Diaspora New Malaysia movement will be formed worldwide, with chapters in foreign countries, cities and even continents patterned after Bersih and Global Bersih for Malaysians to contribute and even participate in building a New Malaysia

I ended my 12-day visit to eight Australian and New Zealand cities – Perth, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland –  more encouraged by the  reignited hopes, enthusiasm and euphoria of  Malaysians in the Malaysian Diaspora Down Under in the building of a New Malaysia than in encouraging them to continue to hope and contribute in the building of a New Malaysia made possible by the historic event in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018.

The sentiments of the Malaysian Diaspora in Perth, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland  can probably be summed as one of “hopes lost and found again”, and the following email which I received from a Malaysian who attended my talk in  Sydney,  is probably representative of what the Malaysian Diaspora thinks, feels and hopes, not only in Australia and New Zealand, but worldwide:

“I am a chartered accountant and migrated to Australia 17 years ago. Like many, I  left because  there was no turning point for Malaysia and I left the country in disappointment as I found it hard to breath under the ‘corrupt’ air.

“In the last 17 years, I shut out Malaysia politics and instead following closely the Australia, UK, US politics.

“However, when I  heard about Tun M is forming the coalition with Pakatan Rakyat, I found myself booked a ticket and flew back and voted for PH.

“At this point I realised, I am still a Malaysian at heart and love our country.”

This chartered accountant of the Malaysian Diaspora had many questions. One of them is about the brain-drain:

“Second question is about brain drain. I am glad you spoke about it and encourage the formation of Diaspora Malaysia in rebuilding the nation.

“May I know the concept in more detail please? What is the plan behind? Is there any policies or strategy in place to lure some Malaysians back?

“ I never understood the meaning of brain drain until I came to Sydney and have met numerous Malaysians excel in various fields over the years.

“These Malaysians can bring new perspective and new ideas as I woke up to the reality that  how different things are done in an advanced nations, it is naive to deny things are often done more efficiently here.

“One important element about Malaysians that I wish to highlight to YB is their sincerity, hardworking and prepared-to-give traits.

“One outstanding employment agent once told me the Malaysian is one of his favourites compared to some other nations because we are less politicking and more contributing and fast learners.”

In the email, this chartered accountant said:

“What I like to highlight here is the willingness to go the extra mile is one of the traits of Malaysians, obviously not all but it inhabits in many of us.

“I am always the first in the office and last to leave and never crossed my mind there is anything wrong about that.

“Therefore, I believe if Malaysia can bring those abroad back (including those in Singapore), it will help in rebuilding the nation.

“There may be some will go back on their own such as myself as I have been contemplating about it since GE14 as there is new hope now but some may need a little encouragement. Therefore, a nationwide strategy may be useful.”

This email spells out succinctly and powerfully the need for a new Diaspora New Malaysia civil movement both in Malaysia and worldwide so that the building of a New Malaysia can tap this great resource of skill, knowledge, experience, enthusiasm and passion to be found in the Malaysian Diaspora worldwide.

Malaysians in Perth, Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne have expressed their interest in having a Diaspora New Movement in their respective cities to be followed by the formation of Diaspora New Malaysia Australia.

After my meetings with Malaysians in Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland, a protem committee of Diaspora New Malaysia New Zealand has been formed, which would be followed by the formation of Diaspora New Malaysia in Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland.

I think the time has come for the formation of Diaspora New Malaysia in other cities, countries and continents so that Malaysians worldwide can contribute and participate in the building of a New Malaysia, whether in Australia, New Zealand, China, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar  or any other country.

Those who are interested in the idea and movement of a Diaspora New Malaysia worldwide  can give their thoughts through email to Mr Syahredzan Johan,  Diaspora New Malaysia secretariat at
[email protected]

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Monday October 1, 2018)

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After May 9, Malaysian diaspora hoists Kit Siang onto cloud nine

by
 K.C. Boey |
TMI

“LET them in, let them in,” Lim Kit Siang said of those in the overflow rooms in the Melbourne Multicultural Hub, midway through his 12-day tour in the Antipodes last month.

“We are all Malaysians, right?” the veteran politician swept his arms across the Orange Room, suggesting there was enough room to fit all of what a voice count would tally to 350 people, but relented when organisers invoked local council “rule of law” limiting numbers in each room, in mock reminder of one tenet of New Malaysia.

Scene like this were replicated elsewhere during the tour of Australia and New Zealand where a large proportion of the Malaysian diaspora live.

And the DAP supremo can be forgiven should he still be on cloud nine, days after his return from the tour.

