Don’t Kill The Goose That Lays Our Golden Egg

Koon Yew Yin

20th April 2016

Recently there was a news report that the serious shortage of labour has caused 14 furniture manufacturers in Johor to close shop.  According to Malaysian Furniture Council president Chua Chun Chai, the furniture industry in the peninsula is facing a shortfall of some 35,000 workers. This situation has caused 300 furniture makers and workers in Bakri, Muar to demonstrate and putting up banners proclaiming “No foreign workers = end of the industry”.

According to Mr. Chua, the foreign worker recruitment freeze had dealt a heavy blow to the foreign labour-intensive industry. The hardest-hit states are Johor, Selangor and Penang which together produce 95% of the total furniture the country exports, he said, adding that the biggest markets for Malaysian furniture are the US, Japan, China, Australia, the UK, India and United Arab Emirates.

“Last year, Malaysia’s furniture export hit RM9 billion, which was 14.1% more than the 2014 figure. “If not for the freeze on recruitment of foreign workers, we were looking at breaching the RM10 billion mark this year. But with a shortage of labour we are facing, the export is expected to shrink greatly. “As such, the council is appealing to both the prime minister and deputy prime minister to look into our predicament seriously,” he said.

Actually, the problem of shortage of foreign workers as a result of the recent freeze is not confined to the furniture industry alone. Practically every sector of the country’s economy is dependent on foreign labour.

It is not just the private or business sector. It is true even of the civil service, especially the GLCs that are involved in the agricultural sector where the great majority of workers are foreigners.

If the Government were to conduct a survey of business leaders in the private sector and GLCs on the subject of the freeze, I can bet my bottom dollar that there will be an overwhelming number of respondents calling for an end to the freeze.

I can also guarantee that the oil palm plantations as well as the downstream industries including the refineries associated with the commodity will grind to a halt if the Government was to stop foreign workers from working in the industry.

Palm oil is found in absolutely everything from food and household products, to make-up and other cosmetics. One in ten products found on our supermarket shelves today contain palm oil. Palm oil is also being widely considered as being an alternative to the natural fossil fuels that are rapidly running out, primarily being used as a form of biofuel in the transport industry.

How are we to compete and sell our Malaysian oil palm products without foreign workers?

World Bank’s Policy Advice for Malaysia

Even the World Bank has felt sufficiently concerned by the Government’s new anti-foreign labour policies to sound a serious warning. This is what its latest Economic Monitor report on the country released in December last year has to say:

Malaysia’s relatively open immigration policy has reinforced Malaysia’s conducive business environment, making it a very attractive investment destination. The report finds that low-skilled immigrants can create additional jobs by filling workforce gaps not filled by Malaysian workers, reduce production costs, help expand output and exports, and raise the demand for both unskilled employment and higher-skilled Malaysians. Economic modelling suggests that a 10 percent net increase in low-skilled foreign workers may increase real GDP by up to 1.1 percent. Also, for every 10 new immigrant workers in a given state and sector, up to five new jobs may be created for Malaysians in that state and sector, two of them female.

What the Bank report is saying in simple English is that an increase in foreign workers will not only help the country push up our national income but will also help generate more jobs.

Actually if surveys are conducted on the relative efficiency and value of foreign labour compared with our own home grown one, most employers will probably say that the foreign worker will win hands down. This is especially true of the 3 D jobs – that is, dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs.

Our young workers – not to mention, middle aged and old ones too! – prefer to work as bosses in easy, safe, comfortable jobs preferably in an air conditioned environment. They also want to be paid much more!

The advice I would like to provide the Government on the foreign worker freeze policy is: Let us not cut our nose to spite our face.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 20 April 2016, 8:54 pm and is filed under
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I volunteer my services to Najib to nail the “lie” once and for all, provided he could prove to me that allegations that RM2.6 billion “donation” originated from 1MDB was a lie!

I tweeted
 “Najib’s strategists world’s dumbest unable to nail a lie!”
 when I  read Malaysiakini’s report
“PM’s aide: RM2.6b came from 1MDB a lie by Mahathir”
 last evening.

When Malaysiakini uploaded the Bernama report
 “Senators urge Mahathir to apologise to Najib”
, it confirmed that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has a most dim-witted team of strategists, lacking  nimbleness of wit and  mind or the  ability to improvise on-the-run, but  continuing to expect UMNO/BN Ministers,  leaders and MPs to follow  a script which had already been discredited and should have been chucked into the garbage can.

Najib may have among the world’s highest-paid professionals in his propaganda  and psychological  warfare  team, but what could  they produce when they are  headed by loud-mouthed and low-IQ czars for strategic media communications?

Let me explain.

UMNO/Barisan Nasional Senators who continue to re-cycle Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir’s so-called “confirmation” that Najib’s RM2.6 billion in his personal banking accounts were Saudi “donations” and the  purported “exoneration” of Najib of any wrongdoing in 1MDB scandal by Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Deputy Chairman Dr. Tan Seng Giaw are either “laggards” who could not keep abreast of fast-paced developments in 24/7 Information Age or downright political “cretins” who do not know what they are doing.

But I am dumbfounded by the statement yesterday by  Najib’s press secretary Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad that allegations that  the RM2.6 billion donation in Najib’s personal accounts came from 1MDB was a lie by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, which the former premier had “unsuccessfully used to try and unseat a democratically-elected government”.

The simple question is if it is true that  allegations that  the RM2.6 billion donation in Najib’s personal accounts came from 1MDB was a lie, why Najib and his highly-paid strategists have not been able to nail the lie once and for all for so many months?

The Wall Street Journal report yesterday alleging that part of the US$3.5 billion paid by 1MDB to a fake Aabar firm incorporated in the British Virgin Islands  had ended up in another bogus firm which transfered the RM2.6 billion into Najib’s accounts was nothing new, as it had been reported  and have been  in the public domain since last year.

Tengku Sariffuddin said Najib “has consistently maintained that the funds were a donation from the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia”.

If Najib’s propagandists and strategists do not know how to nail such a “lie” once and for all, in a manner nobody, whether Tun Mahathir, Wall Street Journal or the whistleblowing website Sarawak Report, could continue to use it to attack Najib, I offer my services to Najib to nail such a “lie” once and for all.

There is however one proviso – Najib must  prove to me that the allegations that RM2.6 billion “donation” originated from 1MDB was a lie!

Can Najib do so?

The narrative of the 1MDB-IPIC dispute appears to be as follows:

Abu Dhabi’s  International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) ended its relationship with IMBD in a filing to the London Stock Exchange on Monday, saying 1MDB and Malaysia’s ministry of finance were in default on a multi-billion USD deal, including an obligation to pay US$1.1bn plus interest, and that 1MDB continued to be bound by its commitments under the agreement.

Rather than send money to Abu Dhabi’s  Aabar, an  IPIC subsidiary, the 1MDB fund ended up transferring US$3.5 billion to a different company with a name nearly identical to Aabar’s but incorporated in British Virgin Islands.

Some of that money in turn was transferred, via intermediaries, to a shell company called Tanore Finance Corp., registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Global investigators believe it was from Tanore that US$681 million was transferred to Najib’s accounts at AmBank in March 2013. In all, more than US$1 billion was deposited in the prime minister’s accounts over several years, including US$200 million from a Saudi individual and the Saudi finance ministry.

Surely, it should not be a herculean task for Najib to prove that the narrative about the payment of RM2.6 billion of 1MDB money  from shell company Tanore Finance Corp or all in, more than RM4.2 billion deposited into his personal banking accounts were false and untrue.

If such allegations of such astronomical sums of billions of ringgit of  donations, through various shell companies, had been made against the DAP, there can be no doubt that DAP leaders would instantly be the subject of investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

The MACC immediately swung into action after the corruption allegations against DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng by UMNO/BN leaders, despatching scores of MACC officers to investigate Guan Eng’s case, but similar actions had not been taken with regard to the first global corruption scandal in the country, involving the Prime Minister Najib Razak.

As Najib’s RM4.2 billion donation scandal is 1,500 times bigger than Guan Eng’s alleged RM2.8 million bungalow scandal, while the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal is 20,000 times bigger than the alleged RM2.8 million bungalow scandal, had MACC assigned hundreds of MACC officers to investigate Najib’s twin mega scandals, when it could assign scores of MACC officers to Guan Eng’s case?

The MACC Deputy Chief Commissioner (Prevention) Datuk Mustafar Ali said in Kuantan a few days ago that MACC would “haul up” Guan Eng for investigations into Guan Eng’s purchase of the RM2.8 million bungalow in Jalan Pin Horn, George Town.

Had the MACC “hauled up” Najib for investigation into the nation’s first global financial scandal, running into tens of billions of ringgit, which had been the subject of international news reports for the past nine months?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 20 April 2016, 11:51 am and is filed under
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PetroSaudi’s US$1 billion ruse

Aidila Razak

Malaysiakini

9 Apr 2016

Barely a month after the Finance Ministry took over Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), a royal suitor came a-knocking.

On Aug 8, 2009, Prince Turki of Saudi Arabia sent a letter to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to introduce PetroSaudi International chief executive Tarek Obaid.

Tarek proposed a joint venture with the fund, now rebranded 1MDB. The deal – US$1 billion from 1MDB and some questionable “oil wells” in Argentina and Turkmenistan said to belong to PetroSaudi International.

But this was not Tarek’s first introduction to the fund.

According to the Hansard of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearings on 1MDB, then chief executive officer Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi said Tarek was first introduced to TIA through TIA’s special advisor, businessman Jho Low.

Low’s involvement continued and at one point he showed up at a 1MDB board meeting to speak on behalf of Prince Turki and Tarek to convince the skittish board to sign off on the joint venture.

Ten days after the board first heard of the deal, it was signed on Sept 28, 2009 – leaving the board “angry” and prompting board member Bakke Mohd Saleh to resign.

“The Auditor-General’s Department’s analysis concludes that the decision to invest in the joint venture 1MDB PetroSaudi Limited was done without strategic planning due to the short period of eight days (lead time), was conducted without detailed evaluation and before issues raised by the board was resolved.

