PBS acting Youth chief Christopher Mandut said Warisan Youth chief Mohd Azis Jamman was not only wrong about the supposed persecution but also for implying that the current administration misused the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for its own political gain.
“MACC is just doing its job. Besides, the agency is not only looking at Warisan leaders but also others who may be involved in the case they are investigating.
“If it is truly a persecution against Warisan, then leaders from the ruling party BN will not be roped in. The fact remains that the anti-graft agency did not leave BN leaders out of its investigations,” he told FMT.
Mandut was replying to an allegation by Azis who said the federal government had always used its agencies such as MACC to clamp down on Sabah and Sarawak leaders who dared to speak up for the people in the Bornean states.
Azis also gave examples such as the time when PBS president Joseph Pairin Kitingan was charged for corruption, not long before the 1994 election.
The former Semporna Umno Youth leader alleged the charges were cooked up by the then federal government because Pairin was seen as the champion in fighting for Sabah’s rights at the time.
“When Azis gave this example, perhaps he forgot that the prime minister at the time was none other than Dr Mahathir Mohamad. And I guarantee that nobody will ever forget how badly Mahathir treated Sabah during PBS’ time.
“Mahathir’s era was worse because he was obviously targeting his political enemies for his own political gain.
“This MACC investigation, which saw Azis also arrested and remanded, involved everyone, even Umno members, proving that it was a genuine attempt to get to the bottom of the issue,” he said.
Nevertheless, Mandut said he commended the tactics used by Azis who took advantage of the case to gain sympathy from the people.
He said Azis was deliberately trying to divert the people’s attention away from the corruption case and put himself, as well as other Warisan leaders, on the same level as great leaders of the past.
However, Mandut said Azis had forgotten that when Pairin was persecuted by Mahathir, it was Warisan president Shafie Apdal who benefited through Umno at the time.
“I think it is too convenient for him to say everything was politically motivated as if to imply that if Warisan doesn’t win the GE14, like they’ve promised their supporters, then it’s the government’s fault or the MACC’s doing,” he said.
Azis, together with Shafie and Warisan vice-president Peter Anthony, were arrested and remanded by MACC in October to assist in investigations into alleged misappropriation of funds worth RM1.5 billion meant for rural projects in Sabah between 2009 and 2015.
All three have since been released on bail.
Opposition leaders claimed the investigation was politically motivated to smear the image of Warisan ahead of the 14th general election, but Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and MACC have denied this, insisting the agency operated independently.
3 Sabah political leaders remanded 5 days in RM1.5bil graft probe