Malaysiakini: MACC may arrest others but not UMNO members?

But how MACC officers perform their duties is beside the point. The main question is: Are UMNO members untouchable, even if they are suspected for graft?

The main task of the MACC is to, of course, curb corruption. And it is not rocket science to know that money politics is a form of corruption.

The group representing UMNO Youth and Putera are rejecting the MACC for intervening in party matters. However, claims of money politics is not an 'internal party matter' but rather, an issue the MACC has an obligation to investigate and hold those responsible. The group has, indeed, no right to dictate what the commission can or cannot do to perform its duty to eradicate corruption. In other words, UMNO members are not demi-gods to be spared from the rule of law.

On August 12, 2007, the Prime Minister said, in relation to a separate matter, that the MACC (then called the Anti-Corruption Agency) is allowed to investigate cases involving money politics in UMNO. And again in January 23 this year, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that the MACC is free to conduct its own investigations into claims of money politics among UMNO members.