Letter to Editor
IT IS often said that “the pen is mightier than the sword”..
But not when the sword is being wielded by the apparatus of the state as in the recent case of a Malaysiakini journalist arrested for allegedly seeking bribes.
In this instance, the sword wielder happens to be the Immigration Department and by extension, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
B. Nantha Kumar has categorically denied taking or asking for any form of bribery to settle this case. The veteran journalist who started his stint with Malaysiakini in 2018 gave his version of events on the news portal’s website.
He had been actively investigating a syndicate involved in human trafficking at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
Valuable leak
His articles claim that immigration officials were involved in rubber stamping illegal entries of foreign nationals into the country, thus bypassing required protocols.
It was alleged that a high-ranking ‘Datuk’ in the Immigration Department is the mastermind behind this lucrative scheme.
Despite reports appearing in Malaysiakini on Feb 19 and Feb 22 with police reports being lodged regarding this illegal activity, little or no action was seen to be taken by the authorities.
The investigative journalist also claimed that the state Immigration director and a senior officer from the Home Ministry had reached out to him for information on this case. It is also claimed the Immigration Department’s intelligence director was trying to contact him.
Despite going to the Immigration Department in Putrajaya, Nantha Kumar was not able to meet the intelligence director. Nor was he contacted after leaving his contact details with an officer there.
Isn’t this somewhat perplexing?
A case of seemingly great public interest involving high-ranking officials is given such short shrift. Is the Intelligence Director – Mohd Anas Muhamad Dzarib – so preoccupied that this matter slipped his mind?
Nantha’s counter strike
The shadowy nature of this investigation throws up some very pertinent questions.
Firstly, as claimed by Nantha Kumar, he would NOT be willingly sharing information with the Immigration and Home Ministry officials if he was seeking to solicit bribes.
Secondly, the lack of action or silence after the police report was lodged raises all sorts of suspicions, whether justified or not. The public perception is that unseen hands are at work.
Thirdly, the so-called “sting” operation looks amateurish and ill-conceived. As rightly pointed out by Nantha Kumar, why choose such a public place to accept a bribe when he had plenty of opportunity to do so in more discreet circumstances.
For decades, local media has been silenced with all manner of legislation, rules and guidelines to blunt its effectiveness. Now, it appears blackmail and sting operations are also tactics used to muzzle journalists.
Something stinks and right now it is wafting from the authorities, not least due to the manner in which the MACC is conducting investigations. – March 7, 2025
Retired Journalist
Ipoh
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
