FAC News - Wednesday, August 7, 2002 2:37 PM

Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor’s Statement To The Petaling Jaya Sessions’ Court After His Conviction Under The Official Secrets Act (OSA)

FULFILLING MY MORAL OBLIGATION TO THE PEOPLE AND THE NATION

Your Honour,

Some years ago, I was appointed the Political Secretary to the then Minister of Finance, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim. As I was not even 30 years old, this made me the youngest Political Secretary at that time. Though I was chosen by the Finance Minister, my appointment was made by the Prime Minister. My swearing-in was in the presence of the Prime Minister and witnessed by the Secretary to the Government. Needless to say, I felt honoured to be offered an opportunity to serve the government in a position of great importance at such a tender age.

A Political Secretary is required to attend Post-Cabinet meetings which are chaired by the Minister and attended by all senior officers of his Ministry. This is regarded as the second most important meeting after the weekly Wednesday Cabinet meetings.

Towards the end of 1997, the country’s economy experienced a crisis. Invariably, the weekly Post-Cabinet meetings became a battleground between those who wanted to fulfill the trust placed in them and those who wanted to raid the nation’s coffers. The Finance Minister and senior government officers, dedicated to upholding the people’s trust, resisted attempts by the Prime Minister and his cronies to plunder the nation’s wealth to save their own necks. Those with interests in Perwaja, MAS, the Bakun Hydro Project, the Monorail project, MISC, and so on, all wanted their companies and projects salvaged through the use of funds belonging to the EPF, Petronas, Pilgrims’ Fund (LUTH), and the Armed Forces Retirement Fund (LTAT), which, in the end, would have all been the victims of this pillage.

We all know the outcome of this turmoil - the Minister who tried to protect the people’s interest was sacked. I am familiar with the details because, one week before the event, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim told me, “Be prepared to face any eventuality. I am perceived as an obstacle. They want me removed from the government. I cannot compromise.”

This event is extremely significant, not only for me personally, but for the entire nation. I was fated to be in a position to witness what really happened. This is not my own interpretation of the events but a documented episode of confrontation between responsibility and transgression, between trust and corruption.

That was when I resolved to follow my conscience and oppose corruption and wrongdoing  that was being committed before my very eyes. Today, I stand before you to continue upholding this principle and maintain my faith in what I am fighting for. My resolution to continue to oppose corruption can be summed up in the words of a distinguished writer, “In an era of great challenge, to strive and struggle to uphold and promote trustworthiness and keeping under control of human greed”.

Your Honour,

Guided by my principle and faith, I continued my struggle by joining a legally registered political party, the National Justice Party (KeADILan). I made use of all avenues allowed under the Constitution to inform the people of the truth. Through political speeches, I exposed all the transgressions that had occurred - how the nation’s wealth had been squandered to salvage cronies who were in dire straits. The people have a right to know the truth as this affects their future and livelihood. Clearly, the mainstream media was not going to give coverage to my revelations. In fact, they instead attacked me, declaring me a traitor and terrorist out to incite the people.

Their objective was to smear my reputation and destroy my credibility in an attempt to cast doubts on my revelations. But they failed as more people became curious to know more. They tried to close all avenues for me to reveal the truth, to the extent that the police even disrupted meetings held in my house on allegations that what I said was insidious and caused the people to be divided. If this is the real reason given, why not take legal action against me on these grounds? They were not able to do so because what I had revealed very specific and represented undeniable facts, which detailed projects, names of companies, people involved, and the amounts that were plundered, which no one could dispute or disprove.

I was determined to fully exploit all legal avenues in accordance with the Constitution. In this spirit, I made numerous police reports so that investigations could be by the authorities initiated on the various allegations of corruption and abuse of power. In response to these police reports, I was summoned to the police station for my statement to be recorded, which sometimes took several hours.

However, all this was mere deception, as the exercise was merely to record my statement in order to give impression that action was being taken on my police reports. The police never summoned those parties implicated in my police reports for their statements to be recorded as well, specifically because the personalities implicated were the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, and their family members and cronies. Most unfortunate is the fact that my reports against these individuals resulted in me be branded an enemy of the state.

I am not an enemy of the state. I am rather an enemy of those corrupt leaders who transgress. And, for this, I was arrested and detained in the police lockup on trumped-up charges and, finally, when they could no longer create charges against me, I was detained under the Internal Security Act on the flimsy and preposterous excuse that I am a threat to national security.

The real reason for my detention is to ensure I can no longer come forward to continue making police reports which would threaten the position of the corrupt leaders, not because I am a threat to national security.

The OSA requires that a person who comes into possession of any classified document must surrender it to the police. In other words, if I wanted to avoid being arrested, I should have surrendered the documents I was holding to the police. But the question was, what sort of police force are we talking about? A police force that upholds the law and the principle of justice or a police force that allows itself to be used as a tool of the politicians and is loyal to the corrupt powers-that-be?