“The joint venture agreement also included clauses which did not protect 1MDB’s interest,” the Public Accounts Committee’s report table at the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday says.

Forty-eight hours after the joint venture was inked, an unrelated company – allegedly Low-linked Good Star Limited – is US$700 million richer.

How did this dubious deal take place under everyone’s noses? Follow the chronology of events below.

Aug 28, 2009 – Najib receives a letter from one Prince Turki. Along with the letter is an introduction to PetroSaudi International by its chief executive Tarek Obaid to propose a joint venture.

Sept 18, 2009 – 1MBD board meeting learns of the joint venture proposal for the first time through a project paper approved by 1MDB chief executive Shahrol (photo) and presented by 1MDB business development executive director Casey Tang.

(According to a leak by ex-PetroSaudi employee Xavier Andre Justo, Tang was allegedly part of an elaborate move to use 1MDB funds to buy UBG Bank.)

Tang tells the board the joint venture is a government-to-government deal and PetroSaudi belongs to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Saud and was founded in 2000. (PAC says this is a lie. The firm was founded privately in 2005, not state-owned. Tarek and Prince Turki are its directors)

The board instructs the management to do the following:

*Three directors (including two with professional oil and gas backgrounds) appointed onto the joint venture;

*PetroSaudi gives its part of the JV in cash of at least US$1 billion or assets of equivalent value;

Conduct due diligence of PetroSaudi;

*1MDB board member and then Felda Holdings managing director and 1MDB director Bakke Salleh and Shahrol to represent 1MDB in meetings on the joint venture.

None of these were complied with. Tang was appointed as 1MDB representative on the board, instead of Bakke.

Unbeknownst to the board but with Shahrol’s knowledge, two entities are set up in two separate tax havens – 1MDB PetroSaudi Limited (in British Virgin Islands) and PetroSaudi Holdings (Cayman) Limited.

1MDB PetroSaudi Limited BVI is set up as a subsidiary of PetroSaudi Holdings Caymans.

Sept 20, 2009 – Valuer Edward L Morse informs the 1MDB management that he has been appointed by PetroSaudi to assess the oil field asset put forth by PetroSaudi, but the board is not notified on the matter.

Sept 25, 2009 – 1MDB PetroSaudi (BVI) receives an advance loan of US$700 million from its parent firm PetroSaudi Caymans, to be paid in full by Sept 30.

The loan agreement is signed by PetroSaudi chief executive Tarek, representing both 1MBD PetroSaudi (BVI) and PetroSaudi Caymans. (The Auditor-General’s Department is unable to authenticate the loan agreement.)

Sept 26, 2009 – Businessman Jho Low attends 1MDB board meeting as a representative of Prince Turki to explain the joint venture deal from the perspective of PetroSaudi.

(Shahrol tells PAC later the board had wanted to hear from Prince Turki and Tarek directly, but they could not make it to Kuala Lumpur at a short notice.)

Low gives the board the impression that PetroSaudi belongs to King Abdullah.

1MDB board holds a special meeting to discuss whether the firm should go ahead with the joint venture. They agree to part with US$1 billion but only if a professional independent valuation is done on the assets.

Sept 28, 2009 – 1MDB-PetroSaudi joint venture deal is signed in Kuala Lumpur without board consent. It is witnessed by a Prince Turki. PetroSaudi is represented by Tarek Obaid while 1MDB is represented by Shahrol.

1MDB gives US$1 billion for 40 percent stake while PetroSaudi puts up assets of “oil wells” in Argentina and Turkmenistan said to be worth US$1.5 billion for a 60 percent stake. 1MDB must fork out the cash in the next two days.

The US$700 million advance loan shows up in a clause of the agreement.

Sept 29, 2009 – Shahrol signs the appointment letter for valuer Edward L Morse on the same day the valuer submits his report.

The report says the oil fields were never assessed by a geologist nor is there an exploration permit issued. Ownership of the oil fields are also disputed by various parties. The Argentinian oil field is also not tradeable.

PetroSaudi is also found to have no liquid capital to match the asset.

Sept 30, 2009 – Bank Negara Malaysia approves 1MDB’s transfer of US$300 million to the joint venture’s JP Morgan bank account, with the remaining US$700 million goes to a RBS Coutts Bank Ltd account.

But the RBS Coutts account which received the lion’s share belongs to a firm unrelated to the joint venture – Good Star Limited, a firm linked to Jho Low.

Part 1: 1MDB’s ‘original sin’ and Jho Low

Tomorrow: Did the board sleep on the job?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 20 April 2016, 9:23 pm and is filed under
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1MDB gatecrashes party for new Malaysian sukuk

Jackie Horne

Finance Asia

Thursday, 21 April 2016

The Federation of Malaysia returned to the international bond markets on Wednesday with a $1.5 billion wakala sukuk whose success will almost certainly be overshadowed by the gathering storm engulfing state-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The investment fund faces a cross-default across its $11 billion outstanding debt after one of its guarantors failed this Monday to make a $50 million interest payment on a $1.75 billion note that matures in 2022. It has now entered a grace period, which ends on April 25.

The event forced the government to issue a supplementary note to the preliminary offering circular for its sukuk on Tuesday. It said that non-payment will “constitute an event of default, which could result in acceleration of the 2022 notes and could result in cross-defaults or cross-acceleration of other indebtedness of 1MDB.”

The government added that it is liable for up to M$5.8 billion ($1.5 billion) in guarantees and a further $3 billion through a letter of support to 1MDB, but “does not believe any amounts it would be required to pay with respect of 1MDB’s indebtedness would be material to the government.”

Sovereign ploughs on

Having roadshowed the new sukuk last week, the sovereign opted to proceed with the deal on Wednesday.

Syndicate bankers on the dual 10- and 30-year Reg S/144a sukuk said 1MDB’s problems did not really affect the transaction since it attracted a respectable final order book of $6.3 billion.

There was also a skew of roughly two thirds of demand for the 10-year tranche ($3.9 billion), which attracted strong interest from Malaysia and one third for the 30-year tranche ($2.4 billion), which was popular with Asian insurance funds.

However, overall demand was two thirds of the $9 billion level the sovereign attracted one year ago, suggesting the wider repercussions of 1MDB’s potential default are affecting sentiment towards Malaysia and its government headed by prime minister Najib Razak.

Pricing of a $1 billion 10-year tranche was fixed at par with a profit rate of 3.179% to yield 135bp over Treasuries. This was the tight end of revised guidance, which was narrowed from an original yield around the 150bp area.

A total 110 investors participated with a split, which saw 65% placed in Asia, 11% in Europe, 19% in the Middle East and 5% in the US. By investor type, banks took 20%, asset managers 22%, private banks 1%, pension funds and insurers 27% and central banks and sovereign wealth funds 30%.

A $500 million 30-year tranche was also fixed at par on a profit rate of 4.08% to yield 145bp over Treasuries. This tranche was initially marketed around the 165bp area.

This tranche has 85 investors with 54% in Asia, 12% in Europe, 10% in the Middle East and 24% in the US. By investor type fund managers took 48%, pension funds and insurers 31%, banks 12%, sovereigns and central banks 8% and private banks 1%.

The two nearest comparables were the sovereign’s two sukuk issues from 2015. Sales desks said the two have widened very slightly over the past two days.

Malaysia’s $1 billion 3.043% April 2025 issue was trading on a G-spread of 130bp on Wednesday. Bankers said the new deal priced about 1bp through fair value.

The sovereign’s $500 million 4.236% April 2045 issue was trading on a G-spread of 141bp. Bankers said the long-dated tranche priced flat to fair value.

“Only in Asia would you see a 10bp curve between 10- and 30-year paper,” one banker commented. “But it’s testament to the fact there’s been a real scarcity of long-dated paper from this region.”

The banker added, “There was some interest from the US for the 30-year tranche and good interest from the Middle for the 10-year even though it was expensive for funds in that region. The latter formed a core part of the demand, but Asia and particularly Malaysia led the deal.”

In a research note ahead of launch, RHB Securities said it expected demand to be strong given a lack of sovereign sukuk issuance so far this year and strong foreign inflows into ringgit-denominated government bonds, which should spill-over into the dollar issue.

The Malaysian currency has been one of the world’s best performing currencies in 2016, rising 11.3% again the dollar. Only the Zambian kwacha and Brazilian real have put in a better performance among emerging market nations.

As a result, RHB reports that foreign investors increased their holdings of government bonds by M$11.5 billion in March to M$226.6 billion, prompting a 1% month-on-month increase in foreign exchange reserves to $97 billion.

Malaysian sukuk issues have also been among the best performing in their asset class. The Bloomberg Malaysia sukuk ex-MYR Index has risen 3.47% in the year to last Friday.

Proceeds from the bond issue are being used to redeem a $1.2 billion sukuk, which matures this July.

Will 1MDB default?

In the meantime, yields on 1MDB’s outstanding debt have been plummeting. Its May 2022 bond saw yields spike from 4.81% on April 18 to 5.6% on April 19.

The last few days have seen conflicting messages from 1MDB and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) plus its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS.

On April 18, IPIC said that since 1MDB had failed to re-pay it $1.1 billion in principal and accrued interest, its guarantor obligations towards $3.5 billion of 1MDB debt had been terminated. As a result it failed to make a $50 million interest payment on April 18, triggering the potential default.

In the supplementary note to its sukuk offering, the government says the issue concerns a binding term sheet that was executed on May 28 2015 between 1MDB and the Ministry of Finance on the one side with IPIC and Aabar Investments on the other. As part of a debt for assets swap, IPIC agreed to guarantee $3.5 billion of 1MDB debt in exchange for certain 1MDB assets.

1MDB says that it has paid $1.4 billion to IPIC and its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS under the terms of that agreement.

At the heart of the issue is what happened to money that was funnelled through a BVI-registered company called Aabar Investments PJS.

In a filing to the London Stock Exchange last week IPIC said that it does not own it.

It also added that it is aware of reports that “substantial payments have been made by entities within the 1MDB group to an entity called Aabar Investments PJS Ltd, which IPIC and Aabar understand, from publicly available records, to be a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and which was wound up and dissolved in June 2015.”

