Dennis Ignatius
~ Provoking discussion, dissent & debate on politics, diplomacy, human rights & civil society.
No Country for Good Men
23FridayOct 2026
Posted in corruption, good governance
[1] On 21 October, Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain, director-general of the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (MCBA), stood in the dock at the Sepang Magistrate’s Court and pleaded not guilty to two charges of voluntarily causing hurt to two Special Branch officers at KLIA on 28 September. The charges, under Section 323 of the Penal Code, are compoundable and carry at most a year in jail or a RM2,000 fine.[1]
[2] Consider the context. Shuhaily came to MCBA in July 2025 after 26 years of exemplary service in the police, including as director of the CID at Bukit Aman. He inherited an airport where “counter-setting” – syndicates paying officers to wave foreigners through without proper checks – had long been an open secret. Barely ten weeks into his tenure, the MACC detained 18 MCBA officers from KLIA’s two terminals over precisely such a racket and froze more than RM1 million in bank accounts.[2] By his own account, he was at KLIA on 28 September leading an operation against a foreign tout syndicate and rising drug and contraband seizures.
[3] There is no question that agents of the government must at all times behave appropriately; his guilt or innocence is something for the courts to decide. But the circumstances surrounding this case invite questions – and, inevitably, speculation. Here was a senior officer who led from the front, at the very place where the rot was said to be deepest. Then came an altercation, and suddenly all hell broke loose.
[4] Then CCTV footage surfaced and was shared widely. Recordings from inside our main airport do not usually find their way online by accident. MCBA lodged its own police report asking whether the leak was meant to tarnish the agency and its chief. Malaysians deserve an answer.
[5] Then there is the unusual speed with which the case was brought to court: twenty-three days from incident to charge. In Malaysia, the wheels of justice usually turn slowly. Families of those who die in custody, often in violent circumstances, wait years for answers; accountability seldom follows. Here, however, it has been full speed ahead – two charges over a single confrontation, for an offence the law itself treats as compoundable. Justice that is swift for some and glacial for others is neither proportionate nor consistent – and only invites further speculation.
[6] Curiously, though an agency chief now faces criminal charges, the government has not asked him to step aside pending trial. That suggests even it does not regard the matter as grave.
[7] Taken together, the optics suggest that perhaps something else is going on. I make no allegation about anyone’s motives. But when the normally ponderous wheels of justice suddenly spin at speed for one man – a man disrupting interests long thought untouchable – people will draw their own conclusions. In a nation where trust in institutions is already threadbare, perception is no trivial matter.
[8] At the heart of Malaysia’s immigration crisis is a deeply corrupt bureaucracy, one that has defied successive attempts to clean it up. We now have a man of integrity in charge of securing our borders and disrupting the syndicates and cartels that have operated with impunity for years. That he, rather than the criminals, now stands in the dock raises uncomfortable questions.
[9] Our leaders speak eloquently about integrity, good governance and the fight against corruption. Yet time and again, those who actually live by those values are pushed out, sidelined or retired – a Chief Justice of unimpeachable integrity and a widely respected deputy IGP come to mind. By contrast, an MACC chief mired in controversy was given extension after extension. In Malaysia today, it is integrity, not corruption, that ends careers.
[10] “Changing something comes at a price,” Shuhaily said before he was charged. “If that price is myself, then I will pay it.” That is the measure of the man, and I, for one, salute his courage and his service. The question is whether ours has become a country where those who try to change things are the ones made to pay. Is there still room for good men here? If the answer is no, the syndicates will have won – without having to lift a finger.
[Dennis Ignatius |Kuala Lumpur |23 October 2026]
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