When then deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was sacked from his lofty position as the second most powerful man in the government and subsequently faced sodomy and corruption charges, there was hysteria among his supporters.
Their fears were not amiss as there was a massive witchhunt to 'purge' the government as well as the Umno ruling party of Anwar 'sympathisers'. Some who were caught in the crossfire were not just politicians, but also civil servants.
One was former Anti-Corruption Agency director-general Shafee Yahaya (right), whom Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had described as "true to (public trust) and rejected any form of corruption".Shafee had an almost unblemished record of 33 years in the civil service. But it all almost ended in tatters on that fateful day when then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself 'scolded' him for raiding a senior government officer's office.
The episode would have gone mainly unnoticed had he not been called as a defence witness in Anwar's corruption trial in 1998.
It was then that he testified that he had raided then-Economic Planning Unit director-general Ali Abul Hassan's office earlier that year, and found wads of cash in his drawer.
Life then took a 180-degree turn for both Shafee and his wife Kalsom Taib (right), who had to brave persecution and have various other accusations levelled at them, including a bizarre claim of breach of the Official Secrets Act."It was horrible. Shafee was asked to go to Bukit Aman for questioning until past midnight. Before that, policemen also came to the house to take his statements. I had to keep a close eye on them the whole time.
"Who knows what they could've planted around the house, and then accuse us of what not. They thought we were Anwar sympathisers!" said the plucky Kalsom in a recent interview withMalaysiakini.
Since then, both Shafee and Kalsom have been living a comfortable life as retirees, golfing and pottering around in the garden in their Taman Tun Dr Ismail house.
'Letter war'
That is until the 'letter war' in 2008 which reignited the incident that they thought had been buried 10 years ago.
That year, former UN special rapporteur Param Cumaraswamy and Mahathir (right) had traded acerbic but very public barbs at each other through the Letters forum in English-languge daily TheSunand in Malaysiakini.
Param's letter blew the incident into the open and reminded the nation of the alleged 'interference' from Mahathir when Shafee was just doing his job.
The former premier, unfazed, described Shafee of "raising his voice", "accusing him of trying to stop the investigation", "his words against mine", "an angry man", "opportunistic" and "revengeful".
Boiling with anger, it was then that Kalsom had decided to write a book, hoping to clear the air surrounding her husband of 43 years.
"But then, I was a lot angrier. I felt that I needed to set the record straight for the children. I don't want that in years to come, when we're both gone, they suddenly have to deal with this situation again," she said.
She wrote an "abridged" version entitled 'The Shafee Yahaya Story: Estate Boy to ACA chief', launched in June by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
"The anger just crept back up after it lay dormant. This is because of all the injustice done to my husband," she said.
Since then, Kalsom had painstakingly compiled all the letters and newspaper clippings pertaining to the matter, but careful preservation of documents is not foreign to her, a History graduate from Universiti Malaya.
"But no one wanted to publish my book. Apparently, it was difficult to meet the requirements for my book," she said.
Despite the setbacks, Kalsom published the book on her own and printed only 1,000 copies in the initial run.
And it has picked up a lot of buzz, surprisingly, from PKR politicians.
Both young and old politicos from the Parti Keadilan Rakyat have been giving their 'review' of the book through micro-blogging website Twitter and their own blogs orFacebook accounts.
In fact, during the course of the interview itself, a man came to the house bearing a cheque from PKR vice-president Azmin Ali (left) who had purchased 50 books.
"The response is encouraging. This is despite a lot of do-it-yourself marketing. We can't really expect to make money from this. But this is just our record of what really happened," she said.
Tales of 'interference'
From the day the book was launched, more people have come forward to Kalsom with their own story - either wives of government officers, or the senior officers themselves.
And all tell the same story - that they faced similar experiences of 'interference'.
"When the book came out, most of them were at first shocked that this could happen.
"But many of our friends have slowly come out of their shells with their own traumatic experiences that they never dared to say before. Some also shared with us certain things that happened to them," she said.
Taking another step forward, she said that if she can convince some of her friends, she may even compile an anthology of such experiences.
"But so far, no one has dared to yet. We'll see how it goes," she said.
Perhaps it is only a matter of time before the rest come forward.
Even the chief secretary to the government, Sidek Hassan, admitted a whopping 41 percent of those of charged with corruption were civil servants.
Whether it is cheating on medical certificates or asking for an extra buck to 'close one eye' to an impending traffic summons, the tales are all too familiar.
However, former Anti-Corruption Agency director-general Shafee Yahaya (right) - who was in the civil service for 33 years - says there is more to such claims.“You have to look at the whole scenario. It depends on the particular ministry or department. Of course it is headed by the director-general. But ultimately, it won't happen if there are noconnections or (an) interested party,” he said.
“To say that the civil service or politicians are completely corrupt is not right because, sometimes, it's a combination of both ....
“Sometimes, it is the politician who is corrupt, (and) pressures the civil servants to abet or look the other way and rewards them at the same time. The civil servants sometime risk persecution by saying 'No'.”
Shafee dismissed the notion that corruption is a 'victimless' crime, pointing out that there is always someone who ends up with the short end of the stick in corrupt activities.“Those who will in the end suffer the most are the poor, the disadvantaged and those who cannot pull strings.
“Corruption comes in various forms, whether it is nepotism, cronyism or simply inflating costs. It will cost the public, (as they) won't get good return of investment. This will lead to a higher cost of living.
“Imagine if a road costs RM10 million to build and, because of corruption, (the bill) comes up to RM30 million. Who will foot the bill?”
Smarter 'big fish'
But Shafee is fully aware of the obstacles in pinning down those involved in corruption.
“For a big fish, you need a bigger net. And the bigger fish are smarter,” he said.Recalling cases of overseas transactions, bogus companies, foreign middlemen and sticky extradition processes, he said that methods of corruption are always evolving.
“And it is up to us (the anti-graft agency) to stay a step ahead of them,” he said.
While the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is attempting to do so, Shafee is doubtful if it much can be achieved if it does not have independent prosecutorial powers.
“Without the power to prosecute, only the attorney-general (AG) can give consent to charge someone. Maybe this has to be (re-examined).
“Now there seems to be a split - (the MACC to investigate and the AG's Chambers to charge). They may be a bottleneck.”
Even though Shafee is spending his retirement years in relative bliss, he keeps an interested eye on MACC chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed, who had worked under him as a director.Shafee offered him a word of advice, saying that he should not forget to watch over MACC itself.
“For those who are prone to corruption, he will have to combat this within his own ranks. He has to remember to work without fear or favour because, in the end, he is only answerable to his creator.”
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