“My 12-day visit… has been most successful in promoting the cause and role of the Malaysian diaspora in contributing to and participating in the building of a New Malaysia,” Lim said upon his return on Sunday.

“Never before in the development of the Malaysian diaspora… have Malaysians outside the country felt so proud as their countrymen and women in Malaysia (on May 9) at the peaceful and democratic transition of power (caring) as much as Malaysians at home whether people’s power will finally prevail to bring about a better Malaysia.”

The Iskandar Puteri MP had started out on September 18 in Perth, traversing Canberra, Sydney and on to Melbourne on September 22, drawing on the foundations the Global Bersih movement had laid in each city.

The, at times, ferocious veteran of Malaysian politics at age 77, accompanied by his political secretary Syahredzan Johan, alternated with the charm of his party’s first-term MP Wong Shu Qi, who at 35, is among the band of articulate and tenacious young leaders emerging from Pakatan Harapan, in updating the diaspora on developments since May 9.

From Melbourne, Lim led his young charges to New Zealand, to meet Malaysians in Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland.

“The time has come for the establishment of a New Malaysia civil movement, in Malaysia as well as in the Malaysian diaspora worldwide, which can be called Diaspora New Malaysia,” says Lim.

He has in mind separate chapters in countries and cities patterned after Bersih and Global Bersih “as platforms for Malaysians to contribute to and participate in the building of New Malaysia”.

He had a hand in forming a pro-tem committee of Diaspora Malaysia New Zealand.

“It is hoped that this will be followed with the formation of Diaspora New Malaysia Auckland, Diaspora New Malaysia Wellington, Diaspora New Malaysia Christchurch and Diaspora New Malaysia Dunedin,” he says.

At every stop, the euphoria is overwhelming. At Melbourne’s Multicultural Hub, half an hour before Lim’s anticipated arrival, guests were directed to the overflow Red and Green rooms, where proceedings would be live-streamed, as well as on the Facebook site of Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia, which is co-organising the event with Malaysian Progressives of Australia.

It was the largest reception of Malaysians in Australia, Lim and Wong acknowledged.

“I’m overawed,” said Lim.

It augurs well for the New Malaysia movement among the diaspora, a theme not then immediately clear even as Lim repeatedly returned to the subject over the 21/2 hours of panellist updates since May 9, and the question and answer session that followed.

The questions came thick and fast, much in the vein of what Wong identified from the previous stops as questions relating to citizenship, electoral reform, and equal access to jobs and opportunities in education.

Issues raised ranged from LGBT rights and “tainted” politicians of the previous regime making overtures to the government. Other issues included prospects for dual citizenship, remuneration of MPs and ministers, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and equity for Sabah and Sarawak, recognition of Chinese Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) holders and the Undi 18 campaign to lower the voting age from 21.

Lim called on the diaspora to look at the big picture and take the long view as Wong laid out the virtues of reconciliation, as in the case of South Africa and Germany, in the drive to redefine the new Malaysia.

Contrary to anxieties about polarisation, Malaysia is bucking the trend when identity politics is on the rise in the US, Australia and Europe, she says.

Identity politics assigns blame on “the other” when the root cause is economic. “We must build the discourse towards this end,” says Wong.

 Lim demolishes a question on nepotism within Pakatan, reading off his smartphone the Cambridge definition of “using your power or influence to get good jobs or unfair advantages for members of your own family” against the jailing and hardship his family and that of PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim have endured.

On the suggestion of the “unpredictability of Anwar”, Lim said he would be going back to campaign for the candidate for Port Dickson in the by-election, on his return from New Zealand.

With the tour of Australia and New Zealand, DAP seems fixed to cast the die for a Diaspora New Malaysia civil movement.

“Malaysians must not waste the ‘second chance’ to fulfil our national destiny to be a great nation, where we can leverage on the assets of the diverse races, religions, languages, cultures and civilizations which meet in confluence in Malaysia and form the basis for a new civilization based on the best values and assets of the world’s great religions and civilizations,” said Lim. – October 2, 2018

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All political parties, individuals  and organisations complicit in the 1MDB scandal, like all the BN parties, PAS, Parliament Speaker and media, must repent and redeem themselves for, directly or indirectly, aided and abetted Najib Razak in the monstrous 1MDB scandal

The failure of the UMNO General Assembly on Sunday to adopt a resolution to condemn and sack Datuk Seri Najib Razak from UMNO  for the international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal is proof that UMNO and UMNO leaders continue to be complicit in the monstrous 1MDB scandal.

