MACC Supremo Azam Baki Won’t Be Renewed Come May, Government Sources Say

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Tan Sri Azam Baki, chief of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), might not get his contract renewed when it expires on 12 May 2026.

Citing high-level government sources, Singapore’s The Straits Times reported that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has repeatedly told his Cabinet in recent weeks: “Azam is done.”

This would be a significant reversal — Anwar has renewed Azam’s contract three times already since taking power, despite mounting public outrage.

Azam’s stint as the chief of MACC has not been a smooth one:

Back in 2021, Azam allegedly breached shareholding rules (civil servants in Malaysia aren’t supposed to hold large stock positions), a claim he denied, saying it was his brother who used his trading account.
He promised it wouldn’t happen again. In January 2026, it was again alleged that Azam owned 17.7 million shares of a company, of which he denied any wrongdoing.
A US-based Bloomberg report in February 2026 alleged the MACC had for years been abusing its sweeping powers to extort and manipulate corporate figures — what critics are now calling a “corporate mafia” operating inside the anti-graft agency.
The government was forced to set up a task force — including the Attorney-General and Treasury secretary-general — just to investigate their own anti-corruption chief.

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The Public Isn’t Buying It

Malaysians took to the streets.

Protests erupted outside the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya on 27 February, with crowds holding up placards bearing Azam’s image and demanding his suspension.

An “Arrest Azam Baki” rally was held in Kuala Lumpur on 15 February, and politicians from Anwar’s own coalition showed up.

Even DAP — the party that supplies the largest number of MPs in Anwar’s government — publicly said the government’s response has been “inadequate and does not meet public expectations.”

DAP is so frustrated that they moved their national congress two months earlier, from September to July, so members can vote on whether to stay in Anwar’s government at all, depending on whether reforms actually happen.

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Demo turun Azam Baki
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The Government Fires Back — With A Conspiracy Claim

In the midst of shareholding allegations against Azam and the “corporate mafia” claim made by Bloomberg, Anwar went to Parliament and dropped a bombshell of his own.

He claimed the entire campaign against the MACC was a coordinated foreign-backed operation — involving local figures working with international media, overseas-based groups, and what he described as “prominent Zionist elements.”

According to Anwar, police investigations found that the movement was based overseas with significant funding and had held six meetings throughout 2025 — both inside and outside Malaysia — to plan its strategy.

The alleged playbook, as Anwar described it in Parliament:

Use international roundtables and NGOs to gather and push narratives
Brief Bloomberg to publish damaging stories
Contact foreign media to challenge the government’s credibility
Use connections with MPs to plant specific Parliamentary questions on the MACC issue

Anwar also suggested the entire operation was triggered by the MACC’s own large-scale corruption investigations — implying those being investigated were fighting back through the media.

Police are now investigating the alleged conspiracy as a crime of undermining democracy.

The Economist noted that Anwar has repeatedly extended Azam’s tenure while critics accused him of using the MACC as a political instrument — making the sudden reversal look less like principle and more like political survival.

Dropping Azam may be the easy political win — but analysts warn that swapping faces does little to undo the damage of years of undelivered reform.

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