PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are entitled to know what transpired during the “Week of the Long Knives” at the end of July 2015, Lim Kit Siang (pix) said today.
Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak orchestrated a multi-faceted operation to undermine parliamentary democracy then, the DAP adviser said.
He accused Najib of attacking important principles of democracy in Malaysia like the rule of law, the doctrine of separation of powers, good governance and public integrity as well as a systematic attack on the independence, impartiality and professionalism of key national institutions like Parliament, the Cabinet, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Police, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, and the Auditor-General.
“The Week of Long Knives launched the darkest period in the 61-year democratic history of Malaysia and yet to this day, this episode is couched in great mystery with most Malaysians quite ignorant about it,” Lim said in a statement. “This is why I had suggested that a police report should be lodged so that the police could investigate.
“Does Najib agree to a full police investigation of Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015, the ‘Week of Long Knives’ and the darkness they ushered for Malaysian democracy until the Malaysian voters bravely, courageously and unexpectedly shook off the shroud of darkness in the 14th General Election of May 9, 2018?”
Lim said Malaysians are entitled to know the reason behind the sudden and unconstitutional dismissal of the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail some two months before his retirement in early October 2015 on the ground of health reasons, which had been subsequently denied by Gani himself.
He questioned the appointment of Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali as Attorney-General, who suddenly resigned overnight from the Federal Court, calling it unconstitutional.
The DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri also pointed to the sacking of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal as Minister for Regional and Rural Development.
Lim highlighted the appointment of Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as Deputy Prime Minister although he was in Mecca to perform his umrah pilgrimage during the last 10 days of Ramadan.
He questioned the removal of the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman and three Umno/BN members of the PAC by their sudden elevation as Minister or Deputy Ministers;
“(Then there were the) suspension of the multi-agency Special Task Force comprising Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Royal Malaysian Police and Attorney-General’s Chambers to get to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) allegations on the
RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal accounts,” Lim said.
“(There were) protest by the MACC special operations director Bahri Mohamad Zain whether ‘hidden hands’ were behind ongoing police crackdown on MACC officers, with him being questioned by a police team from Bukit Aman under Section 124 of the Penal Code for activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.”
Lim added that there was a sudden and rocky transfer out of the Special Branch (SB) of the deputy director of the police intelligence agency, Datuk Abdul Hamid Bador to the Prime Minister’s Department reporting directly to Najib and the subsequent Hamid protest that he was removed from the police force where he had served for 37 years for his insistence on looking into the 1MDB scandal.
