No VIP prison cells for corruption offenders
SHAH ALAM - Former magistrate Mohd Firdaus Ramlan said there is no special facility such as a holding room or VIP prison cell prepared for inmates including corruption offenders.
Firdaus who was a former corruption convict in the Kajang Prison said the concept in prison was that all inmates would be treated the same in terms of care and food.
He said once he entered prison, he was isolated for the first 14 days before he was placed together with the other inmates.
"There was only a thin mattress and a blanket provided. Everyone was also given the same food.
"This is because the food was prepared at the prison's food hall by the inmates chosen to work in the kitchen," he said in the Kompas Rasuah Busters programme entitled "Jatuh Pemimpin Kerana Korupsi" which was aired live on all Sinar Harian platforms on Wednesday.
The programme also featured lawyer Fahmi Abd Moin, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Usuluddin and Philosophy Department senior lecturer Dr Muhamad Razak Idris while Hazlin Hussain was the moderator.
Talking about his experience on his corruption case, Firdaus said the act was divided into four phases which were the beginning, development, change and achievement.
He said the first phase was the familiarisation process.
"In the development phase, the person (bribe giver) could discuss with me for example "if you can help lighten my sentence, I will give you this much (bribe)".
"The bribe given was the focus in the development phase. From that phase it will go through the change phase that changes from not knowing me to knowing me.
"The changes were from not discussing openly to discussing it openly," he said.
He said when entering the change phase the context of the bribe given will change from the focus to building a reputation between the receiver and the bribe giver.
"When entering the achievment phase, we no longer see the bribe as wrong and it is seen as a normal practice.
"If we knew and we didn't take any actions, we would be categorised as a supportive corruptor," he said.
Firdaus was sentenced to seven years in jail 2010 on two offences under Section 16 and Section 17 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act (MACC).
