Even as Rafizi was still being interrogated by MACC, outgoing MACC chief Azam Baki has announced that two people will likely charged in connection with its investigation into allegations of corruption in a RM1.1 billion investment deal involving UK-based chip maker Arm Holdings.
Which two?
That Azam didn't say but so far, MACC has taken statements from 22 witnesses, most prominently the former economy minister Rafizi Ramli and his ex-aide James Chai.
Azam Baki will retire next week on 12-May, so this might be the final big ticket case that MACC will see under his watch.
Rafizi and Azam Baki, by the way, are famous for having a long spate of back and forth.
Just last December, Azam Baki had said: " “People don’t like me anymore, Rafizi doesn’t like me either, he said don’t continue Azam Baki.”
Azam likely said that, in reference to Rafizi urging the government to not renew Azam Baki's contract as the MACC Chief Commissioner, as an immediate steps to restore the people’s confidence in its commitment to fighting corruption.
When a former minister suggests that that first step that the government should take to make the rakyat believe that the government is committed to fight corruption is by putting to pasture the country's top anti corruption officer, naturally the suggestion will invite a hundred and one question into the rakyat's mind.
If there was any doubt as to whether the government was going to apply Rafizi's suggestion, it was removed not long after Rafizi gave his advice, when a Bloomberg report would implicate MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki for his involvement in a "corporate mafia" network and by accusing that Azam held shares in public-listed companies exceeding the permissible limit for public officials.
According to Bloomberg, it received its information from "unnamed sources", but if you are thinking of who I think are the "unnamed sources" , I would daresay that we are thinking alike.
Whoever that unnamed sources are, they must have been an important enough people in our country to be trusted by Bloomberg, because I doubt that Bloomberg will just take the opinion of any Tom, Dick or Harry, before running a story that grievously implicates a high ranking officer of a nation in a nefarious scheme.
Prime Minister Anwar tried to stand up for Azam, by urging critics to listen to Azam’s explanation before making accusations.
Speaking in February 2026, Anwar would even state : "Why insult people who do their work?" in support of Azam.
Azam even tried to contain the damage, by suing Bloomberg for RM 100 million for defamation, but it was all to no avail.
Why?
Because when it looked like the government might turn a blind eye on the dark cloud hanging over Azam Baki's reputation and renew his contract anyway, the #TangkapAzamBaki movement was launched, to pressure the government to put Azam to pasture.
Did the pressure work?
100 percent. last April 25, 2026, right before #TangkapAzamBaki movement had scheduled a rally in KL in the evening, Azam's replacement was announced in the morning.
That the government had announced his replacement in the morning of April 25, when April 25 was a Saturday, is an indication that it was perhaps the #TangkapAzamBaki rally that was scheduled in the evening they had succeeded in pressuring the government to cut ties with Azam Baki.
And guess who was the star at the #TangkapAzamBaki rally on 25 April?
Yup, you guessed right - it was none other than Rafizi Ramli himself.
And now, two weeks after Rafizi spearheaded a rally that brought down Azam Baki, and less than a week before Azam Baki is set to leave MACC, Azam Baki is saying that 2 people connected to the Arm Holdings deal will likely be charged with corruption.
While we might not fully know what is going on, I daresay that we are all thinking the same thing, when we look at the chronology of the events.
Now a lot of us tend to use the term institution or institutional integrity, but most of us don't really understand what it means, so let me explain it to you.
An institution is an organisation or an entity that serves a cause that is greater than itself.
This is why we don't call a business enterprise, a company or a corporation an institution. We don't, because a business enterprise, a company or a corporation serves no greater interest than their own.
Institutions, on the other hand, like the judiciary, the parliament, an university, the clergy and yes, even the police or MACC, serve an interest that is greater than their own.
They serve a nation, a people, truth and knowledge, justice or even god itself.
To serve a greater interest, those who work in the institutions, or officers, have to submit themselves to the values and ethos that their institution upholds.
In other words, if you belong in an institution, you can't just do whatever you see fit. Instead, whatever you do has to fit within the framework of the institutional values and ethos.
When we say that the our institutions has been captured, corrupted and compromised, what we mean is that instead of submitting themselves to institutional values, the officials that serve in our institutions are just doing whatever they see fit or deem is right, without really asking themselves as to whether it aligned with the values that is professed and practiced by their institutions.
If you are a part of an institution, what you will have is an authority.
An authority is something that allows you to compel everybody to do as you want them to do, because your instruction and command will be taken representative of the wishes of the institution itself.
The reason we listen to a professor working in an university, or obey a police officer or resign ourselves to the verdict of a judge, is not because they are special or extraordinary people, but because they represent an institution.
When they speak , we don't just hear the words of an individual , but instead the command of institution itself.
An institution however, becomes corrupt, compromised or captured, when instead representing the institution, the officials that work for it, abuse their authority, by using their institutional authority to carry out their own wishes or desires.
As a rule, many of us see our institutions as being corrupt, captured or compromised, because it is being served by officials who can't tell the difference between what is their desire and what is the requirement of the institution they serve.
In terms of personal qualities, there is no major difference between a criminal and officer of the law. A criminal can be just as a daring, brave and energetic as an officer of the law.
The only real difference between a criminal and a officer of the law, is that the criminal does whatever they think is right, while an officer will only do whatever is allowed or aligned with the values and principles of the institution they serve.
Take that difference away, and there will be no difference whatsoever between a criminal and an officer.
I don't want to say anything more, because I only have my suspicions and doubts - not any real evidence or proof.
But despite that, I am confident that you understand where I am coming from.
The current Madani government under Anwar sprang from the reformasi movement, which gained prominence precisely because it acknowledged that our country's institutions have been corrupted, captured and compromised, and had promised the people that if we give it our mandate, it will reform our institutions and restore it's integrity..
So far however, I don't see the Madani government as fulfilling its pledges.
What is more, not only do I not think that the Madani government is fulfilling its pledges, I am not even convinced that the Madani government understands what it pledged.
In other words, I don't even think the Madani government even understands the role of an institution or why an institutions exist.
When you don't even understand why something exists, how are supposed to reform it?
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