Dozens of police reports have already been made that implicate the powers-that-be, made not only by me but by my comrades as well. However, all of them have come to naught. For example, one of the police reports involves a statement made by the previous Director of the Anti-Corruption Agency, Dato’ Shafie Yahya, implicating the Prime Minister, a fact which is now known to millions of Malaysian all over the country. But no action was taken. Instead, one police report was made against me and, immediate action taken.

There was one incident where UMNO Youth made a police report against me and, in a mere two hours, the police sprang into action. In the process, my house was raided and ransacked, in my absence and in front of my entire family, on the guise of looking for evidence. That same day, I was arrested and thrown into a police lockup on a day when I should have been at home celebrating a very important Muslim festival, Eid Adha. Is this not reason enough for me to doubt and question the professionalism and sincerity of the Malaysian police force?

Today, the Malaysian courts have reinforced this belief that the police are but instruments to protect a corrupt and authoritarian regime. On 9 July 1999, another police report was made against the Minister of International Trade, Dato’ Seri Rafidah Aziz, and various other Cabinet Ministers by no less than the one-time Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The basis of the police case against me refers to the same documents that formed the foundation of Dato Seri Anwar’s police report. The police report against me was made four months after Dato Seri Anwar’s police report was made. While the case against me has been wrapped up, the case against these corrupt leaders has not even commenced yet.

Recently, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Jamil Johar, made a statement guaranteeing Malaysians that investigations would be instituted within seven days of a police report being made. In that same statement, Tan Sri Jamil declared that progress reports on the investigations would be made public. I implore Tan Sri Jamil to retract his statement lest he be perceived as a fraud. Instead, he should amend his statement to read “this would only apply to police reports that do not implicate the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, and their cronies and family members. As tools of the corrupt powers-that-be, invariably the police will not entertain reports of corruption and transgression made against these people.”

Dato’ Rais Yatim, a Cabinet Minister, also made a statement aimed at damage control. He proposed that investigations should be instituted on all police reports made regardless of whom they may implicate. He also once announced the setting up of a unit within his Ministry to monitor all police reports that have not been investigated within resonable time. But no action was taken after that. Dato Rais should resign for he has either lied to the public or is incapable of translating words into action.

Your Honour,

Today I am being convicted. This court has declared me a criminal. If revealing the excesses and transgressions of corrupt leaders make me a criminal, then I am prepared to be convicted a thousand times over and be declared a criminal. My only crime is to fulfill my moral obligation, follow my conscience, demonstrates my abhorrence of corruption – more so when the acts are blatantly committed with absolutely no fear of retribution.

I am repulsed when I read the Anti-Corruption Agency reports on the various acts of corruption. Regretfully, not many have been privy to these reports. Even in this court, only the investigating officers, the prosecution and the defense counsel are permitted to view these reports other than Your Honour, presiding over this case. Are they too not repulsed? I am certain all those with a soul and conscience would be equally repulsed.

Certainly anyone would feel disgusted reading a report about a Minister that presides over a meeting approving millions of Ringgit worth of shares to her own son-in-law. Even more repulsive is to read the said Minister’s confession that she chaired the meeting, though she was aware of the criminal implications, on the instructions of the Prime Minister himself. The Prime Minister also instructed her to ensure that his own son would obtain approval for the shares that he, too, had applied for in that same corporation. The contents of these documents seem so shocking and disgraceful that we may doubt their authencity. Yet the present court proceedings confirm that they are indeed authentic, since they were validated by the Attorney General’s Office for the purposes of this case against me.

The investigation report offers proof of acts of corruption and abuses of power by the two leaders concerned; Dato’ Seri Rafidah Aziz and Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik. In the said investigation report, the Anti-Corruption Agency had recommended criminal proceedings against both the leaders and, in the same report, the Attorney General’s Chambers had supported the recommendation.

The question now would be, how can the individual who revealed the existence of these crimes face prosecution while the criminals still walk free? And how come one of those individuals is not only still free, but is also still a Minister? How can she remain a Minister in that same Ministry that approved millions of Ringgit worth of shares to her own son-in-law?

This can only happen in a rotten state. He who exposes the corruption and abuse of power is jailed while the transgressors remain free, remain Ministers, and the criminal acts. We should take cognizance of an episode a couple of years ago where a certain Deputy Prime Minister, who was determined to break the network that protected corruption, personally tabled amendments to the anti-corruption law in Parliament and consequently was sacked and now languishes in prison. We must be aware that, in this country, the one who will be imprisoned is the one who opposes corruption while the corrupt remains free on condition he or she is a political leader from the ruling party who sucks up to the boss. On that score we should not be surprised with today’s judgment.

