The police decision to classify the report lodged by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption
Commission (MACC) against whistleblower Lalitha Kunaratnam as NFA (No further action) is an open slap-in-the face for the MACC Chief Commissioner Azam Baki and the MACC.

The police action has fortified the argument that Azam should go on leave until he could clear his name of the conflict-of-interest allegations made against him at the end of October last year.

The MACC Chief Commissioner Azam is setting a bad example in the vindictive way he is retaliating against Lalitha for her public service in her two-part article –“Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does it Go?” – which was published by the Independent News Service (INS) in October last year.

As veteran journalist R Nadeswaran has pointed out, asking questions about publicly available information constitutes no offence.

Why is Azam suing Lalitha for defamation instead of setting a public example of protecting a whistleblower’s rights.

What is worse, Azam’s bad example is being followed by the Pahang State Government, which has threatened legal action against an environmental activist, Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil, President of Pertubuhan Pelindung Khazanah Alam Malaysia (PEKA), for alleged defamation over comments made on the state’s involvement in logging activities unless she issued an apology and paid
RM1 million in compensation.

Will the Pahang state government practise good governance by engaging with the environmentalists and responding to the allegations about logging activities in Pahang instead of threatening and instituting legal proceedings?

Azam is setting a bad example of retaliating against whistle-blowers but he cannot use the court action to avoid being an example of integrity, probity and accountability in the public service, especially as he is the MACC Chief Commissioner and should be the prime example of integrity, probity and accountability.

This is why I have submitted a questions for oral answer for the first week of the forthcoming Parliament when it reconvenes on February 28, 2022 – “To ask the Prime Minister why the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner Azam Baki has not been asked to go leave until he has cleared the conflict-of-interest allegations made against him as far back as October 2021”.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 13th February 2022)