THERE is a battle being waged in Putrajaya between influential supporters of Prime Minister Najib Razak over the future of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Dzulkifli Ahmad. 

Both sides have senior politicians, civil servants and political operatives in their corner. Both sides are employing bloggers, social media platforms and even mainstream media to push their angle and achieve the outcome they want.

The pro-Dzulkifli camp believe that all the MACC chief needs to do is make some grovelling apology and take the woman in the video as his second wife and all will be forgotten in good time. They believe that everyone makes mistakes and he should not lose his job because of a personal shortcoming.

This camp feels that in due time, Malaysians will forget about the controversial video of the MACC chief holidaying in Bali with someone else’s wife and the allegation that his indiscretion led to the break-up of a marriage.

It remains unclear why this camp is batting for Dzulkifli given that several of them, including Najib’s operatives, were predicting the end of the MACC chief’s tenure weeks before the videos surfaced, citing Dzulkifli’s hubris and unpopularity among Umno warlords.

On the flip side, there is another camp in Putrajaya that believes it is impossible to sweep this case under the bed because a slew of police reports have been lodged about the case.

What is particularly grating for this group is that there is evidence that this alleged friendship with the woman is not something that happened recently. It has been going on for some time and the individuals have been cautioned about it being unbecoming.

So, for now, the police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers will continue investigating the case under the offence of enticing a married woman, contained in Section 498 of the Penal Code. 

Expect those investigating the case to come under an avalanche of attacks on social media. The attacks are aimed at forcing them to back off, close the case and allow this unsavoury episode to slip into the background.

It does appear that more than the career prospects of the MACC chief is at play here. 

Expect the battle to get nastier unless Najib steps in.

Till now, it isn’t clear whether the prime minister wants his compromised MACC to go or stay. 

It awaits his decision and, until then, his minions will fight away.  – October 23, 2017.