Will all the Barisan MPs follow the lead by Zahid and Wee last week in a conspiracy of silence and  avoid the 1MDB corruption scandal like the plague when debating in Parliament?

The most outstanding aspect of both the speeches by the first two Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament, UMNO President and Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Zahid Hamidi (Bagan Datoh) and the MCA Deputy President and MP for Ayer Itam, Wee Ka Siong, in the 14th Parliament in the current parliamentary debate is  their conspiracy of silence on the greatest and worst corruption scandal in the country’s history  – the monstrous international 1MDB  corruption and money-laundering scandal which had given Malaysia  the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy.

Will all the Barisan MPs follow the lead by Zahid and Wee last week in a conspiracy of silence and avoid the 1MDB corruption scandal like the plague when debating in Parliament, not only in the current agenda of motion of thanks for the royal address but in all future parliamentary business?

This is a most cowardly act, particularly for those who had been in the 13th Parliament, whether as Minister, Deputy Minister or mere Member of Parliament for they had been part and parcel of the disgraceful and even unpatriotic conspiracy and  betrayal in  muzzling Parliament from probing and debating the 1MDB corruption scandal, and failing to lift a finger to defend and clear Malaysia’s of the international infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

This is the time for them to make amends. Will they do so?  Or will they compound their national betrayal in the 13th Parliament by a most criminal silence on the 1MDB corruption scandal in the 14th Parliament?

As for those Barisan Nasional MPs who are in  Parliament for the first time, are they going to join in the conspiracy of silence and sully their parliamentary record by being an MP of a political coalition with such a disreputable record on the 1MDB scandal?

The speeches of the Barisan Nasional MPs in the next five days of the parliamentary debate on the royal address will be scrutinised  as to whether they have the political courage and honesty to own up to the monstrosity of the criminality and moral turpitude of the 1MDB corruption scandal.

If they need to be reminded of such monstrous excesses in the 1MDB corruption scandal, they cannot do better than to go to the Internet and  refer to the 251-page kleptocratic litigation filed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) in July 2016 and June 2017 to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.

If they continue to exhibit a collective amnesia to  avoid the 1MDB issue in Parliament, the  32 million Malaysians will be  entitled to ask if  they are so craven,  cowardly and unpatriotic as unwilling to address the worst Malaysian corruption in world history?

The new Parliament will have to appoint a courageous Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which is brave and conscientious to undo the stain of the PAC of the 13th Parliament, which failed to carry out its duties conscientiously by carrying a comprehensive and independent investigations into the 1MDB corruption scandal.

The PAC of the 13th Parliament  committed the inexcusable dereliction of duty and negligence in failing to re-open investigations into the 1MDB corruption scandal after the  additional filings of the US DoJ kleptocratic litigation in June 2017 revealing new and additional  relevant evidence of the corruption, abuses of power and embezzlement of the 1MDB corruption scandal  after the PAC had completed and tabled its 1MDB report in Parliament  in April 2017.

I fully agree that the post of Chairman of Public Accounts Committee be held by an Opposition Member of Parliament, but  is there such a brave soul to be a candidate from the Opposition to take on the responsibility of Chairman of PAC in the 14th Parliament, whose first duties must to investigate, among other things, three matters, viz:

· firstly, to find out why the PAC of the 13th Parliament had failed to carry out an effective, meaningful and comprehensive investigation into the 1MDB corruption scandal; whether there was interference from the then Prime Minister who was a  protagonist in the 1MDB corruption scandal;

· secondly, why the PAC  failed to make any responses to clear Malaysia’s international infamy, ignominy and iniquity for the epithet of a global kleptocracy; and

· thirdly, to carry out the long-awaited comprehensive investigation into the 1MDB corruption scandal.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Monday, 23rd July 2018)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 23 July 2018, 7:52 am and is filed under
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How does Najib’s denial of signing off RM470 million from 1MDB to UMNO/BN parties square with Shahrir’s admission of receiving RM1 million from Najib after Sarawak Report  revealed in August 2015 that Najib had distributed 1MDB monies of RM1 million to Shahrir and RM2 million to Ahmad Maslan after the 13GE?

Former UMNO/Barisan Nasional Ministers and officials have followed the example of the first two BN speakers, Zahid Hamidi and Wee Ka Siong, in the continuing debate on the royal address in Parliament to shroud the international 1MDB money-laundering scandal in a conspiracy of silence, deploying all sleights-of-hand and employing all possible stratagems and devices to do so,  as illustrated by the following:

Firstly, staging of a 65th birthday bash in Parliament House for Datuk Seri Najib Razak, which had never happened in Najib’s nine-year premiership and the testimonial by his wife, Rosmah Mansoh, that Najib is “a very truthful man and he is on the right path” – a testimonial  and the person giving the testimonial which very few in Malaysia or the world would regard as credible at all.

Secondly, Wee Ka Siong creating a mountain out of a molehill claiming that the Prime Minister’s replying to a parliamentary question on behalf of Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng could be because of Guan Eng’s incompetence or Tun Dr. Mahathir’s lack of confidence in Guan Eng.

In fact, there was nothing wrong in what happened as Mahahtir would be the proper person to answer  Zahid’s question about Japanese loans as it was Mahathir himself who during his visit to Japan in the middle of last month had raised the subject of Japanese yen credit in the form of soft loans partly to retire old loans to offset high borrowing costs. In fact, the Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Zahid Hamidi,  might have  wrongly directed his question to the Finance Minister.

But what eclipsed both these incidents were the denial by Najib of signing off RM470 million from 1MDB to UMNO/BN parties –  for how is this to  square with former UMNO Minister and Barisan Nasional Back Benchers’ Club Tan Sri  Shahrir Samad’s admission of receiving RM1 million from Najib after Sarawak Report  revealed in August 2015 that Najib had distributed 1MDB monies of RM1 million to Shahrir and RM2 million to UMNO Deputy Minister, Datuk Ahmad Maslan after the 13th General Election.

In fact, in November 2015, the former MCA President, Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek  made a startling revelation about Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal in his personal banking accounts before the 13th General Election, when he recollected how Najib had in a BN Supreme Council meeting before the 13th general election made an “unprecedented pledge to fund BN component parties”.

Chua had said:

“I remember clearly. I was the first to thank him.

“I said I have joined politics for more than 20 years and have gone through five general elections. (We) have never received a single sen from BN before.

“So everyone agreed and many thanked him. When the election came, he delivered – he was able to disburse some funds (to the component parties).”

It would appear that the chickens have now come home to roost.

The onus is on Najib to prove that the hundreds of millions of ringgit channelled from his bank accounts to BN parties in the past were not from 1MDB.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Tuesday, July 24, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 24 July 2018, 5:18 pm and is filed under
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Do MCA and MIC support Lokman Adam’s candidature in Sungai Kandis and do they regard Lokman Adam as the model UMNO leader they want in post-14GE

The Barisan Nasional candidate for the Sungai Kandis by-election Lokman Noor Adam insists that he is not a racist but do MCA and MIC support his candidature and regard him as the model UMNO leader they want in post-14th General Election.

Why are the MCA and MIC leaders keeping a deafening silence on Lokman’s candidature in Sungai Kandis?

MCA Deputy President Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong is talking on all issues under the sun, but on three issues he has kept a strange silence, viz: Najib’s culpability in the  international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal causing unprecedented shame and infamy  to Malaysia for being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy; the secret letter by Najib’s spy chief to the CIA five days before the 14th General Election asking for United States support if the results of the 14th General Election was close; and Lokman Adam’s candidature in the Sungai Kandis by-election and whether the MCA leadership regards Lokman as the model UMNO leader they want in post-14GE.

Lokman believes that he can wrest the Sungai Kandis state seat from Pakatan Harapan if PAS campaigns for him ahead of the coming by-election.

Lokman said he will be able to pull off a narrow victory if 80 percent of PAS supporters backed him and 17 per cent of the votes that went to Harapan in the 14GE switched support to him.

The MCA and MIC leadership should declare whether they want Lokman to win in Sungai Kandis with 80 per cent of the PAS votes in the last general election as well as snaring 17 per cent of the voter support that went to the PKR candidate, and whether they approve and support UMNO co-operating with PAS in the Sungai Kandis by-election campaign.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Wednesday 25th July 2018)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 25 July 2018, 10:25 am and is filed under
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MCA and MIC leadership should declare whether they want UMNO candidate Lokman Adam to win or to lose in  the Sungai Kandis by-election

The attempt by the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to downplay MCA and MIC’s “perceived lack of involvement” in the Sungai Kandis campaign by saying that MCA and MIC needed to be given time to recover their strength following the Barisan Nasional electoral debacle on May 9, 2018 only highlights the two-faced game and political opportunism of these two parties.

I had this morning asked whether  MCA and MIC support Lokman Adam’s candidature in Sungai Kandis and whether  they regard Lokman Adam as the model UMNO leader they want in post-14GE.

Najib sang Loman’s praise when he campaigned for Lokman in Sungai Kandis, saying Lokman was an authoritative politician, who is also brave.

Najib said Lokman was “a vocal character who is brave in voicing out his opinions” and “the kind of people needed in the (Selangor) state assembly to ensure a mature democracy”.

Do the MCA and MIC leadership agree with Najib about Lokman.

