Terence Fernandez：警察总长应谨言慎行

涉及公正党领袖的男男性爱短片事件，不只还没落幕，似乎越演越激烈。

我们不断加料， 让这课题保持热辣，追问视频的真实性，高级部长的性取向和公正党内部的权力斗争，即以保守的禁忌同性恋来终结阿兹敏的政治生涯──就像21年前摧毁拿督斯里安华一样，成了新闻的焦点。

虽然首相马哈迪在此事上没有表态，并交由警方处理，但安华的支持者不禁怀疑，这会否是马哈迪的政治因果报应？马哈迪在1998年时，就基于类似的指控，而革除时任副首相安华。

在一个更容忍LGBTQ（同志、跨性别者）的时代，人们可能会想许多年轻的马来西亚人会认为这不是一个大问题；只要有关政治人物能够以诚信和专业的态度为国家服务。

然而， 对于一个建立在保守的亚洲和伊斯兰价值观上的国家，再加上把肛交视为违法的国度──很明显，性成了谋杀人格的首选武器。那些利用性课题，作为政治武器的人，其对我们领导人的“性”事关注，更多于他们管理国家的能力。

公开声明徒增疑团

一些机构如警方， 似乎也在扮演著让事件继续延烧的角色，如全国警察总长拿督斯里阿都哈密针对男男性爱短片，发布警方调查声明时，反而留下疑团。阿都哈密说，马来西亚网络安全机构已验证了视频的真实性，但无法确定影片中人物身份。

这让我想起了，2008年牵扯出司法丑闻如大法官人选委任的VK林甘视频听证会上，当事人VK林甘的经典辩词，“看起来像我，听起来像我，但这不是我”。

对于阿兹敏的支持者来说， 这样一个巨大的疑团，对他们主子是一种伤害，尤其阿兹敏被视为未来或不久将来的潜在首相人选。

但全国警察总长阿都哈密也透露了以下信息：该视频是某政党领导人试图破坏某个人声誉的“邪恶阴谋”的一部分。虽然阿都哈密没有点出是谁，但其言论使安华不得不站出来澄清。毕竟，警方在查明何方录制男男性爱短片案件上，已拘留了安华的政治秘书法哈兹协助调查。

更重要的是，阿都哈密如果在这案件上不慎言，他和警队将被指责沦为政治斗争的工具，即安华和所谓的马哈迪首选继任者阿兹敏之间，真实或想像出来的权力斗争工具。

别让警队沦为棋子

当年，全国警察总长拉欣诺殴打安华的黑眼圈事件，也让警队备受指责，这一事件在一定程度上，也证实了长期以来一些人的看法，即警方也有其效忠的政治主人。

在许多案件上，警方不时以“正在进行调查”理由，而保持沉默。但在此次事件上，阿都哈密虽表明，他不能透露过多，因其言论会被用在随后的法庭审讯上，可实际上，他已经说得够多了。

全国警察总长对案件的推论，足以让公众得出一个结论，暗指公正党主席涉及，也对未来首相接任计划制造不确定性。未来首相继承计划，旨在让国家面对著全球经济衰退和公共资金遭盗用如一马公司丑闻带来的财务危机中，带来稳定和确定性。其合理的推论，将引起“公众的不安”，这是最讽刺的。如果他确实有充足的理由而做出如此的推断，他也应用同样的理由去逮捕该政党领袖，并由控方提出证据后，交由法院裁决。

马来西亚人已厌倦了龌龊政治，在最新的案例中，人们感到他们的信任和选票被一些微不足道政客消费了，这些政客似乎忘记了他们正在管理著这个国家。这包括阿兹敏和安华──我们的首相人选， 他们也在这丑闻中，采取非生产性的抨击手段。

同样，人们对阿都哈密，这名当年在一马公司丑闻调查上，因要求展开透明调查，而被调职到首相署，有原则及立场的警官，寄予很大的希望。人们希望他不会自毁声望，说出的话，让人怀疑他是在维护法律，还是如其前任般被指控为某方的政治棋子。

《警察总长应谨言慎行》（IGP on sex video: Saying enough, without saying much）原文：

The ongoing saga of the footage of a person resembling Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali engaged in sexual activities with another man seems to be having a longer shelf life than initially thought.