In a rebuttal, 1MDB said it found it curious that IPIC has waited until April 2016 to issue such a statement.

In a notice posted on its website it said, “1MDB company records show documentary evidence of the ownership of Aabar BVI and of each payment made, pursuant to various legal agreements that were negotiated with Khadem Al Qubaisi in his capacity as Managing Director of IPIC & Chairman of Aabar and/or with Mohamed Badawy Al Husseiny, in his capacity as CEO of Aabar.”

Neither of the two men are now working for IPIC. The Wall Street Journal reports that the UAE authorities have frozen their personal assets and issued travel bans.

A Dow Jones article cites the many regulatory investigations, which have been initiated across the globe in relation to the BVI-registered company and the ultimate destination of the money that was paid into it. In January, the Swiss attorney general’s office said it believed up to $4 billion might have been misappropriated from 1MDB.

Malaysia’s attorney general has said that $681 million of funds deposited in the personal bank account of prime minister, Najib Razak, did not relate to 1MDB. The money was a donation from the Saudi royal family and has mostly been returned.

In a research note French brokerage Octo Finances wrote that, “IPIC has seen its name tarnished on the financial markets as a result of its ties with 1MDB, which faces allegations of corruption, money laundering and misappropriation of public funds.”

It believes IPIC’s recent behaviour makes a lot of sense. “It has to file for default if it wants to prove that it is innocent,” it stated. “The parties will go to court over the matter and the proceedings could be drawn out and tumultuous. ”

Global probes into 1MDB are also now drawing in the group’s bankers. On April 1, the US Department of Justice asked Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan to hand over documents relating to their relationship with the group.

Malaysia’s longest serving prime minister, Mahathir Mohamed, has also returned centre stage, applying for a court order to freeze Razak’s assets. He wants the court to force Razak to disclose all assets held under his name and the names of his nominees.

Last month he also filed a suit against Razak alleging corruption and abuse of power. Gulf News reports Mahathir as saying “I’m trying to fight him legally by filing a case to freeze his assets. But I’m not very optimistic on the outcome as the government’s control on law enforcement is extensive.”

It was an argument long used by jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Meanwhile, the government continues to apply its re-structuring plan for 1MDB, which involves debt-for-equity swaps, asset sales and most importantly of all a future commitment to match debt re-payments with defined cash flows.

Asset sales have included the $4.01 billion sale of Edra Global Energy to China General Nuclear Power in a deal, which closed on March 23. It is also selling its stake in Bandar Malaysia to Iskandar Waterfront Holdings and China Railway Engineering Corp for $1.228 billion.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 21 April 2016, 6:22 pm and is filed under
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Let the four Tan Sris in the Special Task Force on 1MDB respond individually to Ali Rustam’s demand for an apology

Following increasing demands from UMNO quarters that former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir should apologise to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak over his “lie” about Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal in the wake of the Saudi Foreign Minister’s controversial remark on the donation, former Malacca Chief Minister Tan Sri Senator Ali Rustam has upped the ante and asked the Special Task Force on Najib’s RM50 billion and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals to also apologise.

Utusan Malaysia yesterday  reported  Ali demanding that the  Special Task Force on 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donation should also apologise, as the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir had “cleared the air” on the money transferred to the prime minister’s personal bank accounts.

Ali said  the formation of the task force created a negative perception, as people had the perception that the Prime Minister had committed wrongdoings.

Ali claimed that the allegations by  The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)” were just slander and had tarnished the good name of the Prime Minister and the nation.

Ali said: “This cannot recur. The task force must apologise.”

Ali is both wrong in claiming that the Saudi Foreign Minister had confirmed that the RM2.6 billion donation had come from Saudi Arabian government or that Wall Street Journal reports about the RM2.6 billion donation were just slander of Najib, or  Najib would have  filed defamation proceedings against WSJ to clear his name.

But he had re-opened a can of worms about the Special Task Force on Najib’s twin mega scandals in demanding an apology from the Special Task Force.

A few days after the WSJ report about the RM2.6 billion “donation” in his personal banking accounts, Najib blogged that the scope of the Special Task Force investigating WSJ’s claims against him was whether he used 1MDB funds for his personal interest.

Najib said in his blog: “The investigation by the special task force is to determine whether WSJ allegation that I took 1MDB funds for my personal interest has basis or not.

“The investigation must consider the veracity of the documents published by the newspaper to support their actions.”

Is Ali also suggesting that Najib should apologise for agreeing to the establishment of the Special Task Force, or is he suggesting that Najib never agreed to the formation of the Special Task?

The four Tan Sris involved in the Special Task Force concerned  were Tan Sri Gani Patail, then Attorney-General, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Bank Negara Malaysia governor, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, Inspector-General of Police and Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner.

Were the four Tan Sris on the Special Task Force on 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals involved in anti-national activities as seemed to be suggested by Ali?

Let the four Tan Sris who had comprised the Special Task Force on 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donation scandals respond individually to Ali’s demand for an apology.

Malaysians would also want to know what has happened to this Special Task Force after the “major purges” at the end of July last year, which saw the sudden sacking of the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the Attorney-General Gani Patail, the Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, leading to intimidation, immediate transfers and even arrest of key officials in major enforcement agencies like the MACC and the Police.

I remember that at the time, I had very little confidence in the Special Task Force of the four Tan Sris.

In a statement ten days after the WSJ report on Najib’s RM2.6 billion donation, I noted that Najib had not yet denied, categorically and unequivocally, that he had three personal bank accounts in AmBank and that some US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) of funds had been deposited into his accounts just before the 13th General Elections; nor had Najib explained where the donation came from and where and to whom these astronomical sums of money had gone to.

I asked whether the Special Task Force  headed by Gani Patail, Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Khalid Abu Bakar and Abu Kassim Mohamad would be allowed to investigate where the RM2.6 billion came from and to whom, in detail, the RM2.6 billion had been paid out to?

I said nobody believed that the “special task force” of four Tan Sris would have such powers.

I suggested that the Special Task Force of four Tan Sris  should be scrapped and be replaced by a Royal Commission of Inquiry of three Tuns, chaired by Tun Mahathir with Tun Abdullah and Tun Musa Hitam as the deputy chair-persons to conduct an in-depth and wide-ranging investigation into Najib’s twin mega scandals.

This proposal of a Royal Commission of Inquiry of three Tuns is even more relevant and pertinent today.

So far, only two persons have publicly admitted receiving monies from Najib’s RM2.6 billion donation – Pontian MP and UMNO Deputy Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan who admitted he got RM2 million and the Chairman of the Barisan Nasional BackBenchers’ Club and Johor Baru MP, Tan Sri Shahrir Samad, who admitted he got RM1 million.

Will all the other UMNO/BN Ministers and MPs who had received monies from Najib’s RM2.6 billion (WSJ now says more than USD1 billion or RM4.2 billion had been deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts) donation own up in public about how much they have received from Najib and how they had spent them?

(Speech in his 108th parliamentary constituency visit in his “Pantang Undur: Berani kerana Benar” nation-wide tour in Pasar Chowrasta, Tanjong on Thursday, 21st April 2016 at 9am)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 21 April 2016, 9:00 am and is filed under
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Malaysia Defaults on Payment Deal: Trouble Abounds for Prime Minister

Economy Watch

APRIL 20, 2016

1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a strategic development company that the government of Malaysia owns, defaulted on a $1.1 billion loan from a United Arab Emirates wealth fund. Prime Minister Najib Razak founded 1MDB and has faced a string of corruption allegations surrounding the firm, and critics have called for his resignation. 1MDB is a developmental firm designed to commence infrastructure projects and attract foreign direct investment.

Razak’s development firm is embroiled in complex scandals regarding the outright looting of funds, and the prime minister’s problems are just the beginning as domestic and international investigations ensue.

Razak is directly tied to the scandals, with critics alleging that funds had been withdrawn from the firm and deposited into his account, and he did not do himself any favors by squashing domestic investigations and removing critics from his administration. Investigators allege that over $1 billion entered Razak’s personal accounts, and a great deal of those funds supposedly derived from 1MDB, notes The Wall Street Journal.

Human Rights Stain

Malaysia has a number of human rights violations under its belt, including press restrictions and detainment of foreign journalists covering the scandals. Additionally, the government has arrested citizens based on so-called hate speech and sedition laws, and these laws have been extended to offenders who speak ill of the royal family or the government.

The crackdowns have increased in the past year, reflecting the administration’s desperate attempt to maintain legitimacy in a harsh political climate. A single party has long ruled Malaysia, giving authorities additional leeway to silence whomever they wish, but the Malaysian government is failing miserably at damage control as citizens and the international community brings pressure to bear.

Grim Future

1MDB is on its way to ruin without drastic action. The firm has engaged in numerous missteps, most notably a whopping $12 billion debt burden stemming from unnecessary acquisitions, and taxpayers could pay the price, as a bailout seems inevitable. With that, a bailout could place Malaysia in a tougher spot, as the Southeast Asian country suffers through dwindling revenue and lower commodity prices on the world market.

The economy retains a robust manufacturing sector, and the nation has a plethora of natural resources, including natural gas. Leadership, however, has used commodities as a crutch, failing to diversify the economy, and the government lacks the necessary resources to navigate through emergencies, such as the 1MDB crisis.

With an ailing economy and emboldened opposition, the walls are closing in on the Malaysian government, and the scandal could threaten the established order, but Razak remains determined to ride out the storm.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 21 April 2016, 6:46 am and is filed under
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Malaysia Pays Bigger Premium in Debt Sale as 1MDB Delays Payment

Y-Sing Liau

Bloomberg

April 21, 2016

Malaysia paid a bigger premium to bondholders to own some of its new Islamic debt as a delayed interest payment by its troubled state investment fund weighed on demand.

The government priced $1 billion of 10-year notes at a wider spread than an offering a year ago. The sale, which also included $500 million of 30-year notes, drew $6.3 billion of orders, compared with $9 billion for an issuance of the same size in April 2015.