Surely, even if the MCA and MIC needed time to recover their strength organisationally and in terms of manpower following the electoral disaster of the 14GE, this cannot be an excuse  to stop them from articulating whether they want Lokman to win or to lose in the Sungai Kandis by-election!

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Wednesday, 25th July 2018)

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Najib’s maiden speech as an Opposition MP conspicuous and infamous by what he did not say than what he said

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s maiden speech in Parliament today as an Opposition MP is conspicuous and infamous by what he did not say than what he said.

Najib’s most conspicuous and infamous omissions are three, viz:

1. Total absence of reference to  the monstrous international 1MDB corruption and  money-laundering scandal which  the US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions described at  an interntional conference last December as “kleptocracy at its worst” and which caused Malaysia the infamy, ignominy and iniquity as a global kleptocracy.  The 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal is regularly referred to international media as among the world’s largest ever embezzlement schemes, the subject of a global coruption probe involving investigators at some 10 countries and the Najib family widely cited as the scheme’s major beneficiary. There appears to be no contrition whatsoever.

2. Total absence of reference to the secret letter from the chief spy of Najib when he was Prime Minister to the CIA seeking support of the US Government against Pakatan Harapan if the 14th General Election results turned out to be close, which was clearly treacherous and traitorous as described by the Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan (Patriot).

3. Total absence of reference to the DAP.

Najib maiden speech as an Opposition MP should be compared to his speech as Prime Minister and UMNO President at the 2016 and 2017 UMNO General Assembles. In the 2016 UMNO General Assembly, for instance, Najib told three Big Lies, viz:

1. That the 14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP;

2. That the DAP is anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

3. The “nightmares” Malay will suffer if UMNO loses power in the next general elections.

The 14th General Election which UMNO/BN lost was  not a battle of  UMNO vs DAP. It was a battle between the Barisan Nasional led by UMNO and the Pakatan Harapan coaliltion of DAP, PKR, AMANAH and BERSATU to save Malaysia from a kleptocracy by defending the founding Constitutional principles of a democratic, just and united plural Malaysia.

Najib made the specific allegation that I would be the Prime Minister if Pakatan Harapan wins the 14GE but he has been proven wrong and a  liar.

DAP is not anti-Malay or anti-Islam. DAP is not a Chinese party as right from the beginning of our formation 50 years ago, as  we were committed to the principles and vision of a Malaysian party, led by Malaysians and serving the interests of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.

Finally, UMNO’s defeat does not result in Malays having “nightmares” except in the wild imaginations of UMNO leaders and their cronies.

As I had said many a time, whatever happens in the 14GE, the Malays in Malaysia will continue to exercise political power in the country as there is no way they will lose their political power.  This is assured by the triple factors establishing the overwhelming Malay predominance in the Malaysian political scene – the demographic make-up of the general population, the electorate and the parliamentary constituencies.

If Najib is genuinely patriotic, he should tender an open apology for unleashing the most vicious, divisive and toxic politics of race, religion, fear, hate and lies in the nation’s history just to ensure that he could be returned to power in the 14GE, which all turned to nought because of the wisdom of the Malalaysian electorate.

But Najib seems to have no remorse for such vicious, divisive and toxic politics and there are signs that there will be an attempt to unleash them again in the Sungai Kandis by-election.

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Thursday, 26th July 2018)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 26 July 2018, 5:36 pm and is filed under
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The “black shoes” furore, where Mazlee spoke more than 99% of two hours  on education reforms and less than 1% on black shoes but  public discussion focused 99% on black shoes and 1% on education reforms, should be a lesson to all on the pitfalls of modern communications

From the mass media including social media most of  the past week, it would appear that Malaysia has got one of the worst, most stupid and unthinking Education Ministers in the nation’s history, with all focus on the Education Minister’s announcement that all school children would be allowed to wear black shoes to school from next year.

It became an issue in the Sungai Kandis by-election in Selangor, with the Barisan Nasional deputy chairman Mohamad Hatta citing the decision as an example of how the Pakatan Harapan government still “does not know what it is doing”.

Mohamad Hatta, who is the Barisan Nasional  Sungai Kandis by-election director, said in the by-election:

“I think Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik changes the national education policy through the feet, not through the head.

“I don’t know what he was thinking to start making changes to the education policy with shoe colours. Maybe he has no other work.”

Opposition Member of Parliament also made jokes about the “black shoes” furore in the current debate in Parliament, and the black jokes about the  black shoes top the topic of  public discussions, to the extent that there were cartoons joking about education reforms coming from the feet when they should come from the head.

Are all these black jokes about the black shoes fair to the Education Minister, Dr. Mazlee Malik, who is the 20th Education Minister in the country and  undoubtedly one of the most exciting and promising appointments to the Cabinet and to the important post of Education Minister in the nation’s history?

I had not watched  the Sinar Harian Live talk show “Program Bicara Minda Bersama Menteri Pendidikan” last Thursday, which was moderated by veteran journalist Tan Sri Johan Jaffar, from which all the black jokes about the black shoes originated.

To understand the “black shoes” furor, I watched the Sinar Harian live talk show available on the Internet and found it was a slightly over  two-hour programme, and Mazlee spent 30 seconds talking about no more white shoes for school children from next year while more than two hours on education reforms, including ensuring lighter school bags for the students; improving the school curriculum so that the students of national schools are of international standard; giving the teaching profession back to the teachers, which means that they will no longer be burdened with tasks other than teaching; providing more space for art, music and literature in the classroom; improvements for special needs schools; restoring academic freedom in the universities,  etc.

The “black shoes” furore, where Mazlee had spoken more than 99% of two hours  on education reforms and less than 1% on black shoes but  public discussion focused 99% on black shoes and 1% on education reforms should be a lesson to all on the pitfalls of modern communications

Two days later, the Education Ministry clarified that the move would only be implemented stages beginning next year, and that the ministry would consider all factors, including the burden faced by low-income parents.

But the damage had already been done, and the public image falsely created that Mazlee was only interested in trivial issues and cosmestic changes and incapable for addressing more serious issues of educational reform.

Political leaders, like the Barisan Nasional deputy chairman and Opposition MPs who made the “black shoe” furore into a hot-button issue without watching Mazlee’s two-hour talk-show or who deliberately ignored Mazlee’s overall proposals for educational reform are doing rational and intelligent public discourse a grave disservice.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Thursday 26th July 2018)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 26 July 2018, 12:37 pm and is filed under
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Reply to Najib: why he pretended that the monstrous 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal is fake news

My reply to former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is short and to the point.

Firstly, why is Najib continuing to pretend that the monstrous 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal which landed Malaysia for over three years with the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy is fake news, and was this  justification for him to suborn the fundamental democratic doctrine of the separation of powers among the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, and to undermine the   independence, professionalism and efficiency of important national institutions like the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Election Commission, etc.

Secondly, what is Najib’s credibility worth when as Prime Minister he could team up with Penang billionaire Jho Low to commit what the US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions said at an international conference last December as “kleptocracy at its worst”, a corruption scandal which is regularly referred in  international media as among the world’s largest ever embezzlement schemes and  the subject of a global corruption probe involving investigators at some 10 countries, with  the Najib family widely cited as the scheme’s major beneficiary.

Thirdly, how can Najib expect Malaysians believe that his first loyalty is to Malaysia when he had done nothing to bring Jho Low to justice and Najib, by acts of commission and omission, had created the present cul de sac for upholding the rule of law by enabling Jho Low to be an international fugitive from justice.

Fourthly, how can Najib expect to have any credibility when in his maiden speech as an Opposition MP in Parliament on Thursday, there was a complete absence of reference to the DAP when in the years of run-up to the 14GE, even in his UMNO Presidential speeches at UMNO General Assemblies, he had unleased a most irresponsible, vicious and toxic politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies, demonising the DAP as anti-Malay, anti-Islam and that I would be Prime Minister when Pakatan Harapan wins the 14th General Election.

With such a disastrous history, can Najib blame Malaysians if they find it hard to believe that he, as Prime Minister at the time, was unaware of the letter sent by his chief secret spy, Hasanah Abldul Hamid,  who wrote as director-general of the Malaysian External Intelligence Organisation (MEIO) to the CIA seeking support against Pakatan Harapan on 4th May if the 14th General Election result turned out to be close?

Najib said I should call for investigations over the leak of Hasanah’s letter to CIA and plug it instead of being obsessed by him.

I do not want to be rude, but Najib should be aware of the idiom not to  teach grandmother to suck eggs.

Can’t Najib simply do what he advises me to do or has Najib forgotten that he is now an Opposition MP and no more Prime Minister of Malaysia?

But even more pertinent, is Najib saying that a document  which is treasonous and treacherous betraying the rights and interests of Malaysia to another country deserves to be protected as a secret government document?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Friday, 27th July 2018)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 27 July 2018, 1:34 pm and is filed under
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Why are MCA and MIC leadership shy to declare whether  they want Lokman Adam  to win or lose in the Sungai Kandis by-election

Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak continue to sing praises for the UMNO/BN candidate for Sungai Kandis by-election, Lokman Adam.

Why are the MCA and MIC leadership shy to declare whether they want Lokman Adam to win or lose in the Sungai Kandis by-election?

