“Out, damn spot; out I say!”

Let us be very clear on one thing! In Malaysia, the political secretary to a Minister is the “bag guy” for the Minister. Let me be more specific. Amongst his more important “duties” is to accept, collect and seek funds from persons known and unknown to the Minister for the political activities of his Minister. If he was caught with RM2 Million cash, you can be rest assured that his Minister has got more … much more because anything less would mean that this political secretary “melawan towkay” i.e. bites the hands that feeds it!

By steadyaku47

I would designate the activities of this Hasbie Satar and the other political secretaries in UMNO as outright theft and/or extortion but I digress. Let us start from the beginning.

Now who would want to donate/contribute/give these funds to the political secretary of Tan Sri Nor Yakcop? They do so for a number of reasons but the most logical would be because they want a favor not from Hasbie Satar –  but from his Minister Tan Sri Nor Yakcop.

The money they give is substantial and people with a lot of money are not stupid people – unless they are from UMNO! Before they hand over the money to Hasbie Satar, they must have some indication that the favor they ask will be granted by his Minister Tan Sri Nor Yakcop. That indication will normally be in the form of a face-to-face meeting with Tan Sri Yakcop arranged by Hasbie Satar where they will tell Tan Sri Nor Yakcop what they wish for and Tan Sri Nor Yakcop will indicate the possibility of that favor being granted.

From there the donor will make a decision as to how much he will or will not donate to Tan Sri Nor Yakcop’s political funds by way of Hasbie Satar. Then money change hands … half now and the other half when the deed is done … a deposit first, maybe … or if the political secretary is very insistent – the whole amount agreed. If we are talking about hundreds of thousands of ringgit then the donor will certainly be granted another meeting with Tan Sri Nor Yakcop after the money has changed hands where he confirms with Tan Sri that “The Eagle has Landed” … or words to that effect. That, my friend, is the modus operandi of one aspect of money politics relevant to the duties of the Political Secretary – of whom Hasbie Satar is one.

What are the favors that might be asked for? A negotiated tender, perhaps. Settlement of “outstanding” damages payable to the Malaysian Government for late delivery of projects or contracts or non-compliance with tender specifications for projects completed. They might also want to negotiate a “fair” (and I use the term “fair” very loosely here!) valuation of Government assets or government owned companies that they want to purchase … and the list goes on. All these are within the purview of Tan Sri Nor Yakcop to decide or to give advice to the Government when the decision making process is underway.  

If these favors are not granted after the money has been collected by the political secretary, you can expect the donor to inform Tan Sri Nor Yakcop of his displeasure or at the least, identify another ‘favor” in lieu of the first one.

So, my friend, where does that put Tan Sri Nor Yakcop? In the doghouse, perhaps? The buck stops at Tan Sri Nor Yakcop. He cannot be in denial nor escape complicity in the activities of his Political Secretary. He appointed Hasbie Satar to that post. Tan Sri Nor Yakcop cannot claim that he has no knowledge of the activities of his Political Secretary! Nixon resigned because of Watergate. Nixon did not take part in the break-in but he sure as hell was responsible for the culture prevalent within the Republican Party then that resulted in the break-in and the subsequent cover up! So in the end he had to resign. Ditto for Tan Sri Nor Yakcop!

The resignation of Hasbie Satar is not a “clear sign that the Najib administration wants anti-graft authorities to investigate without pressure from politicians”. This is a case of damage control and self-preservation by UMNO after one of its own has been caught doing what comes naturally to a Political Secretary of UMNO Ministers! I dare say that every Political Secretary of an UMNO Minister is living beyond his means – and why not, when every UMNO Minister is living beyond his means! When you pee into the wind ….

Najib must rid himself of this Tan Sri Nor Yakcob and use the opportunity to declare his administration commitment to fighting corruption – a key target in the National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) under the Government Transformation Plan (GTP). Tan Sri Nor Yakcop is collateral damage. Najib can then declare that MACC will target even those Ministers from the ruling Barisan Nasional Federal Government. Muhyiddin will have to declare his admiration for Najib’s “no nonsense” approach to money politics knowing that Najibs latest “courageous” actions against money politics has set his Prime Minister’s aspiration back a few months. The UMNO controlled media will make much of Najib’s “uncompromising” stand against corruption vis a vis the misfortune of Tan Sri Nor Yakcop. But if Tan Sri’s Political Secretary has ringgit $2 Million cash on him, BMWs and properties … the mind boggles as to what his Tan Sri political master will have! Now that is another story to tell … and the leaks will surely come from UMNO itself if Tan Sri is reluctant to fall on his own sword!