Malaysia warned investors that it faces as much as $4.5 billion in potential liabilities as government investment company 1Malaysia Development Bhd. remains locked in a dispute with Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund over debt obligations. The disagreement has led to a delay in an interest payment of $50 million on 1MDB bonds, hurting confidence in the sovereign just when the outlook for the oil exporter was improving amid a stabilization in crude and strength in the ringgit.

“The 1MDB risk might have spooked investors’ sentiment this round as it reemerged when the deal was about to close,” said Fakrizzaki Ghazali, a Kuala Lumpur-based strategist at RHB Research Institute Sdn.

Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co. entered an agreement with 1MDB in May 2015 to provide the latter with cash to settle some liabilities in exchange for a transfer of assets, as well as assume interest obligations on $3.5 billion of debt. The failure to repay the loan of $1.1 billion means 1MDB and its sole shareholder, Malaysia’s finance ministry, are effectively in default, IPIC said in a stock exchange filing last week.

Potential Liability

The government addressed its potential liability in the 1MDB-IPIC dispute in the sukuk offering document. If 1MDB is unable to make payments as they fall due, “the government does not believe that any amounts that it would be required to pay with respect to the indebtedness of 1MDB would be material to the government.”

1MDB’s President Arul Kanda said in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday that he sees an “amicable resolution” with IPIC. It remains unclear who will honor the interest payment that was due on Monday and has a five-day grace period.

While Malaysia paid a bigger premium over U.S. Treasuries for the 10-year bonds, the spread was narrower on the 30-year debt compared with the 2015 issuance. The sukuk due in 2046 was sold at 4.08 percent, a premium of 145 points versus 170 previously. Those due in 2026 sold at 3.179 percent, a spread of 135 basis points compared with last year’s 115 points.

Marginally Positive

“Market sentiment in the Asian dollar credit space is still marginally positive,” said Winson Phoon, a fixed-income analyst at Maybank Investment Bank Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur. “The recent negative news flow is seemingly a replay of what happened a few months back and this time round it doesn’t seem to have impacted negatively on the pricing for this sukuk.”

The funds raised will partly be used to refinance $1.2 billion of Islamic bonds maturing in July. Malaysia’s existing 10-year sukuk, sold in April 2015 at a coupon of 3.043 percent, yielded 3.04 percent on Thursday, while the 4.236 percent securities due in 2045 were paying 3.97 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

For the 10-year sukuk, 65 percent was taken up by investors in Asia, 19 percent from the Middle East, 11 percent in Europe and 5 percent in the U.S., according to an e-mailed statement from the finance ministry. About 54 percent of the 30-year debt was distributed to Asia, 12 percent to Europe, 24 percent to the U.S. and 10 percent to the Middle East.

Tight Pricing

“We are pleased with the investors’ response and confidence in Malaysia’s credit standing,” Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, Secretary General of Treasury at the Ministry of Finance, said in the statement. “This is a remarkable achievement as demonstrated by the tight pricing and excellent response on this landmark sukuk.”

While sentiment for the ringgit improved, the cost to insure the nation’s sovereign bonds increased this week as the saga over 1MDB took on a new twist. The government’s debt is rated the fourth-lowest investment grade by all the three major ratings companies.

Five-year credit-default swaps on Malaysia’s sovereign debt climbed to a six-week high of 168 on Wednesday, according to CMA prices. The contracts rose above 245 in September, the highest in more than six years.

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd., HSBC Holdings Plc, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Malayan Banking Bhd. were the joint bookrunners and lead managers.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 21 April 2016, 6:43 pm and is filed under
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Najib Is a Survivor in Malaysia’s ‘Game of Thrones’

Donald Greenlees

National Interest

April 20, 2016

In the court of domestic and international public opinion, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is guilty of a level of corruption and abuse of office not seen in Southeast Asia since the days of the dictators. Najib’s rule evokes memories of Marcos’ Philippines and Suharto’s Indonesia. The parallels include a family bent on amassing vast wealth.

There is now enough evidence in the public domain to warrant the removal of Najib from office. But will he go?

Najib did consider resigning last year when the scandals over the plundered sovereign wealth fund, 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), split his cabinet according to a source familiar with discussions at the time. The condition Najib set was that he and his wife were granted immunity from prosecution.

But talk of an early departure has now dissipated. It appears likely Najib will try to stay in office and fight for re-election in 2018.

The Najib government has another trait in common with the region’s old authoritarian regimes. It is resilience. One verity of politics in Asia persists: the moral outrage felt at a leader’s conduct will amount to little as long as he retains the support of a relatively small community of political and business elites.

Like those leaders from the authoritarian era, Najib has proved adept at survival by the liberal use of money and patronage to shore up allies and the effective use of the state’s coercive powers to divide, silence and jail opponents in politics, civil society and the media.

There are several factors that will bear on Najib’s fate between now and the next elections. Most of them suggest it will be hard to remove him from office and that the longer he stays the harder that outcome will be to achieve.

First, there’s the attitude of the ruling party. Najib retains control of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the political party that is the core of the Barisan Nasional coalition government. As president of UMNO, he can count on the support of its central leadership and is estimated to have the allegiance of the overwhelming majority of regional chiefs.

One reason for the anger former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad now aims at Najib is that he can no longer treat the party as a personal fiefdom. In 2013, Najib blocked the election of Mahathir’s son, Mukhriz, for an UMNO vice presidency. It’s commonly believed Mahathir wants his son to become prime minister.

The UMNO elites are conscious of ensuring their own survival; with that in mind, they could desert Najib. But that will only happen if they sense a groundswell from the party’s Malay Muslim base. There is no evidence of a shift yet.

Second, there’s the state of the economy. Growth is slowing and the trend will continue—it could fall to 4.2 percent this year from 6 percent in 2014. The loss of state revenue from the slowdown is constraining public investment, which has been one of the drivers of growth. It has forced Najib to cut spending and find new sources of income. Last year, he introduced a GST, which contributed to dampening consumption.

There is unhappiness in the Malay heartland over tightening economic conditions. But, conversely, Malaysia will probably achieve high-income status before the next elections. Despite the softening economy and the 1MDB scandal, the International Monetary Fund credits the government with achieving macroeconomic and financial stability and setting up sustained medium term growth. It is unlikely the economy will be a sufficient source of grievance to bring out Malay voters in open opposition to the government.

Third, there’s the course of international investigations into the 1MDB money trail. Following a series of disclosures in the Wall Street Journal and the Sarawak Report of money flowing into Najib’s private accounts, he faces the near certainty of further embarrassing revelations about 1MDB money that could touch members of his family.

While Najib can’t influence foreign investigations, he has shown a capacity to effectively shutdown investigations in Malaysia. In doing so, he has reduced the potential for cooperation between domestic and international agencies. Without access to information from within Malaysia, there is less international investigators can prove.

Najib has also tamed the domestic media and clouded the 1MDB issues in a mass of claim and counterclaim. Although many Malaysians are angry, there are probably more who are confused and fatigued by the scandal.  He has probably been helped domestically by Saudi Arabia’s confirmation last week that it was the source of a $681 million “donation” to Najib, although there are still those who believe the money came from 1MDB.

Finally, there’s the political opposition and question of succession. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is in jail and unable to run in 2018; most commentators agree his leadership days are over. But the opposition is divided by personality and political outlook. Without Anwar there is no obvious candidate able to rally its diverse membership.

A perverse alliance between Anwar and Mahathir — it was Mahathir who first had Anwar jailed — might produce a compromise. One possibility for the post is the elderly former Finance Minister and UMNO veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Other scenarios within UMNO make Malaysian politics look like Game of Thrones. Najib, the son of Malaysia’s second prime minister, could hand over to his cousin, Defence Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, the son of its third prime minister. Another man with ambition is the Minister for Youth and Sports and UMNO vice president, Khairy Jamaluddin, who is the son-in-law of Najib’s predecessor, Abdullah Badawi.

The same nepotistic instincts afflict the opposition— Anwar’s wife and daughter want to keep the leadership of his People’s Justice Party in the family. And then there are Mahathir’s ambitions for his son.

But talk of a new leadership is highly speculative. The absence of serious challengers aids Najib’s chances of survival. Even if he were to go, the stranglehold of UMNO and the small-club politics is likely to stay. For those Malaysians anxious to see real change, there’s little hope to be found in the way the current scandal is playing out.

Donald Greenlees is a former Asia correspondent for several international and Australian publications. He is currently with the Australian National University pursuing a PhD in Indonesia. This article first appeared in the Strategist.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 21 April 2016, 6:37 am and is filed under
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Opaque fund faces default, uncertain future

Babu Das Augustine, Banking Editor

Gulf News, Abu Dhabi

April 20, 2016

Massive debt burden seen impacting bond pricing

Dubai: Scandal-hit Malaysian government-owned fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) began as Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) in 2008, a sovereign wealth fund aimed at ensuring economic development for the state of Terengganu. It was renamed 1Malaysia Development Berhad on January 2009 and made a federal sovereign fund in 2009.

The entity focuses on strategic development projects in the areas of energy, real estate, tourism and agribusiness. The 1MDB fund was founded to invest in new industries and attract foreign investment. While little of that investment occurred, the fund rolled up almost $13 billion (Dh47 billion) in debt, a big chunk from dollar-bond issuances, which today it is having trouble repaying.

While the company faced allegations of lack of transparency in its dealings there have been allegations that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his associates benefited from various international and domestic deals.

In a report Wall Street Journal said that 1MDB made overpriced purchases of power assets in Malaysia through Genting Group in 2012. Genting then allegedly donated this money to a foundation controlled by Razak, who used these funds for campaign purposes during the 2013 general elections.

Further allegations were made by the Wall Street Journal that $700 million was transferred from 1MDB and deposited in AmBank and Affin Bank accounts under Razak’s name.

In February 2016, US Federal Bureau of Investigation began probing the connection between a regional top executive of global investment bank Goldman Sachs to Razak and the nature of the former’s involvement in multibillion dollar deals with 1MDB. In addition to these, investigations are under way in Malaysia, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Luxembourg and UK.