During his campaign for Lokman in Sungai Kandis by-election, Najib said Lokman was an authoritative politician, who is also brave,  “a vocal character who is brave in voicing out his opinions” and “the kind of people needed in the (Selangor) state assembly to ensure a mature democracy”.

Do the MCA and MIC leadership agree with Najib about Lokman or do they dare to express their disagreement publicly instead of quietly sulking?

Come on, the MCA and MIC leaderships! Speak up. Do you want Lokman to win or to lose in the Sungai Kandis by-election? In either case, are you prepared to give the reasons?

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Friday, July 27, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 27 July 2018, 3:22 pm and is filed under
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Sungai Kandis by-election a crucial test whether Najib has succeeded in equating Islam with kleptocray in Malaysia

The Sungai Kandis by-election next Saturday will be a crucial test whether former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has succeeded in equating Islam with kleptocracy in Malaysia.

It will also be a crucial test as to whether Najib’s  irresponsible, vicious and toxic politics of race, religion, fear, hate and lies, which failed to make the impact he had hoped in the 14GE to  ensure the victory of UMNO/BN in the 14th GE, have still traction in Malaysian politics.

In the 14GE campaign, a major plank of the Najib strategy was to demonise DAP and Pakatan Harapan to  incite fear and hatred based on fake news,  lies and false information to sell the line that if UMNO was defeated, the Malays in Malaysia will perish as DAP, allegedly anti-Malay and anti-Islam,  will dominate the Pakatan Harapan government with me as Prime Minister.

UMNO lost its unchallenged position as the political party with majority support of Malay voters in the 14GE because there were sufficient Malay voters who were intelligent and  sophisticated enough to see through the humbug of such propaganda, and rejected Najib’s vicious and toxic politics of race, religion, fear, hate and lies.

They do not want, in particular, to equate Malays and Islam with kleptocracy.

This vicious and toxic politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies have returned in the Sungai Kandis by-election campaign of UMNO.

With the support of PAS led by its President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, the UMNO by-election campaign theme is the lie that Malays and Islam are perilously  under threat under the new Pakatan Harapan government after the 14GE.

Will the voters in Sungai Kandis by-election succumb to the UMNO/PAS false propaganda that the Malays and Islam are perilously under threat under the Pakatan Harapan government, and misled into believing the vicious and toxic politics equating the future of Malays and Islam with Najib’s kleptocracy?

Najib had sang praises for the UMNO by-election candidate, but it is significant that in his maiden speech as an Opposition Member of Parliament last Thursday, Najib raised none of the issues about Malays and Islam periliously under threat – which should be Najib’s guiding theme of his speech in Parliament if he really believed that the Malays and Islam are perilously under threat under the Pakatan Harapan government.

This one incident more than any others highlight not only Najib’s political dishonesty and opportunism, but the dishonesty and opportunism of the  UMNO/PAS campaign in the Sungai Kandis by-election that Malays and Islam are perilously under threat  by the Pakatan Harapan Government.

Do MCA and MIC support the UMNO/PAS by-election campaign theme that Malays and Islam are perilously under threat under the Pakatan Harapan government? This is why I am asking for the third time for the MCA and MIC national leaderships to declare whether they want the  UMNO candidate to win or lose in the Sungai Kandis by-election.

(Media Statement by DAP Member of Parliament for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 28th July 2018)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 28 July 2018, 12:04 pm and is filed under
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How low can you go, Najib? Let all UMNO and PAS leaders who claim that I am equating Islam with kleptocracy speak up, loud and clear, to identify themselves so that  Malaysians can  know about their intellectual capability and moral failing

Let me ask the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, how low can you go, to the extent of making such a wild, false and unfounded claim that I am equating Islam with kleptocracy.

I cannot but doubt Najijb’s intellectual calibre and even his educational standard when a statement with the objective to declare that Islam should not be equated with corruption and kleptocracy is interpreted by Najib as a statement equating Islam with corruption and kleptocracry!

A school student with ordinary mental and intellectual capabilities would  not make such a colossal blunder but the former Prime Minister of Malaysia can make such a shocking mistake!  What does it say about Najib?

Let all UMNO and PAS leaders who claim that my statement yesterday was equating Islam with kleptocracy speak up loud and clear, to identify themselves to Malaysians so that every one know about their intellectual capability and moral failing.

Let me make myself clear. I have never in my life belittled Islam or any of the great religions of the world.

All great religions teach human beings to be good, to have the virtues and passion for justice, freedom,  goodwill and mercy and to abhor corruption, kleptocracy, dishonesty, injustice and all forms of vices.

Najib, as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia, will best be remembered by the monstrous 1MDB international money-laundering scandal which earned Malaysia the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy.

Can Najib tell Malaysians whether the 1MDB scandal or Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy is in keeping with any the great precepts of Islam or any other great religion in Malaysia?

Does Najib agree that Islam must never be equated with kleptocracy and corruption, and that with UMNO/BN’s electoral defeat  in the 14th General Election, Malaysian voters regardless of race and religion have shown that they are the best adherents  of their respective  religions, whether Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism,  Sikkhism or Taoism to abhor kleptocracy and corruption?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 29th July 2018)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 29 July 2018, 9:48 am and is filed under
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After educating Malaysians about kleptocracy, Najib is giving  another education to Malaysians on the meaning of “grasping at straws”

There is one thing which Datuk Seri Najib Razak had done which his five predecessors, the first to the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahnman, Tun Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir, Tun Abdullah,  had not done – to provide a personal education to Malaysians.

First, to educate Malaysians about “kleptocracy”, as Malaysians can undeniably claim credit as having the highest percentage of people in  any country in the world who understand the meaning of “kleptocracy” by being a living example of what the US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions recently described  as “kleptocracy at its worst” – the monstrous 1MDB international  corruption and money-laundering scandal well-known throughout the world but denied as “fake news” by Najib and his cronies.

Now Najib is providing Malaysians a free education to understand the meaning of the idiom “grasping at straws”, when he insisted that I had linked Islam to kleptocracy and wanted an apology from me.

I agree with Najib that anyone, whether me and any other, who linked Islam to kleptocracy owes Islam an unqualified apology for this is not what Islam or any other great religions in the world teaches.

I had yesterday challenged anyone, especially UMNO and PAS leaders,  who claim that I had  equated Islam with kleptocracy to speak up loud and clear, to identify themselves to Malaysians so that they can be exposed for their intellectual poverty and moral failing for I had never in my life belittled Islam or any of the great religions of the world.

So far, Najib strikes  a very solitary lonely self, for there is none even among his cronies who will take up the challenge for the former Prime Minister to tell lies on his behalf.

I challenge Najib to a public forum “Islam is not kleptocracy”.  Accept the challenge and our respective representatives can decide on the place, date, time and other details for the public forum.

The ball is in Najib’s court.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Monday, 30th July 2018)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 30 July 2018, 11:30 am and is filed under
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MCA and MIC should close shop and MCA should not contest in Balakong by-election if their leadership dare not even say whether they want the UMNO candidate Lokman Aman to win or lose in the Sungaki Kandis by-election

In the past five days, I had asked the MCA and MIC  national leaderhips three times whether they want the UMNO candidate in Sungai Kandis by-election to win or lose on Saturday.

Now that PAS has officially urged support for Lokman, which a commentator had described as “the new normal for Malaysian politics” in post-14GE Malaysia, I am going to ask the MCA and MIC national leadership for the fourth and final time in six days whether they want Lokman to win or lose in the Sungai Kandis by-election on Saturday.

MCA and MIC should close shop and MCA should not contest in the Balakong by-election if their leadership dare not even say whether they want the UMNO candidate Lokman Aman to win or lose in the Sungai Kandis by-election on Saturday.

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Monday, 30th July 2018)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 30 July 2018, 1:54 pm and is filed under
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Najib does not understand or does not want to understand – its not him, but the  1MDB corruption scandal and the infamy of Malaysia as a global kleptocracy which all Malaysians should be obsessed about until integrity  and good reputation are fully restored to Malaysia

Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak does not understand or does not want to understand.

Its not him, but the monstrous 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal and the infamy and ignominy to Malaysia as a global kleptocracy which all Malaysians should be obsessed about until integrity and good reputation are fully restored to Malaysia.

Nobody should be obssessed with Najib, who has missed a historic opportunity to become  the best Prime Minister in Malaysia. Instead, he would go down in Malaysian history as the country’s worst Prime Minister.

Commission a public opinion  poll and Najib will understand how sad, lowly but true his as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia – even worse than that of the fifth Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah!

I don’t know whether to congratulate Najib or his band of faceless but highly-funded advisers for the rapid salvo in reply to my statement this morning, as Najib’s statements normally  appear only at night – as if his ghostwriters operate some 10,000 kilometres away from Malaysia.

This is the first time that Najib’s media advisers could operate in real time as if they are in the country and not 10,000 kilometres away.

But my advice is not just Najib alone, but also to UMNO and Barisan Nasional.

UMNO and Barisan Nasional should not expect any recovery of public confidence and support  so long as Najib, mired in the 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal,  is seen as their  major political personality and power.

If Najib had succeeded in the 14GE to bury  the 1MDB scandal as an important national issue, the 1MDB corruption and money-laundering  scandal would become not only the ‘heist of the century’ but the biggest electoral fraud in Malaysian history.