We keep adding fuel to keep the issue hot and spicy, where headlines are dominated by questions of the validity of the footage, the sexual orientation of a senior minister and a power struggle within PKR where conservatively taboo gay sex is being used to end Azmin's political career — just as it was used to all but destroy Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's 21 years ago.

While Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has chosen to remain coy about the matter and leave the matter to the police, Anwar's supporters cannot help but wonder if this is Karma paying Dr. Mahathir a visit after he sacked Anwar as deputy prime minister in 1998 over similar allegations.

In a time that is more tolerant of LGBTQ issues, one would guess that many younger Malaysians would wonder what the big deal is; as long as once can serve the nation with integrity and professionalism.

However, for a country that is built on conservative Asian and Islamic values, coupled with a penal code which makes sodomy a crime — it is obvious that sex is the weapon of choice to kill someone's character.

Those who use sex as a political weapon play on society's general primal fixation on our leaders' sexual exploits than their ability to administer the country.

It also does not help that institutions such as the police seem to be playing a role in prolonging the issue with the Inspector General of Police (IGP)'s statement on the outcome of the investigations into the authenticity of the footage depicting PKR Santubong Youth Chief Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz engaged in sexual acts with another man who resembles Azmin.

Instead of issuing a statement after investigations have been concluded, IGP Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid Bador left the matter hanging saying that while Cybersecurity Malaysia has verified the authenticity of the video footage, the facial recognitions were inconclusive, hence the individuals in the footage could not be positively identified.

This harkens back to the "looks like me, sounds like me but it's not me" defence that lawyer Datuk VK Lingam adopted during his trial in 2008 for attempting to fix judicial appointments.

To Azmin's supporters it is a disservice to their man as there is a huge doubt hovering over Azmin — who is seen as a potential prime minister in the near or not too near future.

But Abdul Hamid also volunteered the following information: that the video is part of "an evil conspiracy" led by the leader of a political party to damage the reputation of an individual.

While his name was not mentioned, Abdul Hamid's remarks will put Anwar on the defence. After all, his political secretary Farhash Wafa Salvador is already in police custody as part of investigations into who filmed and distributed the video.

More importantly, if Abdul Hamid is not cautious with his public remarks in this case, he and most significantly the Royal Malaysian Police stand to be accused of being a political tool in the real or imagined leadership tussle between Anwar and Dr Mahathir's supposed preferred successor, Azmin.

Anwar's black eye courtesy of then IGP Tan Sri Rahim Noor was also a black eye to the force, where the incident to an extent, confirmed long held beliefs that the police too had its political masters.

How many times have the police kept mum because "investigations were ongoing" in other cases? While Abdul Hamid cautioned that he could not say more out of concern that his words would be used in any ensuing trial, he had said enough. 

His inference was enough for the public to draw a conclusion implicating the PKR president and create uncertainty into a succession plan that was meant to bring stability and certainty to a country that is still reeling from the financial impact of the global economic downturn and the looting of public funds via 1MDB.

It will cause"unrest among the public" — which Abdul Hamid ironically reasoned when announcing the latest findings.

If indeed he has justification to make this remark, he must then have the justification to arrest this political party leader, leaving the conclusion of his involvement to be drawn by a court of law, following the tendering of evidence by the prosecution.

Malaysians are fed up of gutter politics and with this latest episode the people feel their trust and votes are being squandered by petty politicians who seem to forget that they are now running the country.

And this includes Azmin and Anwar — our prime ministerial hopefuls — who are taking unproductive potshots at each other over this scandal.

In the same vein, much hope had been placed on Abdul Hamid as a principled officer who had paid the price after being transferred to the Prime Minister's Department, for standing his ground and pursuing investigations on the 1MDB affair.

One hopes that he does not do his stellar reputation a disservice by saying things that makes one wonder if he is upholding the law or is playing the pawn in a political chess game that some of his predecessors have been accused of.