Buckling under debt burden, 1MDB has reportedly defaulted on a debt obligation, adding to the mountain of woes the state fund faces. According to a London Stock Exchange filing by Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), 1MDB and Malaysia’s finance ministry “are in default” of $1.1 billion.

The development leaves 1MDB’s bondholders waiting for an interest payment that was due on Monday. The Abu Dhabi fund indicated it no longer has an obligation to make the interest payments, and 1MDB didn’t say if it would step in. Malaysia’s finance ministry said in a statement that it “will continue to honour all of its outstanding commitments.” The conflict with IPIC comes as Malaysia plans to sell as much as $1.5 billion of global Islamic bonds. The marketing of the notes started last week and would likely have maturities of 10 and 30 years, according to two people familiar with the matter.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 21 April 2016, 6:57 am and is filed under
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Razak critic urges 1MDB findings be publicised

The National

United Arab Emirates

April 20, 2016

A leading critic of Malaysia’s prime minister Najib Razak said corruption had reached levels never seen before in the country and urged foreign governments linked to the controversy surrounding a state investment fund to make their findings public.

1MDB, whose advisory board is chaired by Mr Razak, is under investigation in at least five countries including Switzerland and the US over allegations of money laundering and embezzlement.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad, at one time the country’s longest-serving prime minister, said the investigations into the 1MDB fund were not just a problem for Malaysia.

“Being diplomatic isn’t going to help Malaysia or anyone else,” he said on the sidelines of the International Conference on Leadership, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Dubai yesterday. “They must recognise action needs to be taken and do what is necessary.”

Dr Mohamad, who was in his post between 1981 and 2003, said the scandal around the Malaysian fund threatened the Asian nation’s international reputation and hurt foreign direct investment.

“All inquiries should eventually be made public because inquiries that are kept secret are of no use to anyone,” he said.

“Eventually things will have to be revealed.”

Last week, Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) said neither itself nor its Aabar unit had any connection to a firm incorporated in the British Virgin Islands that was named in a report into the controversy surrounding the Malaysian fund.

In May 2015, Ipic had agreed to provide the Malaysian fund US$1 billion to meet some of its liabilities in exchange for assets while at the same time taking on interest payments on about $3.5bn in debt.

But the Abu Dhabi fund now says 1MDB is in default on the terms of the agreement.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 21 April 2016, 12:23 pm and is filed under
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Five questions I would like to ask Jho Low

I said at my 108th parliamentary constituency visit to Tanjong in Penang during my “Pantang Undur – Berani kerana Benar” nation-wide tour yesterday that Penang billionaire Jho Low is the “alpha and omega” of Malaysia’s first global financial scandal, that he probably knows more about the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion ‘donation’ twin mega scandals than the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and that he should return to Malaysia to appear before the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) to testify in its unfinished inquiry into the 1MDB scandal.

There are five questions I would like Jho Low to elucidate to the PAC, Parliament and the Malaysian public, viz:

1. How much was spent in the special operations during the 13th General Elections to defeat DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, in the Penang State Assembly seat of Air Puteh, when money flowed like water in the constituency with free dinners, free-wheeling angpows, lucky draws and the whole paraphernalia of give-aways to the Air Puteh voters? Was it RM30 million or RM40 million? Did the money come from 1MDB through various bogus off-shore companies? Was he ever investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for corruption and money politics for the special operations in the Air Puteh state assembly seat campaign in the 2013 General Elections?

2. What is his relationship with 1MDB and Good Star Limited? When PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin unilaterally and  arbitrarily deleted a key section in the PAC Report on 1MDB, he focussed attention on the genesis of the 1MDB global scandal.

The key section states that Bank Negara Malaysia had been informed by the relevant overseas authorities on a voluntary basis that the ultimate beneficiary of Good Star Limited is an individual unrelated to the Petrosaudi group. 1MDB has made payments of US$700 million and US$330 million to Good Star Limited in 2009 and 2011 respectively even though the funds were meant for its investments with Petrosaudi.

Does Jho Low deny that he was the beneficial owner of Good Star Limited?

Does he deny that he was the mastermind of the original 1MDB-PetroSaudi Joint Venture deal in Sept 2009 which launched 1MDB and Malaysia into the first global financial scandal?

3. What is his relationship with the bogus company Aabar Investment PJS Limited incorporated in British Virgin Islands which was the mistaken or “fraudulent”  receipient of US$3.5 billion payments by 1MDB meant for the Abu Dhabi company, Aabar Investment PJS?

4. Did he sent an email about “681 American pies” signifying the forthcoming  deposit of US$681 million into Najib’s personal bank accounts in March 2013, which indicateda his intimate role in Najib’s RM4.2 billion “donation” scandal?

What is his relationship with another BVI bogus company Tanore Finance Corp, which global investigators believe was the company which transferred US$681 million to Najib’s accounts. It has been reported that in all, more than US$1 billion had been deposited into Najib’s account over several years.

5. What is his relationship with a second bogus company, Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners Limited, another BVI registered company,  which is alleged to have sent enormous currency payments   into Najib’s personal bank accounts.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 22 April 2016, 10:49 am and is filed under
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Final appeal for a one-to-one electoral contest between Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional in Sarawak general elections as the Sarawak polls on May 7 is a battle for Malaysia

Monday is the nomination day for the 11th Sarawak state general election.

I want to make final appeal for a one-to-one electoral contest between Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional in Sarawak general elections as the Sarawak polls on May 7 is not just a battle for Sarawak, but a battle for Malaysia.

DAP and PKR leaders have actually reached an electoral understanding for a one-to-one contest in the Sarawak state general election with Barisan Nasional, which had involved difficult give-and-take, and it is most unfortunate if this electoral understanding reached by DAP and PKR leaders are broken resulting in a multi-cornered electoral contest involving the BN on the one part, and the DAP and PKR on the other.

 I hope that in the interests of the political future, not only of Sarawak but of Malaysia, Pakatan Harapan parties can face the challenges of the 11th Sarawak state general elections as one team.

DAP leaders are prepared to campaign for PKR in state constituencies contested by PKR candidates, and PKR leaders are welcome to campaign in areas contested by DAP candidates so that se can send out a message, loud and clear, of Pakatan Harapan’s solidarity, cohesion and commitment to bring about political change not only in Sarawak but also in Malaysia.

I was in Bario in the Mulu state assembly constituency with the DAP candidate, Paul Raja, and have just returned to Miri and I have no yet caught up with the latest political developments.

Bario has been described as an “Erehwon”, or a place outside this world in terms of its natural beauty and characteristics. But despite these special qualities, there are many areas of improvement in Bario which can be aimed at, especially as Bario is land of the high-achievers of the Kelabit community.

One of these is to make Bario the “Davos of Malaysia”!

When outsiders think of Switzerland, they  think of three places – Berne, the capital; Zurich the financial centre and Davos the tourist centre in the countryside, where every year, at the end of January, the leaders of the world, whether political, economic or in other fields of human endeavour, congregate to brainstorm about problems of the times and the future of humanity.

Why can’t Bario be developed as the “Davos of Malaysia”, where Asian leaders congregate every year to give fame to Bario?

This is not something which can be achieved overnight. It may take more than 10, even 20 or 30 years, but it should be a worthwhile target for the people in Bario and Mulu, even Sarawak, to achieve.

However,  if the lofty goal of transforming Bario into the “Davos of Malaysia” is to be achieved, many preconditions must be fulfilled, whether about NCR land, infrastructure of roads and access or  the development of world-class tourist and conference facilities.

On the way flying into Bario from Miri yesterday, I saw the Twin Rocks or Batu Lawi for the first time. It was an unique and awesome sight, which should be marketted all over the world as among the sights and scenes to represent Malaysia.

The Sarawak elections is therefore a battle for Malaysia, to bring to the forefront the rights and concerns  of Sarawakians which should also be the common agenda of all Malaysians.

(Speech at the pre-election ceramah at Senadin, Miri on Saturday, April 23, 2016 at 2 pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 23 April 2016, 6:52 pm and is filed under
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How long can  Jho Low disappear or go  incognito?

Two days ago, I posed five questions to the “alpha and omega” of Malaysia’s first global financial scandal, Penang-born billionaire Jho Low, but as expected, no answer had been forthcoming.

In the past 48 hours, there had been more world-wide developments in Malaysia’s first global financial scandal, a salutary reminder that in the borderless  world of 24/7 era of information, where information travels at the speed of light, it is no more possible for one country to sweep scandals under the carpet, especially when  the financial scandal is of global reach and dimension like the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.

In Malaysia, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak can try to impose a total  clamp on all investigations and information about the 1MDB scandal, and even virtually ban discussion on the subject in the highest legislative and political chamber in the land, Parliament, but what is the purpose of such puny  national efforts at censorship when the global community and  some ten countries are conducting separate investigations related to the 1MDB scandal?

Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal has been described by the influential financial weekly, the Economist, as “an important test of how the world deals with cross-border corruption”, especially after the leaking of the Panama papers – after describing investigations within Malaysia as  have been “timid or stymied”.

Such adverse international commentary  on the 1MDB scandal a fortnight after the tabling of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on 1MDB to Parliament vindicated what I had said right from the beginning – that Najib was wrong in regarding  the PAC Report as a “comprehensive, conclusive and definitive report” on 1MDB when it was only the first step to reveal and unveil the full “horrors” of Malaysia’s first global financial scandal.

The Economist’s comments came just weeks after Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) warned that Switzerland was facing increased risk of money laundering, citing examples such as 1MDB.

Switzerland believes that at least US$4 billion from 1MDB had been misappropriated but The Economist said investigators now believe that it could be as much as US$6 billion.

The Economist noted that Switzerland’s top financial regulator believes that banks, which involved some of the biggest names in international finance, were involved in “inadequate” anti-money-laundering measures.

What happened on the 1MDB scandal front in the past 48 hours include:

1. The charging in Singapore of a former banker with the Singapore arm of Switzerland’s BSI Bank for money laundering following the city-state’s investigation into 1MDB.

2. The refusal of PetroSaudi International, the firm which partnered with 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in a now defunct investment joint venture,  to comment if it owned Good Star Limited, which was the recipient of some US$700 million from the Malaysian government investment arm in 2009.