Malaysians must thank their lucky stars that  their patriotism,  love of their country and wisdom  saved Malaysia from a failed, rogue and kleptocratic future.

Now Najib and his cronies want a “scorched-earth” policy to return to the Najibian past by upping up the stakes in their irresponsible,  vitriolic and toxic  politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies.

Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, who want to rebuild  a united, harmonious, democratic, just, progressive and prosperous Malaysia which can be a “beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world”, a world-class nation every aspects, must exorcise the ghosts of the 1MDB scandal and Malayia’s reputation as a global kleptocracy by  holding true to the Malaysian Vision and  remain solidly united to  build a new and clean Malaysia.

(Media Statement (3) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Monday, July 30, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 30 July 2018, 5:52 pm and is filed under
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May 9, 2018 must be the beginning of a new national journey to build a New Malaysia which is top world class and  an example to the world of an united, harmonious, successful, progressive and prosperous nation

All Malaysians welcome with hope, joy and pride the historic and watershed 14th General Election on May 9, 2018.

Malaysians are rightfully proud that they can now stand tall in the world after effecting a peaceful and democratic transition of power, an affirmation of democracy as a system of governance at a time when democracy is in decline all over the world, and to repudiate the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy.

What gives great hope for the future is the exhilarating spirit, energy and power of Malaysians – not just Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans – coming together to save Malaysia from becoming a failed, kakistocratic, rogue and kleptocratic state, and succeeding against formidable odds and forecasts of all mainstream pollsters and analysts.

It is no exaggeration to say that never before in previous thirteen general elections since 1959 had the country seen such intensity and viciousness in the politics of fear, hate, lies, race and religion as in the 14th General Election.

This has made Malaysia’s second chance to fulfill the Malaysian Dream to be a top world-class nation which is “a beacon of light to a disturbed and distracted world” even more precious and invaluable.

Three to four decades ago, Malaysians visiting China find China more backward than Malaysia virtually in all fields, but today, the reverse has taken place and Malaysians visiting China find Malaysia behind China virtually behind in all fields.

How did Malaysia fall behind allowing one country after another to overtake us or close the gap of development and progress?

The time has come to reset Malaysia’s nation-building polices and directions where Malaysians will stop thinking of themselves merely as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Ibans but to think of themselves as Malaysians!

Let Malaysians leverage on the strength and assets of our diversities of race, religion, language and culture to transform Malaysia into a top world class nation in every field of human endeavor and be an example to the world of an united, harmonious, successful, progressive and prosperous nation.

We have passed the three-quarters mark of the first 100 days in office of the Pakatan Harapan Federal Government in Putrajaya as we are now on the 83rd  of the 100 days.

There are teething problems of the Pakatan Harapan government, whether at the federal level in Putrajaya or in the eight state governments involving Pakatan Harapan – namely Penang, Selangor, Kedah, Perak, Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Johore and Sabah – but we must always maintain a positive mindset that we want the Pakatan Harapan governments to suceed.

We not only want the Pakatan Harapan government to suceed in first 100  days but for 5,000 days – which would mean for more than two terms of five years each and the Pakatan Harapan winning the 15th and 16th General Elections!

This is a tall order as the reimagining and remaking of a New Malaysia is not meant for timorous souls but for courageous Malaysians who dare to dream big dreams for Malaysia to be a world top class nation in several fields of human endeavour by leveraging on our unique assets that come from the diversity of the races, religions, languages and cultures that constitute Malaysia.

We want to create a New Malaysia that can fulfill Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman’s Malaysian Dream of becoming “a beacon of light in a distracted and disturbed world” – a showcase to the world of a plural nation which is united, harmonios, just, democratic, competitive, progressive and prosperous!

Pollster Merdeka Centre estimated that in the 14GE,  95% of the Chinese voted for Pakatan Harapan while 35-40% of Malays voted Barisan Nasional, another 30-33% supported PAS, and the remaining 25-30% picked Pakatan Harapan. For Indian voters, 70-75% of them supported Pakatan Harapan.

Did the 95% of the Chinese voted for a Chinese Malaysia when they voted for Pakatan Harapan so they could bully or dominate other races in the country?

Of course not. They voted for a Malaysia where all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans or Orang Aslis, could have a better quality of life, human dignity, freedom, democracy and good governance where there is no corruption and abuses of power and a Malaysia which is admired and respected by the world.

There are Malaysians who sing the Negaraku but want Malaysians to be more polarised according to race and religion. These are the people who suffer a major defeat in the 14GE.

We want Malaysians who not only sing Negaraku but live in the spirit of the National Anthem to ensure “Rakyat hidup Bersama dan Maju”.

We must reject irresponsible political opportunists who thrive only on racial hatred and distrust – inciting the Malays to hate the Chinese or urging the Chinese to distrust the Malays, completely forgetting the National Anthem that “Negaraku, Tanah tumpahnya darahku, Rakyat hidup bersatu dan maju”.

Corruption, abuse of power,  the 1MDB scandal and GST were major issues in the 14GE.

I do not believe that the 35-40% of Malays who voted for Barisan Nasional and the 30-33% who supported PAS in the 14GE wanted to vote for kleptocracy, abuses and excesses of power and GST as well as the various forms of injustices and oppression under Najib’s premiership.

Can we ensure that in elections after the May 9, 2018, we can not only maintain the same level of support from the non-Malay voters, but  after we have had the opportunity to tell the truth about t1MDB scandal and other mini-1MDB-like corruption in MARA, FELDA and other public bodies, more and more  Malay voters would support Pakatan Harapan to fight kleptocracy and to ensure that Malaysia stands for clean and honest government and not a corrupt and decadent government – and that UMNO/BN which  secured 35-40% of the Malay votes or PAS 30-33% of the Malay votes in the 14GE  would face decreassing support among the Malay electorate?

This is the national challenge of all Malaysians who want to see Malaysia to become a top world class nation and an example to the world of an united, harmonious, successful, progressive and prosperous nation.

In the 14th General Election, Pakatan Harapan secured 48.3% of the popular vote, while Barisan Nasional secured 33.9% and PAS 16.6% of the popular vote.

The next five year will be challenging ones for it will afford an opportunity to reach out to the 50.5% of popular vote who did not vote for Pakatan Harapan in the 14GE for they did not realise that their votes would be used to support or prop up a kleptocratic Malaysia – resulting in Malaysia to continue as the laughing stock of the world.

Many have kept asking how I could co-operate with Tun Mahathir when in the past, for the best part of my 53 years in politics, we had been at loggerheads – for instance, with me in the Opposition while Mahathir was the fourth Prime Minister for 22 years from 1981 to 2003. I was even detained for 18 months with Guan Eng under the Internal Security Act during Operation Lalang from October 1987 to April 1989.

Malaysia was placed in unparalleled peril under the sixth Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, with Malaysians ashamed to admit that they are Malaysians in the international arena because of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of becoming a global kleptocracy as a result of Najib’s international 1MDB money-laundering scandal, hurtling in the trajectory towards a failed, rogue, kakistocratic and kleptocratic state.

In fact, the shocking revelations of the abuses and excesses of power after 14GE  exceeded the worst thoughts of how dire and perilous the national condition had become under Najib  during the general elections campaign.

Could Malaysia be saved from Najib in the 14th General Election?

Nobody could be sure but a supreme effort had to be mounted, for we believe that Malaysians who want a clean, just, free, democratic and united Malaysia are more patriotic than Malaysians who are prepared to see Malaysia go down the drain to become a failed, rogue, kakistocratic and kleptocratic state.

Hence the formation of Pakatan Harapan, with Tun Mahathir Mohamad as the Prime Minister-designate with the pledge as contained in the Pakatan Harapan 14GE Manifesto to save and build a New Malaysia.

On 14GE Polling Day on May 9, Malaysians did what was thought the impossible and effected a peaceful and democratic change of government.

In the process, all political leaders and even Malaysians have a lot to learn from both the successes and mistakes of nation-building in the past six decades – whether Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim or even myself as we have to be more sensitive and sensible with regard to the legitimate aspirations of all Malaysians.

Our work has just started.

May 9, 2018 must be the beginning of a new national journey to build a New Malaysia which is top world class and  an example to the world of an united, harmonious, plural, successful, progressive and prosperous nation.

This is the national challenge of all Malaysians in the second journey of Malaysian nation-building.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang on “Malaysia Post-509” at joint Gabungan Persatuan Alumni Universiti Taiwan Malaysia-Sin Chew Media forum in SC Daily Hall, Petaling Jaya on  Wednesday, 1st August 2018)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 2 August 2018, 11:35 am and is filed under
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Speaker Ariff’s lifting of ban on MPs from questioning and debating  1MDB scandal an important step to restore doctrine of separation of powers and public respect for Parliament  and cries out for Najib to answer  the many serious charges of corruption and money-laundering in US DOJ litigation suit in his capacity as  “MO1”

Parliament Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof’s lifting of the ban on MPs from questioning and debating the international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal is an important step to restore  the doctrine of separation of powers  and public respect for Parliament as the highest political chamber in the land.

It also cries out for  the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to answer the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) litigation suit with contained many grave charges of corruption and money-laundering against him, as he was identified as “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1 (MO1)”.

Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director and former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Economic Planning Unit, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, had admitted at the BBC interview in  September 2016  that “MO1” is Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and that only an idiot does not know that “MO1” is Najib.

All who had served as Ministers in the Cabinet government in the past two years should declare whether they were “idiots” or they had known all along that Najib was “MO1” who was  cited 26 times in the US DOJ 1MDB litigation suit  and they were only putting up a great pretence of ignorance to the Malaysian people?

Many of these Ministers in the Najib government in the past two years are now in Parliament as Opposition MPs, and they should seek the Speaker’s permission to state their innocence or admit their guilt about  whether they knew who was “MO1”.

Even more important, Ariff’s ruling as Speaker cries out  for Najib to  answer in Parliament  the many serious charges of corruption and money-laundering in the US DOJ litigation suit in his capacity as  “MO1”.

The DOJ complaint described four principal phases of 1MDB embezzlement and kleptocracy from 2009 to 2014, which went on to give over 250 pages of details where “multiple individuals, including public officials and their associates, conspired to fraudulently divert” US$4.5 billion from 1MDB through various means, including by defrauding foreign banks and by sending them foreign wire communications in furtherance of the scheme, and thereafter, to launder the proceeds of that criminal conduct, including in and through U.S. financial institutions; where the funds diverted from 1MDB were “used for the personal benefit of the co-conspirators and their relatives and associates” including to purchase luxury real estate in the United States and overseas, pay gambling expenses at Las Vegas casinos, acquire more than US$200 million in artwork, purchase of billion-ringgit Equanimity luxury yacht, acquire the RM120 million Bombardier jet, purchase lavish gifts for family members and associates, including the RM120 million pink diamond necklace, and invest in a major New York real estate development project, and fund the production of major Hollywood films.

The Malaysian people and Parliament expect a response, although belated by two years, from Najib and his Cabinet colleagues – to know whether the Najib Cabinet in the last two years was a Cabinet of Idiots or kleptocrats.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Thursday, August 2, 2018)

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Call for greater vigilance and opposition to the politics of fear, hate and lies in post-14GE which becomes doubly vicious and toxic when accompanied by extremist politics of race and religion

We seem to be in a new phase of politics in Malaysia.

UMNO/BN under Datuk Seri Najib Razak had never expected to lose the fourteenth General Election. In fact, he had believed that UMNO/BN would not only win big, but will be able to recapture two-thirds parliamentary majority which UMNO/BN lost ten years ago in the 2008 General Election.

Now Najib, UMNO leaders and cybertroopers are working on a new political agenda, as they have “psycho-ed” themselves into believing that the Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya would not last, that it is highly fragile and will crack and disintegrate before the full term is over – paving the way for their return to Putrajaya.

This is why there is an intensification of the politics of fear, hate and lies in post-14General Election which becomes doubly vicious and toxic when  accompanied by the extremist politics of race and religion.

This is why there is the intensification of  the baseless charges to arouse fear and hate among the Malays that the Malays and Islam are under threat in Malaysia, simply because the Finance Minister, the Minister in charge of law and the Attorney-General are not Muslims.

There are also lies being told against Pakatan Harapan leaders.

Two days ago, I was shown a WhatsApp message making the rounds of social media accusing me of being a communist, which among other things said:

“Lim Kit Siang yg lahir di Funan negara China datang ke Tanah Melayu dgn bapak dia ditahun 1957. Mereka dapat ehsan dari org-org Melayu di Batu Pahat Johor. Umur Lim Kit Siang masa tu 16 tahun. Mula-mula bapak Lim Kit Siang cuma ternak ayam je, tapi kemudian ternak babi pula. Lee Kuan Yew bersekolah di Batu Pahat. Lee Kuan Yew guru Lim Kit Siang didalam fahaman Kominis & Yahudi. Dharurat di Malaya bermula dari tahun 1948 & berakhir pada 1960. Selepas tentera British meninggalkan Malaya (sebelum merdeka) kominis semakin bermaharajalela selama 12 hari. Batu Pahat pada masa tu jadi pusat pengganas kominis. Rumah bapak Lim Kit Siang jadi pusat kominis & mereka banyak bunuh org-org Melayu bunuh askar-askar Melayu. Masa umur Lim Kit Kat 18 tahun ditahan 1960 dia dah pakai uniform kominis.”

There are over a dozen lies in that one vicious and toxic paragraph.

Such vicious and toxic politics of fear, hate and lies accompanied by the extremist politics or race and religion had failed in the recent general elections, as Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region have shown that their intelligence and wisdom must not be underrated or there would not be a change of Federal Government in Putrajaya and in  six states apart from Penang and Selangor.

Although the practitioners of the politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies are fighting a losing battle, their viciousness and toxicity cannot be underestimated, and Malaysians  must continue to  expose these political  opportunists and crooks who want to destroy the Pakatan Harapan government and bring back UMNO/BN to power.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the opening of the DAP Iskandar Puteri parliamentary service centre at Gelang Patah on Friday 3rd August 2018)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 3 August 2018, 5:26 pm and is filed under
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Many thanks to Tajuddin for confirming that post-14GE, UMNO leaders and cybertroopers under Najib had launched a “scorched-earth” policy to take the vicious and toxic politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies to an extremity never seen  in Malaysia

I said at the opening of the DAP parliamentary service centre in Gelang Patah yesterday that we are  in a new phase in politics in Malaysia in post-14th General Election, as UMNO leaders and cybertroopers under former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak have abandoned all pretensions of moderation, balance  and 1Malaysian attitude to sabotage the Pakatan Harapan government, hoping that the Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya and in the various  states would not last the full term,  crack and disintegrate to allow UMNO to return to power before 15GE.

I must thank the former UMNO Deputy Minister, Tajuddin Rahman (MP for Pasir Salak) for confirming that post-14GE, UMNO leaders and cybertroopers under Najib had launched a “scorched-earth” policy to take the vicious and toxic politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies to an extremity never seen in Malaysia before.

In an eve of Sungai Kandis by-election gathering, Tajuddin made the wild, preposterous, reckless, most incendiary and seditious allegation that the DAP has an agenda to Christianise Malaysia, that that the DAP and “Christian-led Pakatan Harapan government” would want to abolish the Malay monarchy and establish a republic.

He claimed that there is a video featuring Christian pastors celebrating Pakatan Harapan’s victory during the May 9 general election, on the ground that the Christians have taken over Putrajaya and other states.

I am not aware that there is such a video. Did Tajuddin concoct such an irresponsible story out of thin air?

I challenge Tajuddin to produce such a video, or he must be condemned and repudiated by all Malaysians, including all UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders, as utterly irresponsible and disreputable, and UMNO should issue a show-cause letter to Tajuddin why he should not be expelled from UMNO for such a most irresponsible anti-Malaysian utterances – unless UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders want to adopt or associate with Tajuddin’s irresponsible utterances by their silence.

Tajuddin accused DAP Ministers are dominated by Christians like Anthony Loke, Tony Pua and Hannah Yeoh.

I am not aware that Tony Pua  and Hannah Yeoh are  Ministers, but let me educate Tajuddin that although Tony Pua and Anthony Loke have Christian names, they are not Christians  and Tajuddin has  committed an unpardonable political sin  in Malaysia in accusing the Cabinet as controlled by Christian evangelists when there is not even an iota of truth in the allegation.

What is also most unpardonable is that after more than half a century of Malaysian nation-building, Tajuddin is trying to perpetuate the misconception that a Christian or non-Muslim  is anti-Islam, a Chinese or Indian is anti-Malay – undermining  the very basis of Malaysia as a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi- religious and multi-cultural nation and that our very diversity in ethnicity, religions, languages and cultures is an unique asset for the nation and not a liability.

I do not believe that a Malay is anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Kadazan, anti-Iban in the same way that I do not believe that a good Muslim is anti-Christianity, anti-Buddhism, anti-Hinduism, anti-Sikkhism or anti-Taoism.

If Malaysia is to be a “beacon of light in a disturbed  and distracted world”, as  Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman said on Merdeka Day on 31st August 1957, Tajuddin’s politics of race, religion, fear, hate and lies should have no place in Malaysia in 2018.

I hope that the voters of Sungai Kandis will produce a result in the by-election which can send a clear and unmistakable message that Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, have no  time for Tajuddin’s politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies as we want to build a New Malaysia where Malaysia can be “a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world” and not a zone of darkness of kleptocracy and  kakistocracy.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Saturday, August 4, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 4 August 2018, 12:05 pm and is filed under
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Sungai Kandis by-election a double slap in the face for Najib and Hadi

Earlier today, I had asked whether the UMNO candidate for Sungai Kandis,  Lokman Adam  will get more or less than the combined votes of 19,091 votes which UMNO/PAS candidates totalled in the 14GE.

In the 14th General Election, the UMNO candidate won 11,518 votes while the PAS candidate polled 7,573 votes – totaling 19,091 votes. The winning PKR/PH candidate in the 14GE won with 23.998 votes.

The result of the Sungai Kandis by-election have been announced, and the winning PKR/PH candidate, Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni polled 15,427 votes while the UMNO/BN  candidate Lokman Adam polled 9,585 votes, yielding a majority for Zawawi  of 5,842 votes.

