicit and receive a bribe from a supplier or contractor as an inducement for dishing out lucrative contracts? No, his ‘crime’ was acting as a solicitor for a senior police officer who was being accused of accumulating RM27 million in undeclared assets.
We must take note of one thing here. The police officer, the Director of the Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID), was not being investigated for accumulating the alleged RM27 million in assets. They are not concerned with how he accumulated those assets over 37 years of service. They are just concerned with the fact that he did not declare them. His ‘crime’, therefore, was not in how he acquired those assets but in not declaring them. There is no crime involved here as far as the accumulation of assets is concerned. The ‘crime’ is that he did not declare them.
The Director of the CCID engaged Rosli as his solicitor. It was Rosli’s job as the solicitor to reply to the ACA query. And Rosli did. And for doing exactly what the Federal Constitution of Malaysia says every Malaysian citizen has a right to do -- to engage a lawyer and defend himself/herself against a criminal allegation -- Rosli himself came under the ACA investigation.
The ACA then asked Rosli to also declare his assets. Rosli wrote back asking for further clarification but the ACA ignored his query. Instead, they came to his office and in full view of the office staff arrested him, handcuffed him while roughly manhandling him resulting in injury, and threw him into the lockup for the night. The following day, Rosli was charged for failing to comply to an ACA directive.
Soon after that, the Director of the CCID too was arrested and charged for failure to declare his assets. He was slapped with four charges but the figure did not come to the RM27 million that was initially leaked to the media. How this RM27 million figure came about and who leaked it to the media will remain a mystery. Nevertheless, the charge stated a figure slightly over RM1 million and nowhere near the RM27 million that everyone thought was involved here.
But Rosli was not the only victim. The CCID Director’s two sisters too were taken in by the ACA. And it was reported that as soon as the Director left to perform his Umrah (small Haj), they brought his sisters in again to extract a ‘confession’ from them.
Ealier, similar tactics were used against another police officer (Read: Blow away the whistle-blower). In this case, the wife and children of this particular police officer were detained by the ACA and he was asked to report to the ACA office if he would like to see his family released. They then took his statement which was used to charge him later. But that is not the icing on the cake here. What would be the icing on the cake is that in the seven charges filed against him and his subordinate, the names of the informers or whistle-blowers were mentioned. This is as good as signing the death warrants of the whistle-blowers. Now, the organised crime syndicate knows who spilled the beans. How long do you think they have to live?
You want to be a Good Samaritan and help people in distress? You want to ‘assist’ the police and ACA in reducing the crime rate in Malaysia by becoming a whistle-blower? You want to do the job you are paid to do: that is, arresting criminals who are a danger to society? Please say ‘no’ to all three questions. And why is that? I will allow the following newspaper reports and documents speak for themselves. See whether you can figure out which are the police officers, which are the criminals, and which are the whistle-blowers. A word of caution though, it is not that easy to tell one from the other. And the whistle-blowers’ names have been documented on the charge sheet below. So this means their death warrants have already been signed by the ACA.
Oh, and one more thing, the ACA is actually feared and not respected, but only by those who go against the powers-that-be and refuse to obey those who walk in the corridors of power.
Three more cops held for falsifying witnesses’ statements
By LOURDES CHARLES
The Star, 24 October 2007
Three police officers – a deputy superintendent, assistant superintendent and sergeant – were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) for falsifying witnesses’ statements leading to the arrest of a businessman in Johor. The trio – from the Commercial Crimes Department (CCID) in Bukit Aman – were arrested at their office in Bukit Perdana by ACA officers yesterday. They are expected to be charged at the Jalan Duta Sessions Court today.
ACA Director-general Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan confirmed the arrests but declined to elaborate. It is learnt that the three allegedly falsified the witnesses’ statements to frame charges against a man, alleging that he was involved in illegal activities. The businessman was arrested under the Emergency Ordinance and placed under Restricted Residence in an east coast state.
The arrest of the three is the second such arrest by the ACA involving police officers and personnel falsifying witnesses’ statements. The ACA had on Oct 2 arrested two police officers who allegedly tried to frame Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan by forging and tampering with witnesses’ statements, claiming that Musa had freed three people detained under the Emergency Ordinance after receiving RM2mil.
The two – a chief Inspector and a lance corporal – were arrested in Kuantan and Kluang.
Two policemen held for falsifying statements
By LOURDES CHARLES
The Star, 3 Oct 2007
Two police officers who allegedly tried to frame Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan by falsifying and tampering with witness statements have been arrested. The two, a chief inspector and a lance corporal, were arrested in Kuantan and Kluang yesterday. They are both in their 40s.
ACA director-general Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan said they allegedly falsified the statements of seven witnesses as a basis to arrest three people under the Emergency Ordinance 1969 by claiming that they were members of a gaming syndicate. “As a result, the three were arrested by police officers from the Kluang district police headquarters on March 30,” he said.
The three men were freed after investigations into their cases and allegations arose of Musa ordering the three people to be freed after receiving RM2mil.
Ahmad Said said investigations showed that when the three were detained, Musa had received information that they had been framed. He said Musa ordered CID officers from the intelligence and operations division to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. ACA investigations later revealed that the IGP did not order or issue any instruction to release the three, he added.
“However, the IGP said if there was any abuse of power or fabrication of evidence, then they must be released,” he said. Ahmad Said added that CID investigations also revealed that the seven who were detained denied ever giving statements to the Kluang police about the involvement of the three people in a gaming syndicate.
As a result, the three were freed in April.
The chief inspector was arrested in Kuantan at about 3pm yesterday when he was called in for questioning while the lance corporal was arrested in Kluang at about 11pm. The officer who was arrested in Kuantan was previously in Kluang where he was attached to the anti-vice and gaming division.
Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said both were expected to be charged today with forgery and with using as genuine a forged document.
If convicted they could be jailed up to two years or a fine or both for each of the offence.
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