This was PetroSaudi’s response to the Australian paper, The Weekend Australian.

3. The growing storm over the PAC Chairman’s unilateral and arbitrary deletion of the PAC Report on 1MDB disclosing that “Bank Negara Malaysia had been informed voluntarily by the authorities of that country that Good Star Limited is a company owned by an individual that has no links to PetroSaudi Group” – which grapples with the “original sin” of the 1MDB global scandal!

What is the PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin trying to hide with such an unilateral, arbitrary and critical  deletion – for it would have thrown light on the shocking genesis of the 1MDB as a mega scam right from the very beginning of its establishment, with US$700 million of 1MDB funds diverted to Jho Low’s bogus shell-company, Good Star Limited, especially as it has been alleged by Wall Street Journal that Good Star Limited is solely owned by Jho Low and had nothing to do with PetroSaudi International.

The person who know most about the “original sin” of the RM50 billion 1MDB global scandal is none other Jho Low.

Can he continue to keep his silence and be a fugitive from justice?

How long can Jho Low disappear or go incognito?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 24 April 2016, 5:34 pm and is filed under
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As Zeti Term Ends, Malaysia Poised to Name Central Bank Governor  Shamim Adam

by Shamim Adam &  Y-Sing Liau

Bloomberg

April 25, 2016

Malaysia’s central bank Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz has one week to go in the job and investors still don’t know who will replace her.

Zeti is credited by investors with strengthening the credibility and independence of Bank Negara Malaysia in the 16 years she’s been at the helm and the longer Prime Minister Najib Razak drags his feet on announcing a successor, the more market analysts are worrying. It’s something the economy can ill afford with sentiment already under pressure as Najib faces his biggest political crisis since coming to power seven years ago.

“Trepidation is particularly pronounced” given the uncertainty over Zeti’s successor, said Jack Chambers, an economist at Moody’s Analytics Australia Pty Ltd. While the ringgit has gained about 10 percent this year after a 19 percent slump in 2015, a measure of its implied volatility is the highest in Asia.

Zeti ends her term with Najib facing questions about possible embezzlement at state investment company 1Malaysia Development Bhd., whose advisory board he chairs. She had become increasingly critical about the situation at 1MDB, which has consistently denied wrongdoing.

Aides to Najib said there’s no exact indication when he will announce Zeti’s replacement. Kuala Lumpur-based New Straits Times reported on Monday that Najib will make the announcement this week, without saying where the information was obtained. The central bank didn’t reply to an e-mail seeking comment.

“The person should have the best credentials for this current environment,” Zeti said in an interview on April 16, when asked if she’d prefer an internal or external candidate to replace her. “We’re all waiting with bated breath for the announcement.”

Below are potential candidates to succeed the governor, according to people familiar with the discussions since late last year and news reports.

Deputy Governor Muhammad Ibrahim

Muhammad joined the central bank in 1984 and has been deputy governor since June 2010. He oversees international reserve management, and money market and foreign exchange operations. He has served in areas from banking supervision and regulation to insurance and offshore banking.

Muhammad was previously managing director at Danamodal Nasional Bhd., a bank recapitalization agency created during the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s. He has a master’s degree from Harvard University.

“Appointing someone from within the BNM would be a positive sign that the central bank’s independence remains, even after its investigations of the 1MDB affair,” Chambers said.

Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, Finance Ministry’s top bureaucrat

Irwan, secretary general of the Treasury, started his government career in the Economic Planning Unit in 1984 and in 2003 joined the Finance Ministry, where he has held various positions.

Irwan has a Ph.D. in economics from the International Islamic University Malaysia and holds a master’s degree in energy management and policy from the University of Pennsylvania. He sits on the boards of state oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and one of Malaysia’s biggest pension funds. Irwan is part of the central bank’s board of directors.

Abdul Wahid Omar, government minister and former banker

The son of a factory worker who grew up in poverty, Wahid earned his British accounting degree through a government scholarship and has been a promoter of Malaysia’s affirmative-action policy aimed at helping ethnic Malays.

Wahid has held top management positions in several government-linked companies and was chief executive officer of Malayan Banking Bhd., the country’s biggest lender. Najib appointed him a minister in charge of economic planning in 2013. Two past CEOs of Maybank went on to become central bank governors.

Wahid currently heads the Economic Planning Unit, which served as a launchpad for another former Bank Negara chief.

Awang Adek Hussin, former ambassador to the U.S.

The former deputy finance minister has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School — Zeti’s alma mater.

He worked at the central bank for more than a decade from 1985 in departments including economics and banking regulation, and later became an assistant governor. He was appointed U.S. ambassador in 2014 and his term ended this month. He is a senior official in Najib’s ruling party and has said he wants to return to “active politics,” official news agency Bernama reported.

The government wants Awang to remain in Washington until his replacement is found, the New Straits Times said on Monday, without saying where it got the information.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 25 April 2016, 12:52 pm and is filed under
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The only  way Arul can earn some sympathy from the Malaysian public is for him to come clean and own up to all the frauds in the biggest global scam in Malaysian history – including those committed before his time

The only way for Arul Kanda Kandasamy to earn some sympathy from the Malaysian public is for him to come clean to own up to all the frauds in the biggest global scam in Malaysian history – the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal – including those committed before his time.

It is just not good enough for the 1MDB president to canvas the possibilities of “massive fraud” and “collaboration from our side” over the US$3.5 billion worth of payments made to the “fake” Aabar BVI, when the international news media  and whistle-blower website Sarawak Report had been detailing such “massive frauds” and “collaboration” for almost the past year.

Didn’t Arul take the most elementary measures to check on the veracity of these very detailed reports in the international media and Sarawak Report?

Even more important and relevant, why did he  defend the integrity  and good governance practices of 1MDB in these these cases of “massive frauds” and “collaboration”?

Nor can Arul exonerate himself from being complicit in Malaysia’s mega scam by just washing his hands and quitting his MDB post, protesting that the issues and scandals at the 1MDB scam were not his and “not what I signed up for”.

True, these scandals were not his when they were committed before he became 1MDB President in January last year, but he had made them his by defending their propriety and correctness for more than a year, including in his appearances before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiring into 1MDB.

It is just too little too late for Arul to indulge in  such “escapades”, as he can only redeem for his own “sins” in the 1MDB scandal.

Just as Arul cannot continue to pretend ignorance and innocence over the “massive fraud” and “collaboration” over the US$3.5 billion worth of payments to the “fake” Aabar BVI, the 1MDB President  cannot continue to pretend ignorance and innocence over the “original sin” of the 1MDB scandal –  the diversion of US$700 million of 1MDB funds in 2009  to Jho Low’s bogus shell company, Good Star Limited, especially as   Wall Street Journal  and Sarawak Report had alleged that Good Star Limited is solely owned by Jho Low and had nothing to do with PetroSaudi International, the firm which partnered with 1MDB in a now defunct investment joint venture.

There is now a growing storm over the PAC Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin’s unilateral and arbitrary deletion of a paragraph in the PAC Report on 1MDB which had stated  that “Bank Negara Malaysia had been informed voluntarily by the authorities of that country that Good Star Limited is a company owned by an individual that has no links to PetroSaudi Group”.

Let Arul state whether he had prior knowledge of the PAC Report on the 1MDB before it was tabled in Parliament on April 7, and whether he had any role in the deletion of this crucial paragraph by the PAC Chairman in the PAC Report on 1MDB when it was finally tabled in Parliament.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 25 April 2016, 5:40 pm and is filed under
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Apology to the people of Sarawak and Malaysia for the failure of Pakatan Harapan to ensure a one-to-one contest against the  Barisan Nasional in Sarawak state election

I apologise to the people of Sarawak and Malaysia for Pakatan Harapan’s failure to ensure a one-to-one contest with Barisan Nasional in the 11th  Sarawak state election.

I was not involved in the negotiations at any stage and I do not propose to revisit this sorry chapter of  Pakatan Harapan until after Polling Day on May 7.

I  apologize to the people of Sarawak and Malaysia for the failure of Pakatan Harapan to ensure a one-to-one contest against the Barisan Nasional in the Sarawak state election and promise that DAP leaders, members and supporters at all levels will work doubly or even trebly hard to compensate for the failure of Pakatan Harapan to ensure a one-to-one   contest against the Barisan Nasional.

I do not know how Pakaran Harapan is going to pick up the  pieces as a result of the failure of the Pakatan Harapan electoral pact in the Sarawak state election, but  let us leave it till after the Polling Day  on May 7.

Our one and only task now is to focus on the Barisan Nasional for the next 12 days in the Sarawak election campaign, and ensure that the  voters of Sarawak make a historic choice on May 7 in the best and higher interests of Sarawak and Malaysia.

Tan Sri Adenan Satem has asked for another  five years as Sarawak Chief Minister.

He said recently: “I am already 72 and in five more years I will be 77 years old. Enough la, I am already old.”

Today, the Nomination Day of the 11th Sarawak state election, Adenan has been granted his wish to be Chief Minister of Sarawak for one more term or another five years.

This is because there is no 	question after Nomination Day today that Adenan will  be the Sarawak Chief Minister after the May 7 polling day.

Adenan getting  his wish to be  Sarawak Chief Minister for another five years after the 11th Sarawak state general election on May 7 is as sure as the sun rising in the east!

Even if DAP wins all the 31 State Assembly seats that we are contesting (which nobody expects), Adenan’s position as the Sarawak Chief Minister is totally secure and untouchable, as there are a total of 82 state assembly seats.

In fact regardless of whether the candidates of the  other non-PBB parties win or lose, Adenan’s re-appointment as Sarawak Chief Minister for another five years is totally  secure and completely unshakeable.

What the voters of Sarawak must ensure is that the human disease of “Power tends to corrupt, Absolute Power tends to corrupt absolutely” does not afflict Adenan and Sarawak in the next five years because of unchecked exercise of power.