With the voter turnout at 49.4% as compared to 86% in the 14th General Election, the  winning PKR/PH candidate  polled 64% of the vote secured in the 14GH.

If the UMNO candidate, Lokman secured 64% of the UMNO votes in the 14GE, he would get 7,371 votes, leaving 2,214 votes probably coming from the PAS’ 7,573  votes in the 14GE, i.e. some 29% of the PAS vote in the 14GE.

The Sungai Kandi by-election result is therefore a double slap in the face for Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the PAS President, Haji Abdul Hadi Awang.

Najib had unprecedentedly campaigned very hard  in Sungai Kandi by-election hoping for a political miracle that that can lead to a political  turnaround of popular support for him.  He also hoped to use the Sungai Kandi by-election to tell the country, and in particular UMNO chieftains, that he is a greater power than anyone in UMNO.

But Najib failed miserably on both counts, as Lokman could not get the 11,518 votes polled by the UMNO candidate in the 14GE, polling 1,933 votes less than the UMNO/BN in the general elections.

In the Sungai Kandis by-election, several PAS national leaders have as good as asking PAS members and supporters to vote for Lokman, but Lokman  could not even reach 30% of the PAS votes in the 14GE.

(Media Statement (3) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Saturday, August 4, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 4 August 2018, 11:15 pm and is filed under
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Will the UMNO candidate for Sungai Kandis,  Lokman Adam  get more or less than the combined votes of 19,091 votes which UMNO/PAS candidates totalled in the 14GE?

I agree with Bersih that former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had contravened the election laws with his FaceBook appeal this morning to the Sungai Kandis by-election voters to vote for the UMNO by-election  candidate, Lokman Adam.

Under Section 26 (1) (a) of the Election Offences Act 1954,  no person shall give any form of address, public or otherwise, on polling day, while Section 26 (1)(f) says that no person will canvass for votes by “whatever means.”

Will Najib be charged  in court for violation of the election laws?

This will be a test of the integrity, efficacy  and purpose of the election laws in the country.

Many important questions will be answered by the result of the Sungai Kandis by-election.

One of this is whether  the UMNO candidate for Sungai Kandis,  Lokman Adam  will get more or less than the combined votes of 19,091 votes which UMNO/PAS candidates totalled in the 14GE?

Najib’s violation of the election laws in his last-minute appeal to the voters of Sungai Kandis to vote for Lukman is an indication of the desperation of Najib, who hoped that  the Sungai Kandis by-election will give him a new lease of life and  the  warranty and justification to launch a no-holds barred campaign of the most reckless, irresponsible, vicious and toxic politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies in the history of Malaysia.

UMNO hoped to  team up with PAS in this politics for the desperadoes, and although the  PAS leadership seemed to have given the green light for such a UMNO-PAS partnership, the question is what percentage of PAS membership will blindly support such a UMNO-PAS partnership to restore Najib to the position of Prime Minister.

Yesterday, the BN and  UMNO Deputy President Datuk Mohamad Hassan said Barisan Nasional will give way for PAS to contest in the Seri Setia by-election.

This is a poisoned chalice, as in the 14GE, the Barisan Nasional candidate won 9,878 votes while the PAS candidate secured 4,563 votes against the winning Pakatan Harapan/PKR candidate who polled 29,250, winning with a majority of 19,372.

Will PAS drink  the poisoned chalice offered by UMNO?

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang on Saturday, 4th August 2018)

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Five lessons from the Sungai Kandis by-election

There are at least five lessons from the Sungai Kandis by-election.

Firstly, it is one of disappointment, that the voter turnout was the historic low of 49.4%,

But it is not for the reason that UMNO leaders are giving to flatter themselves. The UMNO/BN Deputy President Datuk Mohamad Hassan claimed that the historically low turnout was a sign of protest against the Pakatan Harapan government as it showed that something was wrong with the government.

If Mohamad is right, then the UMNO candidate Lokman Adam should be the beneficiary with high UMNO/PAS voter turn-out in support of him.

But this was not the case. Despite support from PAS leaders, Lokman could only poll 9,585 votes yesterday although the combined votes polled by UMNO and PAS candidates in the 14GE was 19,091 – or just half of what UMNO and PAS candidates polled in the 14GE.

This is  a double slap-in-the-face for Datuk Seri Najib Razak who led the UMNO campaign in Sungai Kandis and the PAS President, Hadi Awang, who had given his blessing for the UMNO/PAS partnership in Sungai Kandis by-election.

The 14GE was the occasion when voters made a supreme effort to topple the UMNO/BN government which had been in power for over six decades.

It is not possible to duplicate the high turn-out in a by-election, but Pakatan Harapan must ensure as high a voter turnout as possible in Balakong and Seri Setia by-elections.

In the 14GE, the voter turnout in Seri Setia was 84% while in Balakong the voter turnout was 87%.  Pakatan Harapan will have to ensure a higher voter turnout of at least 70% and not below 50% as happened in Sungai Kandis.

Second, UMNO is fighting a losing battle in resorting to the vicious and toxic politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies although they are still capable of causing great damage to the very fabric of Malaysian society.

As the director of Merdeka Centre, Ibrahim Suffian pointed out, Umno’s inability to draw additional support in the Sungai Kandis by-election underscored the party’s failure to adapt in a changing political reality that has little appetite for the vicious and toxic communal politics – a far cry from a party which for over half a century had enjoyed unwavering Malay majority support to remain in power for over 60 years.

Thirdly, there can be no redemption or salvation for UMNO unless it could end its 3D status of denial, delusion and deception – denial of the reasons for UMNO’s rejection by the people in the 14GE, delusion that it could continue the status quo as if nothing had happened in the 14GE and deception that it could continue to deceive that Najib Razak is the greatest Prime Minister for Malaysia when he is the worst Prime Minister who brought infamy and ignominy to the nation with his monstrous 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal turning Malaysia into a global kleptocracy.

Fourthly, the proposed UMNO/PAS partnership advocated by Najib and Hadi is an unholy alliance, which is rejected by the rank-and-file of UMNO and PAS membership.

The next test for the unholy alliance is the Seri Setia by-election, where UMNO/BN has announced that it will give way to PAS to reciprocate the support of the PAS leadership in the Sungai Kandis by-election.

I have described this as  a poisoned chalice, as in the 14GE, the Barisan Nasional candidate won 9,878 votes while the PAS candidate secured 4,563 votes against the winning Pakatan Harapan/PKR candidate who polled 29,250, with a majority of 19,372.

Will PAS drink  the poisoned chalice offered by UMNO?

Fifthly, the Sungai Kandis by-election result  is one of hope and support for the Pakatan Harapan Government, as a higher percentage of voters, including Malay voters,  voted for Pakatan Harapan in the by-election as compared to 14GE.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Sunday, 5th August 2018)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 5 August 2018, 1:39 pm and is filed under
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Annuar Musa should explain his racist, reckless but most provocative and incendiary speech which is circulated in a 1 min 58 sec WhatsApp video “Realiti Kerajaan Pro-DAP” on social media

The Sungai Kandis by-election should be a serious warning as to what is in store for Malaysian politics and nation-building in  post-14General Election, if extremist, desperate and dangerous  political elements are given a free hand to destroy the very fabic of Malaysia’s plural society.

While the Sungai Kandis by-election result is very clear that these extremist, desperate and dangerous elements are fighting a losing battle in securing majority popular support  in trying to resort to the most rabid and provocative politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies, they are still capable of doing great damage to the fabric of Malaysia’s plural society if they are allowed a free hand to incite hate and baseless fears to create racial and religious animosity, hatred and strife in Malaysia.

A good example of such vicious and toxic politics of hate, fear and lies  is the speech by the UMNO MP for Pasir Salak Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman on the eve of Sungai Kandis by-election on Saturday making the wild, preposterous, reckless, most incendiary and seditious allegations that the DAP has an agenda to Christianise Malaysia and that the DAP and “Christian-led Pakatan Harapan government” would want to abolish the Malay monarchy and establish a republic.

What is also most unpardonable is that after more than half a century of Malaysian nation-building, Tajuddin is trying to perpetuate the misconception that a Christian or non-Muslim is anti-Islam, a Chinese or Indian is anti-Malay – undermining the very basis of Malaysia as a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi- religious and multi-cultural nation and that our very diversity in ethnicity, religion, language and culture is a great liability when it is an unique asset for the nation.

Another example is the most racist, baseless but most provocative and  incendiary speech by the UMNO Secretary-General Tan Sri Annuar Musa during the Sungai Kandis by-election and which is circulated in a 1 min 58 sec WhatsApp video “Realiti Kerajaan Pro-DAP” on social media, calculated to incite racial and religious animosity, hatred and strife in Malaysia.

It is most shocking that former Ministers and Deputy Minsters and titled Malaysians who should be model Malaysians are now actively involved in the nefarious work of dividing and detroying the Malaysian nation.

Is Tajuddin and Annuar prepared to defend themselves?

