By Tony Pua

First published in Philosophy Politics Economics

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was first summoned to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to clarify matters regarding the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal on the 17 June 2009. However, the MACC Chief Commissioner, Dato' Ahmad Said Hamdan brushed off the PAC like we were a fly on his shoulder.

He didn't even bother sending his Deputy Chief. Instead he sent his Director of Investigations, Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull with a letter informing of his absence.

...Dukacita dimaklumkan bahawa saya tidak dapat hadir ke mesyuarat tersebut pada tarikh yang dinyatakan. Saya memohon maaf di atas perkara tersebut. Oleh itu saya mewakilkan Yang Berbahagia Datuk Mohd Shukri bin Abdull, Pengarah Bahagian Siasatan untuk hadir ke mesyuarat yang berkenaan pada tarikh 17 Jun 2009.

The PAC members were of course livid. Ahmad Said did not even bother attempting to justify or explain his absence. Even the normally gentle PAC chairman, Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid was upset.

...Sebelum saya teruskan saya hendak tanya, surat ini dia tidak sebut sebab apa dia tidak dapat hadir. Adakah dia ke luar negara, adakah dia sakit, apakah sebab yang Ketua Pengarah tidak hadir?

The response from Datuk Mohd Shukri bin Abdull was:

...Saya diberi surat panggilan untuk hadir mesyuarat ini bertarikh 15 hari bulan kepada saya. Saya hanya dimaklumkan oleh Ketua Pengarah saya kerana ada tugas lain yang lebih penting. Dia tidak maklumkan tugas apa Tuan Pengerusi dan saya bila saya tengok di Minit kepada saya itu, terus saya datang sini...

My goodness! "ada tugas yang lebih penting"! More important than the most important committee (PAC) of the highest legislative body of the country?!

We were disgusted, or well, at least I was.

So MACC wasted our time, we postponed the meeting which was subsequently held a week later on 23 June. I can let you know here that when Ahmad Said came for the meeting then, he did not even have the courtesy to apologise for his absence in the previous meeting! What a ....! That's one of the reasons why we have argued that when the bill on MACC was debated in parliament last year, the agency must be placed under the purview of the Parliament, so that we can keep this cocky spaniels in check.

PJ Utara MP Tony Pua is a member of the Public Accounts Committee which answers directly to the Malaysian Parliament.

More reports:

Malaysian Insider: Five things from the Pac PKFZ report

Malaysian Mirror: Well done, PAC