Your honour,

I am not interested in disputing today’s court’s decision. From the beginning I was aware that my fight is not in this arena. The heart and soul of the case is not here. I fight in a larger arena. I fight to oppose corrupt leaders. I oppose those who abuse their power and commit corruption and formulate laws to protect themselves against prosecution.

This court does not have any options as the laws are such leaving very little room to dispense justice. The Official Secrets Acts was formulated by Parliament by corrupt leaders as a means to protect themselves. Citing grounds of “National Security”, they have closed all avenues for their acts of corruption to come to the attention of the public. They hide behind “TOP SECRET”, “CONFIDENTIAL”, “PRIVATE”, and “RESTRICTED” and put the fear of God into every government officer and administration staff member who is confronted with their despicable acts. The media, which is the prime bearer of information, is constantly haunted by the fear of the Official Secrets Act hanging over their heads. This is clearly visible in the actions of the journalists who were called as witnesses in this case. In 1986, this Act was amended to increase the stranglehold of the powers-that-be by making a jail sentence mandatory for whoever was bold enough to test the Act to its limit.

The judiciary has no power to do anything about it other than convict anyone unfortunate enough to be caught with a document that is stamped “SECRET”. What the document contains is not relevant. What is important is that the document has the word “SECRET” stamped on it. This means there is no difference between toilet paper and a corruption report, as all that matters is the word “SECRET” stamped on it.

I am not insulting the court. The ones who are insulting the court are the corrupt individuals who restrict the powers of the court. They formulate laws to deny the court powers and to ensure that they themselves remain in power and deny the public information about the crimes they have committed.

Lincoln once said, “Let the people know the facts and the country will be safe. If given the truth, they can be depended on to meet any national crisis.” Lincoln is a leader who propagates, “I’m a firm believer in the people”.

It is foolish to expect the same spirit in this country, because in this country the leaders always blame the people. The people are the cause of the problem – cannot be trusted, are gullible, lazy, forget easily, stupid, naïve, extremist and half-witted. The reality is, it is not the people, but the greedy leaders with insatiable lust, who are destroying this nation.

Corrupt leaders do not have the moral conviction to formulate laws that uphold the principle of truth and justice. In the British Parliament, an Act that is called ‘Public Interest Disclosure Act’ was formulated in the spirit ‘to encourage people to blow the whistle about malpractice and to ensure the authority respond by acting on the message rather than against the messenger’. This type of Act can never be introduced in the present Malaysian Parliament because we do not have the political will to uphold the truth on the principle of justice and responsibility.

Tan Sri Harun Hashim, founder and one-time head of the Anti-Corruption Agency once said, “Corruption can only be prevented, even eradicated to a large extent, if there is political will.”

In an address during a dinner organised by the Malaysia Institute of Management, he said, “In 1967, when I was appointed to establish the ACA, the PM Tunku Abdul Rahman, gave me a free hand to prevent corruption from spreading in the country. I was allowed to choose and pick officers for the agency from the public service and the police, and unlimited funds from the treasury. There was no interference from the government in the workings of the agency. Even the Attorney-General was not allowed to interfere with prosecutions of corruption cases. As it is now, under the new corruption law, the Director General has no legal power”.

Finally, he stated, “The eradication of corruption in the public and private sectors should be everybody’s concern. The corrupt should be looked upon as enemies of the public. We do not want corruption to be a way of life. The ACA should be independent, reporting directly to the Parliament”.

Your Honour,

My conviction today reinforces this fact. The documents that have been the basis of my conviction today justify the fear of the founder of the Anti-Corruption Agency. The Anti-Corruption Agency not only lacks independence, but is shackled and stripped of all its powers. I was arrested for distributing the Anti-Corruption Agency investigation report on Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz and Tan Sri Abd Rahim Tamby Chik. If anyone was to scrutinize the contents of the report, it will be seen how thoroughly the investigation against them was conducted. The evidence was sound and specific information such as how many banks accounts they owned with millions in assets was exposed in great detail. However, as was the millions of shares allocated to them and properties owned by them. All this was fruitless, because the final say lies in the hands of the Prime Minister.

The Anti-Corruption Agency was reduced to a weapon for ensuring their continued political loyalty. If you are loyal, no criminal proceedings are taken against you. Not only that, but you are also ensured of immunity. The investigation papers are stamped “SECRET” primarily to ensure no one knows about it. This is the foundation of the culture of impunity – immune from prosecution – central to the political elite of this nation.

For that reason, they resort to corruption and abuse of power with no boundaries and with no fear. I dare to say here that almost all the Cabinet Ministers in this country have skeletons in the closet that could open them to prosecution under charges of corruption and abuse of power. I take full responsibility for this allegation on condition the Anti-Corruption Agency is allowed to investigate and reveal its investigation to the public. Do not use the “SECRET” stamp on any of the said investigation papers.