The 1MDB scandal will continue to be an albatross round  the neck of UMNO and UMNO leaders.

Malaysians must thank Wanita Umno delegate from Batu Pahat, Masurana Samian, who wore a “MACC lock-up” orange-coloured T-shirt to the UMNO General Assembly on Sunday, as henceforth, UMNO and UMNO leaders are literally garbed in the orange-coloured MACC uniform!

But it is not only UMNO and UMNO leaders who must repent and make amends, all political parties, individuals and organisations complicit in the 1MDB scandal, like all the Barisan Nasional parties including MCA, Gerakan, MIC, the Sabah and Sarawak BN parties, as well as PAS, the Parliament Speaker and the printed and electronic  media, who had been complicit in the 1MDB scandal, must repent and redeem themselves for directly or indirectly aiding and abetting Najib Razak in the monstrous 1MDB scandal.

At the UMNO General Assembly,  the Speaker of the 13th Parliament, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia urged UMNO to take action against party rebels who will weaken the  party.

I thought Pankdar’s main concern should be how to repent for his 1MDB misdeeds.

In being complicit with Najib in the 1MDB scandal, suppressing the 1MDB issue in the 13th Parliament whether during question time or parliamentary debates, the most honourable thing for Pandikar to do is to repent and make amends for aiding and abetting the former Prime Minister in the 1MDB scandal instead of demanding action against UMNO rebels!

All the other BN parties, whether MCA, Gerakan, MIC, the Sabah and Sarawak BN parties are also complicit in the 1MDB scandal, landing the country in the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocarcy.

Instead of dragging its feet, despite  being told by UMMO Secretary-General to  “buy their own tombstones”, the November  MCA General Assembly should make a clean break with the 1MDB scandal, adopt a resolution to condemn Najib and the 1MDB scandal and disallow all former MCA leaders who had been Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MPs from standing for election for any party posts.

PAS was  quite ambivalent about the 1MDB scandal, and though formally opposed to any corruption and money-laundering ala-1MDB, it was not strenuous at all in opposing the 1MDB scandal, as evident from the preparedness of PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang to be “kingmaker” to make  Najib as Prime Minister again if there was a hung Parliament on May 9, 2018 with PAS holding the balance of 40 parliamentary seats.

But it is the media people, especially in the printed and electronic, who should search their conscience as to why they had been complicit with Najib’s 1MDB scandal and why they failed as the “fourth estate” to promote democracy instead of aiding and abetting Najib in the crime and corruption of the 1MDB  scandal.

In Penang, the former Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was blacklisted by certain Chinese Press because three media association received money from the 1Malayia-Penang Welfare Club in 2013 to aid and abet Najib in the 1MDB scandal.

The shenanigans and the scandal of 1MDB should have been exposed by Malaysians journalists and not by foreigners, whether Clare Rewcastle Brown of Sarawak Report or Wall Street Journal reporters  Tom Wright and Bradley Hope.

Chapter 17 of Clare Rewcastle Brown’s
“The Sarawak Report – The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose”
tells of how, at that time, the editor-in-chief of a national daily owned by one of the BN parties was flown to London so that he could write glittering reports about the 1MDB!

Even now, there are many in high places who continue to maintain that Najib was innocent of any crime and corruption in the 1MDB scandal, and that he was at most, the victim of the 1MDB “wonder crook”,  Jho Low.

Clare’s book (p. 198) produced Jho Low’s rare interview with the business magazine Ëuromoney in early 2015, where Jho Low said:

“Guys, it’s very simple, there’s a board, who’s the shareholder? Have you ever seen one statement from anyone that talks about the simple governance of a company? Are you telling me the prime minister doesn’t make his own decisions?  That the ministry, the minister of finance, who is the prime minister…just signed without evaluating it? No one seems to ask the question, who is the ultimate decision-maker on 1MDB? No one asks that. No one ever asks about the shareholder’s role.”

Clare  also wrote about Jho Low’s “self-pitying outburst”:

“There are so many other people who get away with ridiculous billions and billions worth of projects. But every single time there seems to be a political attack, wow, suddenly Jho is there again.”

In a New Malaysia after May 9, 2019, both  Jho Low and  the
“other people who get away with ridiculous billions and billions worth of projects”
must all be brought to justice!

In Page 199 of the book, Clare noted that later Jho Low
 “went as quiet as a tomb”
as if
“his silence had been bought with an understanding”.

