Spies, Spooks and Treasonable Act

A Kadir Jasin

In the name of God, the merciful and the compassionate

PREAMBLE: Views expressed herein are entirely mine. I am writing in my personal capacity as a blogger. It has nothing to do with whatever position I may hold.

 

Illustration only: Signing of ERCL Contracts

EXPOSE that Research Division in the Prime Minister's Department had written a letter to then director designate of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Gina Haspel, five days before the May 9 General Election does not come as a surprise to me.

Haspel had since been confirmed as CIA director and the letter to her could be one of the documents that the police were looking for when they raided the house and office of one officer by the name of Hasanah Abdul Hamid soon after the Barisan Nasional’s defeat.

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The letter that is making the round in the online and social media bears her name and signature. The letterhead used introduces this Hasanah as Director General, Research Division, Prime Minister’s Department.

The content of her letter can be read in the online and social media accounts. In short it appealed for CIA's assistance just in case the BN won the GE narrowly.

To justify that extraordinary request, the letter writer ran down the Pakatan Harapan and its Chiarman, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Sadly this Hasanah did not even get the Prime Minister’s name correct. The name of Dr Mahathir's father was spelt as Mohammad. She, among other things, told the CIA that Dr Mahathir is anti-West and anti-Semite.

Her purported letter, reminds me of the many stories I heard from reliable sources that the ousted PM, (Datuk Seri I Mappadulung Daeng Mattimung Karaeng Sandrobone Sultan Abdul Jalil) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, had the support of many foreign embassies in Kuala Lumpur and their governments.

This is not surprising. Embassies and countries whose governments were super friendly with Najib and had committed billions of ringgit in his cost-inflated mega projects surely did not want to see him defeated.

So the story goes that almost all major embassies and foreign missions in Kuala Lumpur reported to their governments that Najib and the BN would the GE comfortably.

There’s a lot of hypocrisy in diplomacy. Many experienced diplomats knew the BN would lose. Some of them were even sympathetic towards the opposition. But they had to predict the BN’s victory because that was what their governments wanted to hear.

I was told that a few of them were called back to their respective capitals to explain how they got it wrong.

Again it is hypocrisy and play acting. Actually their bosses back home knew what exactly happened and wanted to make sure that their own tracks were covered.

I would not dare accuse them of interfering on behalf of the BN but their generosity towards Najib was a bit too much to be a coincidence.

But the new Pakatan Harapan too has engage in some degree of play-acting itself. This is diplomacy.

Illustration Only: Signing of HSR agreement at Sri Perdana

I am sure the PMO and Wisma Putra knew countries and foreign leaders that consorted with Najib but they would not do things to embarrass these leaders and their people.

So the new PH Government has to send special representatives and envoys to calm things down before the Prime Minister and other political leaders make a visit to these countries.

As for past public servants, including former ministers and diplomats, action will certainly have to be taken if there is evidence that they consorted with foreign government and agencies.

I am not accusing them of treason or anything like that. But seeking foreign help in what is essentially a domestic and internal affair - like the General Election - is unpardonable.

Wallahuaklam.