In particular, Annuar Musa should explain his racist, reckless but most provocative and incendiary speech circulated in a 1 min 58 sec WhatsApp video “Realiti Kerajaan Pro-DAP” on social media.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Monday, 6th August 2018)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 6 August 2018, 1:42 pm and is filed under
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It qualifies as the international joke of the year – US President  Trump’s think-tank in the Republican Party working with Pakatan Harapan to topple Trump’s “favourite Prime Minister” and “golfing buddy”, Najib Razak

It qualifies as the international joke of the year – US President Donald Trump’s think-tank in Republican Party working with Pakatan Harapan to topple Trump’s “favourite Prime Minister” and “golfing buddy”, Najib Razak in the 14th Malaysian General Elections on May 9, 2018.

This is my prevalent thought on UMNO’s hysterical statement yesterday accusing US-based International Republican Institute (IRI) of working with Pakatan Harapan to topple UMNO/BN from power in Putrajaya

Trump had been accused of all sorts of things but he has yet to be accused of betraying his best friend, which he would be guilty of if he had allowed IRI, a think-tank of his Republican Party, to help topple Trump’s “favourite Prime Minister” and “golfing buddy” with Najib having a signed photograph of Trump on his desk when he was Prime Minister.

Let us hear from Najib first whether Trump had been guilty of unspeakable perfidy and treachery as this would not only be Malaysian news but world news before any attention is paid to  the hysterical UMNO statement yesterday.

Let us wait for Najib to speak up, as he does not seem to be so taciturn as in his nine years as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

However, there is one facet in the UMNO statement that cannot be go unnoticed, as it was based on the basis that there was nothing wrong with the UMNO/BN President receiving RM2.6 billion donation from overseas, even in the form of interference  with independence and sovereignty of the country and in the process, nothing wrong with the monstrous 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal or Malaysia being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

While we wait for Najib to speak up, let me declare that the DAP had not received a single sen from IPR or from any foreign sources throughout our 52-year history unlike UMNO which claimed receipt of RM2.6 billion donation from a foreign source without yet referring to other sources of foreign funding.

It is worth noting the statement by IRI refuting  claims that it had worked with Pakatan Harapan to undermine the then ruling Barisan Nasional government.

The IRI said it does not provide financial assistance to political parties in Malaysia and stressed that it  is a non-partisan organisation that has worked with partners in Malaysia since 2002 to strengthen the ability of political parties to compete in elections and adhere to the practices of citizen-centred governance.

IRI said it provided non-partisan capacity building support to parties across the political spectrum in the form of direct training workshops and consultations with both the PH and BN coalitions.

I understand that IRI had also worked with Barisan Nasional component parties like MCA and Gerakan.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri in Parliament on Tuesday, 7th August 2018)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 7 August 2018, 12:38 pm and is filed under
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Support for bipartisan investigation both into Hasanah’s appeal to CIA for support and IRI’s alleged interference in the 14GE

Former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has called for a government inquiry into allegations that Pakatan Harapan collaborated with US think-tank International Republican Institute (IRI) to bring down the Barisan Nasional government in the 14th general election.

I myself will like to know how IRI had collaborated with PH to topple the UMNO/BN Government from power in Putrajaya, which is a most far-fetched version of what happened on May 9, 2018.

All the pollsters had not expected a change of Federal Government on May 9, 2018, completely undermining the wisdom and  intelligence of the Malaysian electorate, regardless of race, religion, region or even politics.

For instance, UMNO claimed to have 3.6 million members but it could only secure 2.5 million votes in the 14GE. MCA claimed to have more than one million members, but it could only muster 600,000 votes, at least half of whom were from UMNO members.

Was IRI responsible for influencing the majority of UMNO and MCA members not to vote for UMNO and MCA candidates in the 14GE in Malaysia?

It is now revealed that the Prime Minister’s Department under the UMNO/BN Government had co-hosted IRI-funded programmes.

There was a programme in 2015 involving the Prime Minister’s Department on training 20 Malaysians between the ages of 20 and 30 with skills and knowledge to “champion moderation and national unity” as envisioned in the Rukunegara, culminating  in a national conference on unity held at the Integrity Institute of Malaysia on Sept 16, 2015 with veteran UMNO leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as  the keynote speaker.

Yesterday, I said it qualified as an international joke of the year for anyone to suggest that the  US President Donald Trump’s think-tank in Republican Party was working with Pakatan Harapan to topple Trump’s “favourite Prime Minister” and “golfing buddy”, Najib Razak in the 14th Malaysian General Elections on May 9, 2018.

Yesterday, IRI said it provided non-partisan capacity building support to parties across the political spectrum in the form of direct training workshops and consultations with both the PH and BN coalitions, and clearly with the UMNO/BN Government as well.

There is no disagreement whether in DAP or the other three Pakatan Harapan component parties to the question that there must not be any foreign interference in Malaysian national politics and sovereignty.

If IRI had interfered in Malaysian national politics, as in toppling the UMNO/BN coalition government from power in the 14th General Election, I fully agree with any national investigation to expose it.

However, I do not see any such evidence

But there is very strong evidence of efforts to seek such foreign interference during the 14GE, as illustrated by the letter written by Hasanah Abdul Hamid, the former director-general of the Malaysian External Intelligence Organisation in the Prime Minister’s Department, to the US Central Intelligence Agency on May 4, requesting its support for Najib’s administration in the event that the 14GE results turned out to be close.

This letter from Hasanah to CIA has not been denied, although there is allegation that it had been leaked by the CIA.

Malaysians are entitled to a full investigation into the Hasanah’s letter to the CIA, which the Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan (Patriot) has described as “treacherous and treasonous” and even  lodged a police report for appropriate action to be taken.

Yesterday, Mohamed Arshad Raji, the president of the veterans association, asked the police:  “The question that needs to be answered by the investigating authority now is why hasn’t Hasanah been arrested over the letter that we deem treacherous and treasonous.

“Does the investigating authority feel that the content of her letter isn’t serious enough to warrant her arrest?”

I support a bipartisan investigation both into Hasanah’s appeal to CIA for support and IRI’s  alleged interference in the 14GE.

Will Najib support such a bipartisan investigation into both cases?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Wednesday, 8th August 2018)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 8 August 2018, 9:12 am and is filed under
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Not just Najib but all UMNO/BN leaders who helped Najib cover up the 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal and did nothing to purge  Malaysia of  infamy of global kleptocracy are all on trial

Former Johor Mentri Besar Khaled Nordin cannot be more wrong when he said that it was Najib Razak alone  who is on trial but not UMNO.

In fact, it is not just Najib but all UMNO/BN leaders who had helped Najib to cover up the monstrous 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal and did nothing to purge Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy who are on trial.

This would include all the Ministers in the Najib Cabinet, the UMNO/BN MPs of the 13th Parliament as well as  the leaders of UMNO and Barisan National parties.

When the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) filed what the US Attorney-General later  described as “kleptocracy at its worst” 1MDB-linked assets forfeiture  litigation in July 2016, which was later expanded in June 2017 to a 251-page indictment of embezzlement and defrauding of 1MDB funds involving the Prime Minister himself who was specifically described as “Malaysian Official 1(MO1)”, any self-respecting, honest and patriotic Prime Minister would have issued a point-by-point rebuttal in his own country without even recourse to any foreign court to establish not only his own innocence but refute the allegation that Malaysia had become a global kleptocracy.

This was not done, and all those in the  Cabinet, Parliament and UMNO/BN leadership positions, at least from July 2016 to May 2018, who had aided and abetted Najib in covering up the 1MDB kleptocracy, had done a great injustice,  wrong and disservice akin to treachery  to Malaysia and they are all, together with Najib, on trial!

Najib has shown neither remorse nor contrition for the 1MDB kleptocracy.

When will UMNO/BN Ministers, Members of Parliament of the 13th Parliament  and UMNO/BN leaders who had aided and abetted Najib in trying to cover up the 1MDB kleptocracy come out of their 3Ds condition – denial, delusion and deception – to show proper remorse and contrition for the 1MDB kleptoclracy?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Friday, 10th August 2018)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 10 August 2018, 5:14 pm and is filed under
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Abu Kassim’s 2011 video about the RM24 million diamond ring  has only focused national attention on Jho Loh’s  RM144 million 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace for Rosmah and highlights what the PAC should do

The furore over the video of  former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Abu Kassim Mohamad’s speech in 2011 over the RM24 million diamond ring has only focussed national attention on 1MDB scandal mastermind, Jho Loh’s RM144 million 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace for the wife of the then Prime Minister,  Rosmah Mansor.

Most Malaysians have forgotten about the RM24 million diamond ring episode as what they remember is the infamous US$27.3 million (RM144 million) 22-carat rare pink diamond set in a necklace, which the US Department of Justice alleged was bought by Malaysian billionaire, Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, the other “king pin” of the 1MDB scandal, with stolen 1MDB money for the wife of “Malaysian Official 1” (MO1).

We must thank the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and the director of Barsian Nasional Strategic Communications Unit, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan for admitting to the whole world in a BBC interview that “MO1” is none other than Najib Razak and therefore the beneficiary of the US$27.3 million 22-carat pink diamond necklace is none other than Rosmah Mansor.

Why revive the story over the RM24 million diamond ring but maintain silence over the RM144 million pink diamond necklace?

Now that the RM1 billion luxury Equanimity luxury superyacht is in Malaysian waters and custody, Malaysians are entitled to know of the whereabout of the RM144 million pink diamond necklace.

