Juslo's Bawang
(Kuala Lumpur, 31 September 2011) Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner, Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed, today vehemently defended his refusal to resign, even though MACC has so far failed to take any action against the country’s most powerful politicians such as the Prime Minister Najib Razak, Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman for alleged corruption.
Last year, the MACC Chief denied the allegation that MACC was not serious in tackling bribery and only caught the 'ikan bilis' (those involved in small bribes) instead of the 'sharks'; he said MACC had never turned a blind eye to the 'big fish', and told a gathering of innocent, naïve, primary school kids in a public relations event that,
“You know that I am (100% prepared to take action against any members of the cabinet for corruption). I can make sure that if there is a case and report against any cabinet minister (and subsequently no action is taken), I am willing to go down.”
But today, Abu Kassim clarified what he meant last year,
“Please read my speech carefully. I said “cabinet minister”, but I did not say “Prime Minister” or “Chief Minister”, am I right?? Yes, I did say before that I'll quit if big fish are let off, but hey, don’t you people watch National Geographic? Didn’t your teachers teach you people that whale is NOT a fish but a mammal?? I said MACC would catch the 'sharks', yes, but we never said we would catch whales! Whales are in a completely different category than fish, big or small!”
“We have no problem catching sharks but do you know how dangerous it is to catch a whale?? If a whale flips its tail, it will cause a tsunami, and the whole Malaysia will get drown. There are far reaching consequences for the whole country and Ketuanan Melayu if we touch whales!! You want me and my people to get killed is it?! We never signed up to catch whales!! Besides, whales are legally protected by international treaties. So, we at MACC are not allowed to catch whales, we know that from day 1 we joined. We don't want to bite off more than we can chew, and trust me, whaling could get very very ugly.”
He was approached by reporters today after Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik was yesterday found by the court for not guilty of two cheating charges related to the RM12.5 billion PKFZ project.
The court decided that “misleading the Government is not ‘cheating’, you idiot; that is corruption. Don’t abuse the meaning of words.”
Abu Kassim said, “Yes, I did say before that I'll quit if big fish are let off, but hey, there is NO corruption involved in this case. Tun Ling was NOT charged for any corruption crime, but only for cheating. So, his prosecution actually has nothing to do with the MACC.”
When asked if MACC is now going to prosecute Ling for any corruption crime, Abu Kassim said, “Too bad, we can’t anymore. Since he has been freed by the Court, we cannot charge him anymore for the same issues. It’s called “double-jeopardy”, don’t you people understand?”
Abu Kassim denied that the Government had purposely charged Ling for the wrong offence so that he is guaranteed to be not guilty, and denied that this was a “whitewash.” He insisted that the Attorney General is a smart person. When asked whether Ling was a 'whale' (which MACC is afraid to hunt) or a 'shark' (which MACC is not afraid to hunt), he said,
“I would say he’s a 'baby whale'. Which means, if we really go against him, the Mother Whale might get so upset that we’ll all get into trouble. So, we have to be gentle with the baby whale also.”
