Its president Brig-Gen (Rtd) Mohamed Arshad Raji said the authorities should also investigate allegations that several military commanders were acting like politicians by encouraging their subordinates to vote for Barisan Nasional (BN), and that they had allowed BN politicians to come into camps to campaign.
“These military commanders do not deserve to remain in the military service,” he said, adding that military commanders must remain firmly apolitical and not be influenced by politicians who seek favours for their own political gains.
“Military commanders should be able to distinguish what is official and what is political in their dealings with politicians.”
Arshad said Patriot had received “incriminating WhatsApp messages” on the role of the office of the DMI, including that it had drummed up support for BN.
Arshad noted that the DMI was “the sole military intelligence authority to protect and defend the nation against all possible military threats” and must, therefore, be above board in all dealings.
Arshad also listed some of the specific allegations against the DMI, including that “some offices within the ministry of defence complex were used as an operations centre for political activities in support of the then-BN government”.
He called for the office of the DMI to be investigated over claims that it had “authorised the employment of the cyber defence operation centre for the monitoring of phone calls, social media, Facebook and emails that were deemed to be in opposition to the then-BN government”.
He also called for answers over whether military facilities had been used to engage in “covert propaganda activities” to discredit opposition political parties and opposition politicians during the run-up to GE14.
“Patriot urges the appropriate authorities to investigate the above allegations in order to take remedial measures and set things right in the ministry of defence,” he added.
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