KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki has practically painted a bullseye on himself over his reply that his brother had used his account to purchase two million shares on a listed company in Bursa Malaysia.
Drawn to his remark, cartoonists across the local digital sphere had taken to their drawing boards in delight and placed him well under their scope, openly making fun and mocking Azam’s answer to a press conference on Wednesday.
Most notably, political activist and graphic designer Fahmi Reza (@kuasasiswa) whipped up his own spin on the well-known American cartoon: The Simpsons.
— Fahmi Reza (@kuasasiswa) January 5, 2022
Garnering over 12.8k likes and 6,800 retweets, the art shows an adult Simpsons character, representing Azam, pointing accusingly at baby Maggie Simpson with the speech bubble “My younger sibling did it”.
Fahmi then sarcastically retweeted his work, addressing the Royal Malaysia Police, stating that it was his brother’s drawing and not his own.
Dear PDRM,
— Fahmi Reza (@kuasasiswa) January 6, 2022
Ini adik saya yang lukis, dan akaun twitter saya digunakan oleh adik saya untuk post lukisan ini atas kepentingan dirinya. Tak perlu panggil saya datang balai. Terima kasih. ? https://t.co/yqRQ9QnLXk
He added that his brother just borrowed his Twitter account to post it, so Fahmi should not be held responsible over it.
“Dear police. My brother drew this, and he used my Twitter account to post it for his own benefit.
“So, you don’t have to call me to come by the police station. Thank you,” said the tweet.
Similarly, famed political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, better known as Zunar (@zunarkartunis) also posted a single comic strip panel reflecting possible alleged corruption in the anti-graft commission.
His cartoon showed a man reporting corruption to one officer but ironically there are people running around with bags of money in the MACC office in the background.
Tuan, saya nak buat laporan pasal RASUAH.#RakyatJagaRakyat pic.twitter.com/1Uu3OrSAzh
— Zunar Cartoonist (@zunarkartunis) January 6, 2022
Another user @Ahlonglongbigbr posted a comic strip that shows Azam’s explanation that he was ignorant of his brother’s doing to be similar to the excuse given by convicted former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Titled Malaysian Comedy Court, the first panel shows Najib’s statement regarding money being transferred into his account in the 1MDB case in 2019: “I didn’t know money was transferred in and out of my account.”
The second panel shows Zahid using a similar excuse regarding his Yayasan Akal Budi corruption case in 2021: “I didn’t know the foundation’s money was being used to pay my credit card bills.”
The third panel shows Azam Baki saying in 2022: “I didn’t know my brother used my account to buy shares.”
Simpan harta haramlah
— Ah (@Ahlonglongbigbr) January 7, 2022
Nila besar ini oii....rosak susu senegara....
Pelajar pelajar skm diminta belajar tidak rasuah, tapi yg gurunya sendiri tahi tahi perbuatannya
Kenyataannya mcm kentut, lagi mau sue orang, lembu Azam Baki. Azam habuk pic.twitter.com/VvKD8oQk7m
At the bottom of the picture, the phrase “They take Malaysians as fools” was written together with an angry emoticon.
The cartoonist, Haili (@kartunishaili), also took the opportunity to take jabs at the scandal with his own creation.
Hahhh cantek sekor kata JoLow, sekor lagi kata adik rembat….#SAPURM pic.twitter.com/yaRV0nyXnY
— kartunishaili (@kartunishaili) January 6, 2022
Posting on Twitter, his drawing showed Azam’s brother, Nasir Baki running away from Azam with a bag of money with the speech bubble “You said it is mine!”, but he stops when Azam smugly threatens that he would make a report to MACC.
Following the allegations of him owning close to two million shares in a publicly listed company, Azam had defended himself saying that he did nothing wrong with allowing Nasir to purchase shares using his trading account in 2015.
Azam explained that the shares were eventually moved to Nasir’s account and that certain parties made the allegations against him to attack MACC and ruin the commission’s image and his reputation.
He also added that he does not see any reason why he needs to answer to anyone but the Anti-Corruption Advisory Board (LPPR).
“There is no need for me to explain to anyone. As I have elaborated the matter to the Anti-Corruption Advisory Board, my brother borrowed my (trading) account to buy shares.
“However, when LPPR sought an explanation on the matter, I gave a detailed account to them. As the chief commissioner, I am not answerable to anyone but LPPR,” he said. – The Vibes, January 8, 2022
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