KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — A crowd dressed in black gathered in the city centre today to demand the resignation of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki, who is currently embroiled in a shareholding scandal.

Led by institutional reform group Bersih, the protesters criticised the government’s response to the controversy as too soft and called for sterner action to be taken against Azam.

Among those present was former economy minister Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli, who delivered a speech reminding the ruling coalition that it was the people’s frustration with systemic corruption that brought it to power.

“You say we whine and nyet, nyet, nyet. Well, this 22 years of whining and nyet-nyet-nyet against power and the corrupted is what made you prime minister,” Rafizi said, wearing black in solidarity with the protest’s theme.

The black attire is intended to symbolise what the protesters see as a deep institutional rot that threatens the coalition’s reformist image.

Azam faces mounting public scrutiny after Bloomberg reported that the MACC chief allegedly still held shares far above what is permitted for civil servants in 2025. 

Public service officers are reportedly allowed to own shares valued at no more than RM100,000 (at the time of purchase) or 5 per cent of a company’s paid-up capital, whichever amount is lower. 

MPs like Rafizi said the expose is a blemish on the MACC’s image as a commission mandated to fight corruption. 

Azam responded to the allegation with a lawsuit, maintaining he had not broken any laws. The MACC chief commissioner is also refusing to take a leave of absence pending the investigation by a special task force set up following Bloomberg’s report.

Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, also a former minister in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Cabinet, said today’s protest was held for the exact same reason a rally was held in 2022, which Anwar himself attended at the time.

That was the first time Azam was reported to own shares exceeding the permitted threshold for civil servants. 

“We are assembling here for that same reason...an agency tasked with fighting corruption must be free (from negative influence). Today we have power, but what is the point of having power if we don’t want to create change?” he said, calling on the government to reform the MACC.

Rafizi, Nik Nazmi and six other PKR MPs urged the government to widen the special task force’s mandate to include probing allegations that a group of businessmen is using the commission to intimidate company owners, reportedly to force them to relinquish ownership.

Bloomberg reported the allegations in detail, citing MACC and police officers familiar with their modus operandi. 

The commission denied the report, calling it baseless.