YOU know Hamzah Zainudin has really messed up politically when the ever-compliant MCA – of which he is sharing power with – is demanding the home minister to apologise for his extremely callous and heartless remark on the 149 Indonesian dying in Malaysia’s detention centres.

When probed about the spate of Indonesian deaths occurring in five Sabah detention centres in over 18 months, Hamzah did not show an inch of empathy to those lives lost in custody and most damningly, disregarding these deaths by pointing out that anyone can die anywhere.

The fact that the individual that does not value the life and liberty of a human being also happens to be the chief person responsible for Malaysia’s law enforcement, public security and public order should shudder every Malaysian.

In fact, the Larut MP was never a ministerial material but rather a political operative that excels in political shenanigans.

While Hamzah was a deputy minister for different ministries under the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration and promoted to a full minister under Najib Razak’s later rule, he was never viewed as an important player in Umno politics but merely a warlord in his own constituency.

It was only until 2019 that Hamzah betrayed Umno and hopped to Bersatu, led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, that the former began to gain political prominence.

Hamzah’s joining of Bersatu was arguably the beginning of the end of the Pakatan Harapan government for he was instrumental in aiding Dr Mahathir to destabilise the PH administration.

According to Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan in his article, “Why did Bersatu leave Pakatan Harapan”, it was Hamzah himself that organised the Malay Dignity Congress to begin soliciting support from Umno and PAS.

Dr Mahathir has also publicly admitted that Hamzah was also acting on behalf of Bersatu to collect statutory declarations from Umno and PAS MPs to strengthen the bargaining power of Dr Mahathir as the prime minister.

Though Dr Mahathir pleaded that he was not aware that this would cause a major rift in the PH government is debatable, what is undoubtedly true is that Hamzah’s action could only lead to the downfall of the PH government and the forming of a new government with the support of Umno and PAS.

Dr Mahathir himself had even admitted that Muhyiddin Yassin and Hamzah were the two people who tried to convince him to ditch the PH government once there was enough support from Umno and PAS to form a government.  

Therefore, Hamzah’s greatest political achievement is being the chief operator of bringing down an elected government while ensuring his new political party is the main beneficiary.

For that, he was given the key to one of the great offices of the home ministry, but he has since proved to be one of the worst home ministers that this country has ever witnessed.

From implementing public policies, the home minister has certainly left a lot to be desired.

The defeat of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) reactivation clause has indeed exposed his incompetency as a minister.

While Sosma not being reactivated is a victory for the right to fair trial, the fact that Hamzah had failed to convince and mobilise his Perikatan Nasional or Barisan Nasional parliamentary colleagues to vote for the bill had put this government to shame in the august house and damaged his political standing.

In other democracies, a minister would have been sacked or forced to resign if a government bill is defeated in parliament when it still retains a parliamentary majority.

However, it is the right-wing and anti-human rights stance that the home minister has consistently exhibited that caught the most attention.

Hamzah had on more than one occasion defended the use of Sedition Act 1948, which is used to arrest and investigate political dissidents. This further substantiates the act of hopping to PH as purely political expediency.

He has also publicly suggested that the detention without trial law Sosma could be used if individuals are found to be issuing statement that could incite others to the point of inciting hate and causing public fear.

The statement is obviously a threat against political dissidents because the justification of detaining someone out of causing hate and public fear has always been politically abused since the times of the Internal Security Act.

In fact, keen observers of the home minister should not be surprised by his latest statement when he once suggested to human rights groups who questioned the appalling treatment of undocumented migrants in detention to “cover the daily cost to house and feed the immigrants in detention centres if you care so much”.

As someone who works in the human rights field, it is natural that most of my work revolves around monitoring and documenting the performance of the Home Ministry.

It is also part of my responsibility to reach out to the ministry to ensure that the police would not be abusing their power, no unlawful detention that denies the liberty of an individual, a detention centre that respects the right of the arrested person and the right to medical access is protected.

However, I am convinced that this change would not be possible so long as the current home minister remains in office.

After all, being empathetic, considerate and compassionate is the mark of a competent minister.

This is more so for a minister that oversees the life, liberty and security of every individual living in this country, and unfortunately, Hamzah has displayed none of those qualities when he is given power. – July 3, 2022.

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.