May 4 — Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin wished to make “his boy” the Special Branch head to serve his political purposes, said newly retired police chief Ahmad Hamid Bador.
Hamid told the Malaysia Gazette Hamzah allegedly wanted “his boy” to head Special Branch as the police unit had been reluctant to take orders from him and had snubbed him.
Hamzah’s plans were revealed last week after he admitted his was one of the two voices in a leaked audio recording discussing the appointment of police officers to key positions in the force.
Hamid, who was the deputy Special Branch chief during the Barisan Nasional administration, told the news portal he was informed that the home minister had allegedly directed the Special Branch to conduct a number of operations for his own purposes.
When contacted for a response, Hamzah’s press secretary told The Malaysia Insight the minister was in a meeting and would issue a statement soon.
“I cannot reveal the operations as every Special Branch operation is secret but the objective of the operations does not suit the Special Branch’s national security mandate,” Hamid was quoted as saying.
The former IGP said the unit had rejected Hamzah’s orders and had taken the matter up with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin who agreed that the unit should not be serving political purposes.
This, Hamid said, had enraged Hamzah and caused him to allegedly arrange for a retired Special Branch officer to take over the unit.
The current Special Branch chief, Mohamed Farid Abu Hassan, who was appointed to the position in June 2019, was allegedly summoned by the chief secretary to the government in February and told to voluntarily end his contract, to make way for the retired SB officer.
The prime minister was again notified of this and he ordered for Farid to stay out.
Just before retirement, Hamid told the press Hamzah had meddled in police affairs causing a split in the force.
Hamid had warned that the country was on a slippery slope if politicians were allowed to meddle in the police force and dictate terms.
“A minister cannot interfere in the affairs of the police force. The minister is only empowered to set policies.
“Don’t get upset (when I say that) the home minister has too much power. Come on,” he told editors in a conference at federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman.
Hamid had said political interference in police affairs must be stopped immediately for the future of the country.
Hamid retired as the inspector-general of police yesterday and was succeeded by Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani.
In his parting shot, Hamid said he had done his part by exposing the political meddling in the force’s business and that it was now up to Acryl Sani to deal with the problem. – The Malaysian Insight.
