KUALA LUMPUR – Klang MP Charles Santiago has joined a chorus of lawmakers in calling for Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to address power abuse accusations made by newly retired top cop Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador.
Santiago in a statement today said it is ironic that Muhyiddin has been silent about claims of Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin using Bukit Aman’s Special Branch (SB) as his political tool.
“It has been rumoured, for years now, that SB has been used as a tool by politicians to further their interests.
“This has been confirmed by former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador.
“The Police Force Commission and Muhyiddin must stop this abuse, which is made for personal political gains, or the erosion of confidence in the police force will prevail.”
He added that the prime minister has also been quiet about Hamid’s “cartel of dirty cops” claim.
“This is disturbing to say the least.
“It’s time for Muhyiddin to step up and show some leadership.”
Yesterday, Hamid told MalaysiaGazette that there was interference by “MDN” to determine who took up the post of SB director.
MDN is a Malay shorthand for home minister.
Hamid alleged that the move was made for the purpose of an individual’s political career.
“I am not the only one who has problems with MDN. SB is also unhappy with his actions since a year ago. I was informed that MDN forced SB to conduct several operations for his own political purposes.
“I cannot reveal what operations because every SB operation is secret, but suffice to say, the objective of the operations was not in line with the SB mandate, which is to preserve and manage national security,” he said yesterday.
He said SB refused to participate in an operation, and reported it to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin agreed that SB should not be involved in political work, causing the minister to be angry before showing interest in former senior SB officials whose contracts expired last year, said Hamid.
In Hamid’s last press conference as IGP on Friday, he slammed Hamzah after the minister admitted to being one of the voices in a leaked audio clip.
“This is what should be avoided. A minister cannot interfere with the management of daily tasks.
“I have already raised this with him (Hamzah). I already raised it with the chief secretary to the government. We have our bosses, we raised it to them, but he still wants the power (to interfere). This is not good for the country.
“I want to clarify that the (home minister’s) responsibility as Police Force Commission chairman has a limit.”
He was quoted as saying Hamzah pushed to determine police officers’ placement.
Many investigations into police misconduct carried out by the commission chaired by Hamzah have been suspended, he added, and it meets only four times a year. – The Vibes, May 4, 2021