Malaysiakini story on the furore titled “Ex-MACC boss: Customs officers ‘retaliated’ against Najib, sparked ‘diamond ring’ saga”  said the episode was before Abu Kassim “knew the truth about the 1MDB after being shown by the US Department of Justice and FBI evidence in the 1MDB case”.

The report said Abu Kassim wanted to pursue the case “But at that time, the situation was not conducive and that was why he asked for early retirement in 2016”,

This is why the Public Accounts Committee, whose Chairman and Deputy Chairman were appointed by Parliament last week should re-open investigations into the 1MDB scandal, as it is clear that that the PAC of the 13th Parliament had done a great national disservice with its PAC Report tabled in Parliament in April 2016, and when it refused to re-open investigations after the mountain of new evidence about the 1MDB scandal  in the US Department of Justice (DoJ) kleptocratic litigation to forfeit 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kindom and Switzerland in July 2016.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 11th August 2018)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 11 August 2018, 5:58 pm and is filed under
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Let the 34 Ministers and 33 Deputy Ministers under Najib from 2016 – 2018 individually speak up as to  what they did in July 2016 when the US DoJ filed its largest kleptocratic litigation on 1MDB-linked assets involving Najib as “MOI” and expanded it in June 2017 to US$1.7 billion assets out of US$4.5 billion embezzlement of 1MDB funds?

Yesterday, I refuted former Johor Mentri Besar Khaled Nordin and stressed that he cannot be more wrong when he said that it was Najib Razak alone  who is on trial but not UMNO.

It is not just Najib but all UMNO/BN leaders who had helped Najib to cover up the monstrous 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal and did nothing to purge Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy who are on trial – which would include all the Ministers in the Najib Cabinet, the UMNO/BN MPs of the 13th Parliament as well as  the leaders of UMNO and Barisan National parties.

Let the 34 Ministers and 34 Deputy Ministers from 2016-2018, UMNO/BN MPs of the 13th Parliament and national leaders come out individually now and state what they did when in July 2016, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) filed its largest kleptocracy litigation  to forfeit  1MDB-linked assets, and in June 2017 expanded the kleptocratic litigation  to over US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets in a 251-page indictment of embezzlement and defrauding of US$4.5 billion 1MDB funds with  the Malaysian  Prime Minister specifically referred to  as “Malaysian Official 1(MO1)” and mentioned 36 times?

The US DoJ kleptocratic litigation on the 1MDB-linked assets and its reference to “MO1”” 36 times, whether the original one in July 2016 or the expanded one in June 2017, were easily available on the Internet.

Did these 34 Ministers and 33 Deputy Ministers, the UMNO/BN MPs and their leaders at the time, downloaded the US DoJ litigation proceedings available on the Internet at the earliest possible time, to read the monstrosity and depth of the 1MDB corruption, embezzlement and money-laundering which involved the Prime Minister though referred to as “MO1” 36 times?

Were they shocked and outraged at the revelations in the litigation proceedings,  did they raise questions whether in  the Cabinet, Parliament and Party meetings or did they think that the US DoJ litigation proceedings were all fake news and not to be believed?

There was no way that they did not know  that “MO1” was none other than Najib Razak as the Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan had admitted during a BBC interview on September 1, 2016 that the “Malaysian Official 1” (MO1) mentioned 36 times in the US DOJ’s largest kleptocratic was none other than Najib himself!

He said that there was no secret or mystery  who was Malaysian Official 1 (MO1) mentioned in the US DOJ civil lawsuits as everyone who had read the court documents or familiar with the issues would know who was the person being referred to and that “only an idiot doesn’t know who that person was”.

Malaysians are entitled to know who were the “idiots” in Najib’s Cabinet from 2016 to 2018, or whether the whole Cabinet was a Cabinet of kleptocrats, whether directly responsible for Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy or indirectly by aiding and abetting the cover-up of the international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal which brought about Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy as  a global kleptocracy.

UMNO/BN Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Members of Parliament and party leaders who have not aided or abetted in the cover-up of the 1MDB corruption, embezzlement and money-laundering scandal should stand up and be counted!

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Saturday, 11th August 2w018)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 11 August 2018, 2:20 pm and is filed under
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Three events foiled Najib’s well-planned scheme of immunity and impunity for the world’s 1MDB “worst kleptocracy

The Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision yesterday  dismissing Najib Razak’s application for a gag order on the media and public with regard to discussing the merits of his corruption case is in keeping with a New Malaysia unlike the era before the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 where all the instruments of state were abused to suppress the infamy and ignominy of Malaysia as a global kleptocracy.

Before May 9, 2018, all the instruments of state were bent and suborned to keep from the Malaysian public  the monstrosity of the criminality and moral turpitude of the international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal.

Top Government officials who refused to aid and abet in the cover-up of the 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal like the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yusof and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail were either sacked, removed from office or browbeaten into silence.

Government agencies were used to persecute and harass voices which continued to raise questions about the 1MDB scandal, like the censorship of Sarawak Report website and other internet sites while the mass media was closely monitored to censor  all news about 1MDB.

MPs were prohibited from asking questions or pursuing the 1MDB scandal, and I was twice suspended for six months from the 13th Parliament while in the last week of the 13th Parliament, I was treated like a “parliamentary ghost” with the Speaker and Deputy Speakers claiming that they could not see me when I entered the parliamentary chamber.

Judicial independence and professionalism came under threat as legal proceedings were launched  to shut out all information about the 1MDB scandal.

In the last meeting of Parliament in March, 2018, Najib rammed through the Anti-Fake News Bill which was nothing but a Save Najib from 1MDB Scandal Bill, to  criminalise all news about the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia which was available worldwide and punishable as fake news with excessive penalties of RM500,000 fine, 10 years jail or both.

Three events foiled the well-planned scheme of immunity and impunity of the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who would otherwise get away with the world’s worst kleptocracy in the international 1MDB money-laundering scandal.

The first event was in July 2016 – the kleptocratic litigation of the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to forfeit over US$1 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from over US$3 billion international embezzlement, misappropriation and money-laundering of 1MDB funds.

The second was the victory of Donald Trump and defeat of Hilary Clinton in the US Presidential elections in November 2016, for the campaign that was cranked up by Najib’s highly-paid propaganda advisers to paint the US DoJ kleptocratic litigation as part of an international “liberal” conspiracy (with the support of so-called  unpatriotic Malaysians) to topple Najib and the UMNO/BN Government in Malaysia collapsed when Trump unexpectedly defeated Hilary and became the US President.

Najib had studiously presented himself as a “golfing buddy” and “favourite Prime Minister” of Trump, with Najib having a signed photograph of Trump on his desk, and after Trump’s presidential victory, there was speculation that Najib would leverage on his special relationship with Trump to quash or withdraw the US DoJ litigation suit on 1MDB.

But this proved to be futile when in June 2017 (under Trump’s US Presidency), the US DoJ expanded its 1MDB kleptocratic litigation to forfeit another US$540 million of assets stolen from 1MDB, i.e. US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets from US$4.5 billion embezzelement of 1MDB funds.

Najib completely misread the system of American democracy and government – that the professionalism of various institutions of government, like the US DoJ, are not affected with the political change of the US President – a necessary check-and-balance mechanism to preserve the independence and professionalism of different national institutions which are sorely needed in Malaysia.

The third event was the historic and watershed 14th General Election on May 9, 2018, which brought in a new Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya, and enabled Malaysians to learn of the enormity of the criminality and moral turpitude in the 1MDB scandal, which made Malaysia into a global kleptocracry overnight.

In Parliament next week, there is a bill to repeal the Anti-Fake News Act, another step to build a New Malaysia where all the instruments of state must be designed to promote democracy, justice and good governance and not to hide scandalous crimes of corruption, embezzlement and money-laundering like the 1MDB scandal.

On May 9, 2018, Malaysians took to the world stage to set the world an example of peaceful and democratic change of government.

We must next take the world stage to show that we are capable of transforming from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity within a short span of time.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the DAP Parit Buntar Branch anniversary dinner in Parit Buntar on Saturday, 11th August 2018 at 9pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 12 August 2018, 11:46 am and is filed under
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Najib trying to  out-Robin Hood Robin Hood except that the Robin Hood tale did not end up with betrayal of  his merrymen like the RM3.5 million “heist” at PMD by Najib’s 17 security personnel

An air of unreality appears to have  entered Malaysian politics, when the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, appears to strike a new posture  to out-Robin Hood Robin Hood.

Robin Hood is the legendary heroic outlaw depicted in English folklore who robs the rich to give to the poor, but I have yet to come across any folklore where Robin Hood or his equivalent in any country had lost moral moorings to the extent of being guilty such a monstrous corruption, embezzlement and abuse of power offences like the 1MDB scandal to the extent that his whole country is tarred and stained as to become a global kleptocracy.

I have also not come across of any folklore which ended up with Robin Hood or his equivalent in any other country  being betrayed by his “merrymen” like the RM3.5 million “heist” at the Prime Minister’s Department on the night of the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 when his 17 security personnel learnt that the Barisan Nasional was about to lose power.

Najib’s latest ambivalent answers on the 1MDB mastermind, Jho Low and the  Equanimity luxury super yacht at present berthed off Port Klang have only added to the air of unreality in the present political discourse in the country.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Monday, 13th August 2018)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 13 August 2018, 6:28 pm and is filed under
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