I applaud the Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein for his prompt response and clarification that he had never written a letter stating support for any individual to the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) now or during his time as Home Minister.
Hishammuddin was asked about this today, as I had issued a statement last Friday asking previous Home Ministers, in particular Zahid’s predecessor Hishammuddin as well as former occupants of this key post like Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad and Datuk Azmi Khalid to “speak up and clear themselves and to put the record straight” whether they had also written clarification letters to FBI has Zahid had done.
This was because Zahid had made the astonishing claim in his statement last Thursday when trying to exonerate himself from any wrong in his infamous letter to the FBI vouching for the character of alleged gambling kingpin Paul Phua, standing trial in Las Vegas, Nevada for illegal gambling, that previous Home Ministers before him had also written such clarification letters.
Has Zahid been caught red-handed telling a lie, unfairly, unjustly and dishonourably implicating other Ministers whether of this administration or previous regimes?
To be frank, I never believed that previous Home Ministers had behaved like Zahid, writing unilaterally to the FBI, without the knowledge or the police or the Inspector-General of Police at the time, contradicting earlier police reports to the FBI, as well as without the knowledge or clearance from the Foreign Ministry.
This would be the conduct of a disgraceful and shambolic government, with Ministers acting in so indisciplined, wild and arbitrary fashion, betraying and disgracing the national trust imposed on them in their appointment as Home Ministers in the Cabinet. It is pertinent to note that Zahid used the plural of “Home Ministers” and not the singular, which means more than one, of his predecessors who had penned letters like what he had done.
Hishammuddin has denied.l What about the others – Hamid Albar, Mohd Radzai, Azmi Khalid? Probably, we should go further back which will rope in Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Tun Mahathir Mohamad as previous Home Ministers?
Zahid had already told untruths about the Cabinet having approved his infamous letter to the FBI, as Wisma Putra had clarified the Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Anifah Musa’s statement that the Cabinet only “heard” and not “accepted” Zahid’s explanation. Zahid should be reminded of the axiom that if a person tells a lie, he would have to tell a thousand lies to cover up the original line – which seems to be the dilemma Zahid has put himself in.
Be that as it may, national interests demand that the whole truth about Zahid’s infamous letter to FBI to vouch for the character of the alleged gambling kingpin must be fully revealed, or Zahid should expect to be impaled on the issue in the March meeting of Parliament.