A critic known for scrutinising government contracts and corporate fraud has lashed out at the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for summoning him for questioning after he offered to investigate Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s eldest daughter in the same way he has reported on other politicians for alleged abuse of power and corrupt practices.
Aliff Ahmad, co-founder of SCRUT, a platform that helps the public avoid falling for car-buying scams, was summoned after offering to “scrut” Nurul Izzah, a term he uses to denote digging up past statements and connections that could point to wrongdoing.
In a post yesterday, he stated that he would start investigating her once the post reached 20,000 shares.
“Many are asking to SCRUT Nurul Izzah. What does she do? Where does she get the money to live and be in politics? What business does she have? If this post reaches 20,000 shares, I will do it. That’s the price. You decide,” he said.
Hours later, Aliff was ordered to present himself at the commission’s Cyberjaya office at 8pm last night to be questioned under Section 255 of the Communications and Multimedia Act, which authorises MCMC officers to summon any person for questioning, failing which a court warrant may be issued to secure attendance.
But a defiant Aliff said he had other matters to attend.
“I can’t make it. I told them to go to the magistrate tomorrow morning, show my post, and apply for a warrant. Do some paperwork tonight and face the judge tomorrow,” he wrote in a post last night.
It is understood that he had attended the session with MCMC this morning.
Aliff questioned MCMC for the speed with which it pursued him over his announcement to investigate Nurul Izzah.
“There are so many disgusting, obscene, pornographic and horrible posts, videos and pictures that are clearly against the law and the Communications and Multimedia Act and should be investigated,” he said.
Aliff said he would prefer to be charged in court so that he would know where he committed an offence.
“If there’s no charge, what does that mean?”
Aliff previously made several revelations involving PKR leaders, most notably his detailed investigation into Invoke, a company run by Rafizi Ramli to help PKR gauge public opinion, in the run-up to the 2022 general election.
He has also targeted Anwar, his deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin as well as PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and DAP strongman Lim Guan Eng.
In February, he investigated several firms named by Transport Minister Anthony Loke to break the monopoly of Puspakom, the company responsible for conducting vehicle inspections for the Road Transport Department. Aliff warned Puspakom’s monopoly would be replaced by an oligopoly characterised by cronyism and “Ali Baba”-style companies.
Just this month, he took aim at Perlis PKR chairman Amin Ahmad, accusing him of cronyism using his position as the chairman of the Malaysian Institute of Translation & Books, a company under the education ministry.
When contacted by MalaysiaNow, Amin, whose wife heads a foundation under Khazanah Nasional, denied the allegations and said that he was preparing to take legal action.
MCMC’s response to Aliff’s post mirrors its clampdown on social media posts critical of Anwar’s government, with frequent requests to platforms such as X, YouTube and Facebook to delete content.
Statistics released by TikTok placed the Malaysian government at the top of a list of requests for content removal during the second half of 2023.
The government has also blocked blogs and news sites for news reports not complimentary to ruling politicians. They included MalaysiaNow, which was blocked for 48 hours in 2023.
Restrictions on journalists and media outlets critical of the government led to Malaysia taking a record dip in the annual World Press Freedom Index, dropping to the 107th spot last year from the previous 73rd spot.