Ideally, the most effective check and safeguard against any abuse of power by any Chief Minister is to deny him  two-thirds majority in the Sarawak State Assembly. But even this objective is a very “tall order”  in the May 7 state election, as  it will mean the Opposition winning a total of 28 seats to deny Adenan two-thirds majority in an Assembly of 82 seats.

Next to denying Adenan two-thirds majority in the Sarawak State Assembly is to ensure a strong and effective Opposition in the Sarawak State Assembly.

This is why we are asking the Sarawak voters to endorse the two objectives of Sarawak DAP in the 11th Sarawak state elections  – firstly, to defend the 12 DAP State Assembly seats won in the previous Sarawak state elections in 2011, and secondly, to achieve a breakthrough by winning several of the 19 other seats which the DAP is contesting to send into the Sarawak State Assembly not only Chinese, but Dayak and Malay State Assembly representatives.

The 11th Sarawak state general election is a most unique and historic one – for it will be the first  state general election where Sarawakian voters will be voting for two posts,  that of the Chief Minister of Sarawak and the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The issue of the Sarawak Chief Minister for the next five years has been settled on Nomination Day today – as no one doubts that it is not Adenan Satem.

But the issue concerning the Malaysian Prime Ministerr will have to await the May 7 polling result to know the outcome.

When accompanying Adenan to file his nomination papers this morning, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib said that the 11th Sarawak state elections is “a precursor” to the 14th parliamentary general elections in two years.

Najib said that a “comfortable victory” for the  Barisan Nasional in the Sarawak state general election will be crucial to boost Barisan Nasional “confidence” for the 14GE in 2018.

Najib is even more concerned than Adenan about the outcome of the May 7 poll in the Sarawak state election, for Adenan’s objective of another five years as Sarawak Chief Minister has  already been achieved, while Najib’s endorsement as Prime Minister of Malaysia with a Barisan Nasional “comfortable victory” is still not certain.

Najib has become Malaysia’s most unpopular Prime Minister with calls for him to step down as Prime Minister increasing by the day.

Najib would want to have a “comfortable victory” in Sarawak state election as a trophy he  can take back to Putrajaya to show the rest of Malaysia and the world that he has the confidence and mandate of the people of Sarawak to continue as Prime Minister of Malaysia – despite becoming the butt of international criticisms and attacks for his role in Malaysia’s twin global financial scandals, the RM4.2 billion “donation” and  RM50 billion 1MDB mega scandals.

Voters of Sarawak, when they cast their vote on May 7, must think  hard and deep on  whether they want their vote to become an endorsement of Najib as Malaysian Prime Minister – especially as the question of Adenan as Sarawak Chief Minister for the next five years has already been resolved on Nomination Day today.

(Speech at the first DAP Kuching ceramah for 11th Sarawak state election  at 101 Ambank, Kuching on Monday, April 25, 2016 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 April 2016, 6:56 am and is filed under
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Are the voters of Tasik Biru prepared for their rendezvous with history on May 7?

Are the voters of Tasik Biru prepared for their rendezvous with history on May 7?

The famous gold-mining town of Bau had been replete with  history, going back some 200 years.

There was a historic episode in Bau in 1837 and another in 1857, but on May 7, 2016,  the people of Bau and the voters of Tasik Biru are set to write a new and greater  history for Sarawak and Malaysia in the 11th Sarawak state general election by spearheading a third wave of political change in the country.

I first visited Bau in September 1978, after the Great Fire of Bau on 24th September 1978 when Bau town was virtually razed to the ground.

The fire started at about 3.30 am. There was a strong wind and because all the shop-houses were made of wooden materials in 1950, the conflagration spread very fast to both ends of the row of shop-houses.

Due to the explosions of gas, kerosene, ammunitions and falling debris, the fire grew more violent and within minutes, the opposite row of shop-houses was also on fire

Most of the 69 wooden shops at Jalan Datuk Salau were destroyed beyond recognition.

Luckily there were no casualty although some 900 people were made homeless.

Returning to Bau 38 years later,  Bau has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of the Big Fire of 1978.

The question is whether in two weeks’ time on May 7, the people of Bau and the voters of Tasik Biru can “write history, create miracle” to spearhead a third wave of political change in Sarawak and Malaysia.

The first wave of political change in Sarawak and Malaysia was  started in the 2006 Sarawak state general election where the people of Kuching, Sibu and Bintulu stood up for the rights of all Sarawakians and Malaysians  by giving  the DAP an unprecedented half-a-dozen State Assembly seats in Sarawak.

This created a great impact and was the precursor to the “political tsunami” of the 12th Parliamentary General Elections in 2008, which saw Barisan Nasional lost power in five states  – Kelantan, Kedah, Perak, Penang and Selangor.

The second political wave was the 2011 Sarawak State general election where DAP State Assembly representation in Sarawak was doubled from six to 12, with Miri joining Kuching, Sibu and Bintulu in the vanguard for political change.

This impacted on the 13th Parliamentary General Election in 2013, resulting in a whisker away from change of federal government in Putrajaya.

Although Datuk Seri Najib Razak won only 47% of the popular vote, he was able to win 60% of the parliamentary seats because of constituency gerrymandering and an unfair democratic system, resulting in his becoming the first minority Prime Minister of Malaysia.

What has the third Sarawak state general election on May 7, 2016 in store for political change in Sarawak and Malaysia?

Will it have similar far-reaching political impact  in Sarawak and Malaysia, presaging a third wave of political change in the 14th Parliamentary General Election in two years time, even resulting in the end of UMNO/Barisan Nasional government of Putrajaya?

I believe this is possible –  that history is waiting to be made in Sarawak on Polling on May 7, starting from Tasik Baru.

This is why I will be at the Tasik Biru Nomination Centre with the DAP candidate Mordi Bimol on Nomination Day, to symbolically represent my hope that the town of Bau and the constituency of  Tasik Biru will rendezvous with history on May 7, by electing Mordi as the first Bidayuh State Assemblyman for Sarawak.

This was also why the DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng was in Bau a few days ago to officially launch the DAP Tasik Biru Elections Operations Centre.

If DAP can win in Tasik Biru, then we stand a chance of making a breakthrough in the Dayak-dominated areas of Simanggang, Serian, Mambong, Mulu and Murum – marking that it is not only Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri which want change, but also the Sarawak hinterlands of   Tasik Biru, Simanggang, Serian, Mambong, Mulu and Murum which are  standing up with the urban areas to demand political change and meaningful development.

This is the  third political wave since the 2006 Sarawak state general election, with far-reaching impact on the 14th Parliamentary General Election in two years time.

If DAP  cannot win in Tasik Biru, then it will be even more difficult for the DAP to win any of the other 19 seats which we are contesting where we had not won in  the last general election.

DAP’s inroads into Tasik Biru, Simanggang, Serian, Mambong, Mulu and Murum marks  the second of the two-prong objective of the DAP in the 2016 Sarawak state general election – firstly, to defend the existing 12 State Assembly seats in Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri; and secondly, to take the political “offensive” to achieve breakthroughs by winning state assembly seats in Tasik Biru, Simanggang, Serian, Mambong, Mulu and Murum.

This is why Tasik Biru will be the cynosure of state and national attention on the May 7 polling day.

Are the people of Bau and the voters of Tasik Biru prepared and ready to rendezvous with history on May 7?

(Speech at the DAP pre-Sarawak state election ceramah in Bau on Sunday, April 24, 2016 at 12 noon)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 26 April 2016, 4:59 pm and is filed under
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Assurance to Adenan that he is sure to be the Sarawak Chief Minister for next five years and that the most the Opposition can achieve is to deny Sarawak Barisan Nasional two-thirds majority in Sarawak State Assembly

I want to assure the caretaker Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Adenan Satem that he is certain  and sure to be the Sarawak Chief Minister for the next five years and that the most the Opposition can achieve on May 7 Polling Day is to deny the Sarawak Barisan Nasional two-thirds majority in the Sarawak State Assembly.

I cannot understand why Adenan is so suspicious-minded that he urged voters in Kuching last night not to believe Opposition parties’ claim that they only wanted to deny Barisan Nasional a supermajority in the state election.

He considers this “a ploy to convince voters that supporting the opposition would not result in a change of government” and said:

“Don’t be fooled by this talk by Lim Kit Siang about reducing our majority of two thirds, because if people overreact to this one, then you might end up having them be the government.

“This is just a ploy so that people think there’s no harm in voting for them, and that they would get the best of both worlds. But then their aim is to form the next government, and if that happens, we will be governed by parties from west Malaysia.”

It is difficult to find two paragraphs so replete with misinformarion and fallacies.

Let me assure Adenan that what I said is no ploy, but a serious statement of what would happen on May 7.

The DAP has fielded candidates in 31 state assembly seats, and even if we win all the 31 seats (and no one, in particular none from the Sarawak Barisan Nasional, would say there is any possibility of such a thing happening), Adenan would still have a comfortable majority to be Sarawak Chief Minister for the next five years.

Is Adenan entertaining any doubts that he might be the Sarawak Chief Minister for the next five years?

If Adenan is being advised by his political advisers and strategists that he might not be the Sarawak Chief Minister for the next five years, he should change his political advisers and strategists.

Or does Adenan  want me  to give him a letter of guarantee that he will the Sarawak Chief Minister again on May 7?

(Speech at the DAP Sarawak state general election ceramah in Serian on Wednesday, April 27, 2016 at 12 noon)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 27 April 2016, 4:03 pm and is filed under
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Hope for Bidayuh breakthrough in Sarawak state elections with a quartet of  DAP Bidayuh state assemblymen elected into the Sarawak State Assembly on May 7

DAP hopes to achieve a Bidayuh breakthrough in the Sarawak state elections with a quartet of DAP Bidayuh State Assemblymen elected into the Sarawak State Assembly on May 7, comprising Mordi Bimol contesting in Tasik Biru, Sanjan Daik in  Mambong, Edward Luak in  Bukit Semuja and Andrew Nyabe in Kedup.

This is part of the third wave of political change which I hope the 11th Sarawak State General Election on May 7 can achieve.

The first wave of political change in Sarawak  was  started in the 2006 Sarawak state general election where the people of Kuching, Sibu and Bintulu stood up for the rights of all Sarawakians  by giving  the DAP an unprecedented half-a-dozen State Assembly seats in Sarawak.

