Thursday, June 12, 2025

IKHLAS advocacy: Early Sokaiya, Yakuza-style racketeering?

In  the 1986 book, Yakuza by David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro, the company responsible for the widely documented mercury poisoning at the city of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan discovered in 1956 hired goons to intentionally disrupt the Company's AGM. It was to stop environmental activists and public from raising issues and permanently documented in the Company's minutes. 

The usual modus operandi by Japanese corporate racketeer or sōkaiya (総会屋) is to extort money from companies to prevent the 'meeting-men' (or 'corporate blackmailer') from disrupting AGM. And big named and globally renowned corporation paid protection monies to avoid any embarassment arising.  

Such activities declined following laws making it illegal to pay sokaiya, and imposition of jail and heavy fines for offenders from 1982 to 1994. It has not completely ended, but took a less threatening form. 

According to Terence Fernandez of Scoop.com, such activities are alive and kicking in Indonesia. 

Similar extortion have gone largely unreported in Malaysia. And the public may not be aware that the public grievances and usually unsubstantiated accusations aired by certain NGOs are budding Japanese sokaiya

Aman Palestine that was raided by MACC for embezzlement of about RM40 million is one subtle example and getting their pay-off from the public. 

A closer example is Pertubuhan Ikatan Usahawan Kecil dan Sederhana (IKHLAS) led by one Datuk Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah and having Tun Dr Mahathir as patron since 2011.

A quick look at his Facebook and the company he is with does not indicate a dedicated SME advocacy or entrepreneurship venture, but political activism with alignment to Dr Mahathir. There was the noticeable involvement in the recent Himpunan Melayu Berdaulat

It is quite apparent that IKHLAS is, but another platform for politics like any those unregistered NGOs to validate the police reports made by characters such as Rani Kulob or Chegubard. 

It seemed so in their latest salvo against MCMC Chairman, Tan Sri Mohamad Salim, whose agency is clamping hard on the excessive slandering and false accusation on social media.

For Ridzuan to embarass Salim with the accusation that Bukit Aman police officers and former Kuala Lumpur CPO colluded with MRCB to prevent shareholders from attending last week's AGM on Wednesday June 4th, it is coincidentally similar to a Japanese soikaya

They claimed it was to stop shareholders from raising issue on alleged embezzlement of RM90 million, However, the blog Corporate Untold revealed the attendance recorded does not indicate shareholders were blocked from coming. Save to presume none of these serious investors bother to raise speculative issues lacking any substantive evidence.

Ridzuan himself has a bad reputation of being charged for using fake documentsin making false claims from SOCSO and it involved his private company.  

He is a vocal and confrontational SME advocate who mixes grassroots activism with aggressive public maneuvering on real grievances such unfair land sales, and regulatory overreach. 

Nevertheless his tactics have drawn criticism for encouraging false allegations, political intimidation and in the case of his aggressive stance against MRCB, its abusing the anti-corruption frameworks for lobbying.

In 2020, he had petty traders pay him RM150 each under the false pretenses he could secure them stalls at Danau Kota but he was merely instigating them to make false police report against the then MP Dato Tan Yee Kew.

In September - October 2020, he publicly demanded DBKL to cancel a land sale by claiming the RM80 million land was sold at RM14 million without proper tender. Last year, he accused an aide to the Kedah MB of using gangster tactic against traders

The most bizarre aspersion was late 2024 where he accused MOH official of attempting to create a vape monopoly in his defense of vape traders.

It is not the coming of age for Malaysian sakoiya, but all it takes are the petty payments for RM150 per trader and few thousands for falsified SOCSO claims to blossom into serious racketeering. 

Perhaps, the amount is still petty to claim it is an organised racket. Ponder on how such activism can sustain itself without any visible remuneration.    

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