Right from the very beginning of today’s parliamentary sitting, MPs were interested only in two questions — and answers to both are not to be found in Parliament, viz:
- The outcome of Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim’s application for six-month extension as Chief Justice, as he turned 66 yesterday — in view of unprecedentedly strong objections not only from the Opposition, the Bar Council, the civil society but also by Malay Rulers; and
- Whether Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Ramli Yusuff, the cop alleged to have RM27 million undeclared assets, will be charged for corruption.
News have finally come in that Ramli has been charged in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court with three counts of failing to disclose his assets in his sworn statement under the Anti-Corruption Act 1997.
There are still no news however as to the outcome of Ahmad Fairuz’ application for extension as Chief Justice from the two-day Conference of Rulers, raising the question whether the nation is without a Chief Justice for today.
Many must be asking – Why the secrecy and mystery surrounding the appointment of Chief Justice, which is completely against the principles of accountability and transparency.
Whether CCID director Ramli is guilty of the three charges of corruption preferred against him will have to await the forthcoming trial. However, the spectacle of the police leadership “at war” with itself as evident in the past few months is not calculated to enhance public confidence in the capability of the police to discharge its mission to maintain law and order as well as to keep crime low, with crime becoming as endemic as corruption in the country.