This created a great impact and was the precursor to the “political tsunami” of the 12th Parliamentary General Elections in 2008, which saw Barisan Nasional lost power in five states  – Kelantan, Kedah, Perak, Penang and Selangor.

The second political wave was the 2011 Sarawak State general election where DAP State Assembly representation in Sarawak was doubled from six to 12, with Miri joining Kuching, Sibu and Bintulu in the vanguard for political change.

This impacted on the 13th Parliamentary General Election in 2013, resulting in a whisker away from change of federal government in Putrajaya.

Although Datuk Seri Najib Razak won only 47% of the popular vote, he was able to win 60% of the parliamentary seats because of constituency gerrymandering and an unfair democratic system, resulting in his becoming the first minority Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The Sarawak state general election on May 7 will initiate a third wave of political change if other areas in  Sarawak like Tasik Biru, Mambong, Serian, Simanggang, Mulu and Murum can stand up together with Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri to demand for political change and meaningful development in Sarawak and Malaysia.

In crafting this third wave of political change in Sarawak, I hope that the four DAP Bidayuh candidates, Mordi Bimol  in Tasik Biru, Sanjan Daik in  Mambong, Edward Luak in  Bukit Semuja and Andrew Nyabe in Kedup can  succeed in sending a quartet of DAP Bidayuh State Assemblymen to the Sarawak State Assembly on May 7.

If the Sarawak state general election can create a political wave on May 7, it will for the third time have a far-reaching impact on the 14th Parliamentary General Elections in two years time, involving not only the end of the premiership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak but of the UMNO/Barisan Nasional government in Putrajaya.

(Speech at the Sarawak state general election ceramah in Siburan in Mambong state assembly constituency on Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 27 April 2016, 2:46 pm and is filed under
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“507 – Create Miracles “ – Call on Voters of Serian, Tasik Biru, Mambong, Simanggang, Mulu, Murum, Samalaju, Pakan, Ngemah, Katibas  and Bukit Goram to support the voters of Kuching, Sibu, Sarikei, Bintulu and Miri for political change and meaningful development for all

In the 13th Parliamentary General Elections of May 5, 2013, the call and slogan of the polls was “505 – Change Government”.

In the 11th Sarawak State General Election on May 7, 2016, the call and slogan of the polls should be “507 – Create Miracles”.

This is a tall order for the voters of Sarawak in ten days time on May 7, 2016 – for they are being asked to create a third political wave in Sarawak and Malaysia in preparation for the fourth political wave in Sarawak in five years time in 2021.

The first wave of political change in Sarawak  was in the 2006 Sarawak state general election where the people of Kuching, Sibu, Meradong and Bintulu stood up for the rights of all Sarawakians  by giving  the DAP an unprecedented six  State Assembly seats in Sarawak.

This created a great impact and was the precursor to the “political tsunami” of the 12th Parliamentary General Elections in 2008, which saw Barisan Nasional lost power in five states  – Kelantan, Kedah, Perak, Penang and Selangor.

The second political wave was the 2011 Sarawak State general election where DAP State Assembly representation in Sarawak was doubled from six to 12, with Miri and Sarikei joining Kuching, Sibu, Meradong and Bintulu in the vanguard for political change.

This impacted on the 13th Parliamentary General Election in 2013, resulting in a whisker away from change of federal government in Putrajaya.

Although Datuk Seri Najib Razak won only 47% of the popular vote, he was able to win 60% of the parliamentary seats because of constituency gerrymandering and an unfair democratic system, resulting in his becoming the first minority Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Will voters of Sarawak initiate a third wave of political change in Sarawak and Malaysia on May 7, with

the voters of Serian, Tasik Biru, Mambong, Simanggang, Mulu, Murum, Samalaju, Pakan, Ngemah, Katibas  and Bukit Goram giving full support to the voters of Kuching, Sibu,  Meradong, Sarikei, Bintulu and Miri for political change and meaningful development for all?

This is the historic challenge on May 7, which will have a far-reaching impact on the 14th Parliamentary General Elections in two years’ time – which is why the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak  had visited Sarawak over 50 times and why he was in Sarawak on Nomination Day, the first time a Malaysian Prime Minister was present in Sarawak on the nomination day in 11 Sarawak state general elections!

The voters of Sarawak will be deciding on two important questions on May 7 – who will be the new  Sarawak Chief Minister on May 7, and the future of the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Actually, who will be the Chief Minister of Sarawak was decided on Nomination Day,  as it is as clear as daylight that Tan Sri Adenan Satem will be the Chief Minister of Sarawak for the next five years.

But the answer to the second question has to await the outcome of the Sarawak state general election on May 7.

This is why Najib is more concerned than Adenan about the results of the Sarawak state general election, for he would want to be able to  use a landslide Barisan Nasional victory in Sarawak as an endorsement of his premiership, not only in Malaysia  but to the whole wide world – in order to counter   an avalanche of adverse publicity, both nationally and internationally, as a result of his twin mega financial  scandals.

I am quite  perplexed why Adenan thinks that I am laying up a trap for him or  had  some tricks up my sleeve when I said that the question of him as the Sarawak Chief Minister for the next five years is a “done deal” as a result of Nomination Day on Monday.

Let me assure Adenan that I am not a magician and I have no tricks up my sleeve – as I was just stating the political realities of the day.  It is those who think that Adenan will not become the Sarawak Chief Minister for the next five years who will need to have their heads examined.

This is why I find any need by Adenan to solicit the help of the Gerakan Youth chief  to fortify his argument that he might not be the Sarawal Chief Minister on May 7 as laughable and pathetic.

The Gerakan Youth chief, who heads the list of political ignoramus among BN leaders, warned Sarawak voters not to fall hook, line and sinker for my   “assurance” that Adenan Satem would remain as chief minister, urging Sarawakians to be wary of DAP’s “tricks” by reminding them of the time when DAP wrested Penang from Gerakan in 2008 when nobody foresaw Penang falling to DAP then.

At least the Gerakan Youth chief has admitted his concerns that the Sarawak Barisan Nasional has feet of clay like Gerakan in Penang in 2008, and could tumble over and fall from  power with a slight shove in a general election.

Does Adenan agree with the Gerakan Youth chief who thinks that the Sarawak Barisan Nasional is only a “paper tiger” like the Gerakan in Penang in 2008 and that he, Adenan Satem, is as vulnerable as Koh Tsu Koon in 2008?

While it is true that the “political tsunami” in the 12th General Elections in 2008 came as a total surprise, resulting in the fall of Barisan Nasional in five states – an impact caused by the first wave of political change initiated by the 2006 Sarawak state general election –  it is sheer ignorance or naivette for anyone to overlook the fact that DAP had been aiming to capture the Penang State Governnent for nearly two decades.

I myself had led the  DAP “Tanjong” campaigns in the 1990 and 1995 General Elections  to capture the Penang State Government, although to no avail.

But this is not the case with Sarawak, as Sarawak DAP had never claimed that it was ready to capture or form the Sarawak State Government.

I must however thank the political ignoramus who is the Gerakan Youth Chief for giving me an opportunity to elaborate on the meaning and significance of the May 7 vote in the 11th Sarawak state general election.

I had called on Sarawak voters  to embrace the call and slogan of “May 7 – Create Miracles” to initiate a third political wave in Sarawak and Malaysia, with the voters of Serian, Tasik Biru, Mambong, Simanggang, Mulu, Murum, Samalaju, Pakan, Ngemah, Katibas  and Bukit Goram giving full support to the voters of Kuching, Sibu,  Meradong, Sarikei, Bintulu and Miri for political change and meaningful development for all.

This is not to topple Adenan as Sarawak Chief Minister, as his position is secure and untouchable,  but to ensure a strong and effective Opposition voice in the Sarawak State Assembly to ensure that Adenan keeps his promise and pledges to give priority to the rights and interests of ordinary Sarawakians.

The most the Opposition can hope for  on May 7 is to deny Adenan two-thirds majority in the Sarawak State Assembly, which means winning at least 28 State Assembly seats.

There is another reason why Sarawakian voters should embrace the call and slogan of “May 7 – Create Miracles”, for the third political wave that could be created by the 11th Sarawak state general election will pave the way for a fourth political wave in the 12th Sarawak state general election in five years’ time in 2021!

Contrary to what the Gerakan Youth chief thinks, the DAP will not try to capture the Sarawak state government by stealth like a thief in the night.

Like all political parties, DAP wants to have the opportunity to form the government, whether at the state or federal government, but we will carry out such a democratic objective in a open, honest and honourable manner.

In the case of Sarawak, I have no doubt that Sarawak DAP will announce such an objective when the conditions are ripe – and the conditions are not ripe unless and until the advent of the third political wave in the 11th Sarawak State General Election on May 7 when the voters of Serian, Tasik Biru, Mambong, Simanggang, Mulu, Murum, Samalaju, Pakan, Ngemah, Katibas  and Bukit Goram give full support to the voters of Kuching, Sibu,  Meradong, Sarikei, Bintulu and Miri for political change and meaningful development for all.

If there is a third political wave in the 11th Sarawak state general election on May 7, then the conditions will be ripe for a fourth political wave in five years’ time, when DAP Sarawak will be able  to announce its preparedness with like-minded Sarawakians to aim for the formation of Sarawak state government in the 12th Sarawak state general election in 2021.

In politics, we must not just aim for the battle of the moment, but the battle for eternity – not only to improve the present conditions of the people but to aim to secure the long-term rights and interests of our children and children’s children.

I am 75 years ago and I do not know whether I will be able to see the outcome of the 12th Sarawak state general elections in 2021.

But I hope and pray that the first step will be taken on May 7, starting from Serian, Mambong, Tasik Biru and Simanggang, for the political journey of a thousand miles to  create the third political wave so as to lead to the fourth political wave in 2021.

(Speech at the DAP Sarawak state general election ceramah in Bukit Semuja state assembly constituency in Serian on Wednesday, 27th April 2016 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 28 April 2016, 7:11 am and is filed under
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