Media Statement by MP for Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 5th May 2021:

#KerajaanGagal22 – Hamzah would have been forced to resign as Home Minister if Malaysia is a normal functioning democracy

If Malaysia is a normal functioning democracy, Hamzah Zainuddin would have been forced to resign as Home Minister as happened to John Profumo in the United Kingdom in 1963 as Secretary of State for War for the Christine Keeler scandal or Abdul Rahman Talib as Minister for Education in Malaysia in December 1964 when he lost the defamation suit to the People’s Progressive Party leader, D.R.Seenivasagam.

But Malaysia is not a normal functioning democracy and does not even try to be one.

It is a backdoor, incompetent, undemocratic, kakistocratic and illegitimate government which is afraid to convene Parliament as it is not sure of a majority in Parliament.

This is why there is the brazen effrontery of Hamzah Zainuddin who admitted that the voice in a viral audio clip dismissing the selection of a new police chief was his, yet claiming that there was nothing wrong or no offence committed.

Any decent and self-respecting politician in the European democracies would have resigned as Home Minister after the circulation of the viral audio clip, but not Hamzah.

This would have happened in Asian democracies like Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, India, Indonesia and Singapore, where there is a greater sense of political decency and propriety but not in Malaysia.

For what Hamzah has done as admitted in the viral audio clip has crossed the red line in a functioning democracy – a Minister who tried to subvert and suborn the independence and professionalism of the Royal Malaysian Police and preventing it from becoming a competent, professional world-class police force.

Yesterday, the former  inspector-general Abdul Hamid Bador, who is back to civvies, revealed the story behind Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin’s purported attempt to appoint “his boy” into the Royal Malaysian Police Force.

Hamid was quoted as saying that it involved Hamzah’s attempt to install his favoured candidate to lead the Special Branch after the police intelligence unit snubbed the minister’s request to conduct political operations.

The revelation came amid Hamzah’s own admission that he was the person in a leaked audio recording that discussed appointing people aligned to him to key positions in the police force, whom he referred to as “our boy”.

Hamid was quoted as saying that the Special Branch was unsettled by the actions of Hamzah, whom he referred to as “MDN” (Menteri Dalam Negeri), in the past year.

He said: “I was informed the MDN forced the Special Branch to conduct a number of operations for his own political purpose.

“I cannot reveal the operations as every Special Branch operation is secret but suffice to say that the objective of the operation does not suit the Special Branch’s national security mandate.”

Hamid said the Special Branch had rejected Hamzah’s request to participate in the operation and reported him to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

He added that the prime minister had agreed that the Special Branch should not be doing political work, which enraged Hamzah.

Subsequently, Hamid said Hamzah cooperated with a senior Special Branch officer whose contract ended last year.

The minister was said to have arranged for ‘his boy’ (the retired senior Special Branch officer) to lead the Special Branch.

Hamid said: “As evident, on Feb 16, the current Special Branch chief was summoned by the chief secretary to the government who asked him to voluntarily end his contract.

“Otherwise, a one-month notice of termination will be issued. The minister appeared impatient for ‘his boy’ to fill the position even though the Special Branch chief’s contract will only end in mid-June.”

Hamid said the matter was again brought to the prime minister who then instructed for the Special Branch chief to be retained.

Is this expose the reason why Hamzah was absent from the handing-over ceremony from the outgoing IGP to the new IGP Acryl Sani Abdulah Sani yesterday, despite Hamzah’s larger-than-life face plastered on the backdrop of the event’s stage?