Recently, another previous Director of the Anti-Corruption Agency made a statement that confirms the existence of the culture of impunity. As a witness in the Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim trial, Dato’ Shafie Yahya testified in the High Court that the Prime Minister had prevented him from proceeding with his investigation on a corruption case involving a senior government officer. This testimony is crucial as it came from a one-time Director of the Anti-Corruption Agency and was made in the High Court. The entire nation should be shocked by this revelation. The Anti-Corruption Agency, the ultimate body entrusted with the eradication of corruption, a serious disease afflicting society and the nation, has been stripped of all its powers to act effectively and justly. My trial just reinforces this belief.

Serious efforts must be made to eradicate rampant corruption. Leaders who are steeped in corruption will not be able to reform society. Ibn Khaldun has classified such leaders such as decadent. They just cry crocodile tears at their party conventions but, in fact, as the ruling party, they can eradiate corruption without any need to cry in public, if only there is political will.

Two years ago, we witnessed a political party in our neighboring country, Thailand, which had the political will to reform and eradiate corruption. The ruling Democratic Party then reformed the country to the point a National Counter-Corruption Commission was formed which was given wide powers to act against corruption. The world, subsequently witnessed how the Secretary General of the party himself was prosecuted.

The Secretary General of UMNO, the ruling party in Malaysia, is immune from charges of corruption. It has been more than a year since a State Assemblyman made a police report against him with regard to abuse of power involving more than two million Ringgit worth of state wealth (timber) while he was the Chief Minister of Pahang. But, to date, nothing has come out of the police investigation on the matter. He is still a Minister and Secretary General of the party. In fact, recently, he was the one who announced the succession plans of the present Prime Minister. Are we still in any doubt as to what sort of country we are living in?

Your Honour,

Allow me to stress here that, though I am convicted, my stand will not waver nor will my faith. I am being convicted today on allegations that I revealed government secrets that compromise the security of this nation. I am not a traitor. I rather wish to save the nation. I acted according to my principles and belief that corruption and abuse of power will result in the destruction of the nation. I acted with a clear conscience to expose the greed of the powers- that-be.

I obey Allah’s command as stated in the Quran, chapter 59, Al-Hashr, verse 7, translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali as follows:

What God has bestowed on His Apostle (and taken away) from the people of the townships,- belongs to God,- to His Apostle and to kindred and orphans, the needy and the wayfarer; In order that it may not (merely) make a circuit between the wealthy among you. So take what the Apostle assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you. And fear God; for God is strict in Punishment.

Our history, as documented in the “History of the Malays” or Sulalat-al-Salatin, teaches us much. There are numerous episodes related in it about the destruction of morals of the powers-that-be as a result of decadence, until the phrase “insanely rich” was coined. Wang Ann Shih, a Chinese philosopher and Reformist, regards this as “a symptom of extreme wickedness of the people and flawed laws”. I am sure many have heard Gandhi said that human greed unnaturally restricts the richness of the world’s resources.

In the loneliness of the Kamunting Detention Camp, books have become my closest companion. One such novel written by Hamka entitled “Director Sir” is a story about the greed of the powers-that-be and their cronies. But what really touched my heart is one of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad narrated by Tarmizi on the cover of the novel, “Every person will be tested and this test is your asset.”

Today I have fulfilled my moral obligation. As a political leader, I can only fulfill my responsibility to the people and the nation. As one of God’s creations, I fulfill my obligation as required of me. Islam stipulates the freedom of expression - hurriyyat al-bayan or hurriyyat al-mu’aradah which is not just about the right of the individual but his duty to uphold truth. I have faith in the strength of truth. I do not doubt one bit that truth will one day prevail and history will judge me right.

I am also confident that whatever happens today will strengthen the resolve of my colleagues, in particular the youth, the younger generation of this nation, to continue with the struggle in opposing the rampant corruption and abuse of power that is strangling this nation. The younger generation must ensure that the culture of impunity amongst the political elite is eradicated within their generation. We really have no other alternative. In this era of globalization, the culture of impunity will destroy the nation if not eradicated now.

Your Honour,

I have spent the one whole year in incarceration so I know what life behind bars is like. I am only too aware of the suffering especially of my family and my children who are still so young. But their suffering will not be in vain. I can only pray that when they grow up they will understand the meaning of this sacrifice, why I continue to have faith, and why I continue to struggle. From court to court, from lockup to lockup, and from jail cell to jail cell, it is only for the future of my children and for your children too.

Prophet Muhammad SAW once said:

“Within my people will be those who hold steadfast to the truth. They will not feel burdened by any obstacle that they are faced with, until the time when Allah’s commands come to them.” (Narrated by Muslim and Bukhari)

Let us pray that we are included in this category.

7th August 2002

Sessions’ Court

Petaling Jaya, Selangor