Only a full investigation into the 1MDB scandal can tell whether Clare was right  in her speculation, who paid for Jho Low’s silence and what was the price.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Tuesday, 2nd October 2018)

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Looking for reformasi on the road to oz

By
Kean Wong |
Medium

After two decades of reformasi, two generations of resistance to ‘Malaysia lama’ spent September addressing capacity crowds of Malaysians abroad about ‘Malaysia baharu’ and the horizon ahead.

As the two veteran campaigners for Malaysia’s democracy traversed the Australian continent across September, another leader Anwar Ibrahim formally started his campaign to reclaim parliamentary leadership, nominating for the Port Dickson by-election almost 20 years to the day his jailing sparked off reformasi, the democratic reform movement that led to Malaysia’s regime change on May 9th this year.

Amid this frenetic activity was the background rattle of ruling party PKR’s own tightly contested polls this month, threatening to split it apart in bitter recriminations as two proteges contest to become Anwar’s party deputy. All at a time when this year’s historic victory under the PKR flag has become a drama of a fragile coalition, rather than about how the biggest ruling party enables reformasi coming to pass.

As veteran reformasi activist and PKR vice-president Tian Chua blitzed three Australian cities in four days over the Hari Merdeka (independence day) weekend, he provoked a raft of thorny questions about a new Malaysia that were sometimes left unanswered.

Those in two minds about new Malaysia’s ambivalence on liberalism, religious laws, and political values found the DAP icon Lim Kit Siang cajoling and bristling in front of record crowds over such questions a few weeks later. After a half-century as an integral part of Malaysia’s parliamentary democracy, the once-‘Mr Opposition’ Lim now counsels patience and fortitude as an elder in the new government. Like Mr Chua earlier in the month, Mr Lim by September’s end encouraged Malaysians he met abroad to not judge the new coalition government too quickly or harshly.

The 77-year-old occasionally displayed flashes of his famed street-fighting rhetoric when parrying questions in jammed venues across Perth, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, before continuing his tour of the Malaysian diaspora this week in New Zealand. Like his former nemesis and now coalition partner Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Mr Lim took all questions, barbed and not, with a deftness and directness that was so alien to the previous prime minister’s leaden events.

He wanted the Melbourne crowd, which packed three rooms with scores more stranded outside on a Saturday evening, to forgive but not necessarily forget the DAP’s old foes. In the new Malaysia the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government hopes to build, “we all need to have a big picture outlook, to have a lo-o-o-ng vision.”

Nobody in the new government joined this endeavour with entirely clean hands, he said, and Malaysians when united demonstrated to the region how corrupt governments could be tossed out peacefully via the ballot box.

“Tainted people? We’re all tainted. To some, Mahathir is tainted,” he told the crowd. “Let’s give a chance to all who’re tainted to turn over a new leaf. We want Malaysia to succeed. In the past, some said ‘Malays must unite’ but today we say ‘Malaysians unite!’. So we must give them a chance. So we can go forward. So that we can be inclusive, so that we can be progressive.”

“That’s why when people ask how can Lim Kit Siang cooperate with Mahathir when he had put Lim Kit Siang in jail? Not only that, Mahathir put my son (new finance minister) Lim Guan Eng in jail, and Guan Eng’s daughter is here!” he said, as the audience applauded his granddaughter in the room.

“Yes, it’s not easy. But there’s the larger interest of the nation. Personally, of course, you’ve jailed me twice (referring to the previous Barisan Nasional regime). You say I’m anti-Malay, I’m anti-Islam, you tell lies about me. But what is the larger picture? If Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai Shek can unite for the larger interest, why can’t we do so too? So we must be above ourselves, we must rise above our personal likes and dislikes. National interest, national good.

“So we’re in uncharted waters, in completely new territory,” he stressed. “There’s no simple answer to solve all problems. Of course there are a lot of reports about Mahathir, about Anwar disagreeing, but nobody can give answers to that. But you must have a positive outlook because we want the (PH) experiment to succeed. We don’t want it to fail. And if we continue with that approach, if Mahathir, if Anwar and everyone else has this approach, it will succeed, whatever difficulties and contradictions that arise. But if our attitude is ‘so what? let it fail’, then it will fail. But we want it to succeed. Of course the differences will develop, it will come. Let’s have a big picture outlook, a long vision. That’s also my message to the Malaysian diaspora. Not just now, tomorrow, the day after, but the next 10, 15, 20 years. Can we survive that?”

Mr Lim proved more gnomic and nuanced off stage the night before in Sydney, at a vegetarian dinner after a more formal panel discussion where he insisted Malaysia was created as a secular state, framed as it was by Sabah and Sarawak when the nation formed in 1963. He was relaxed about his ‘backseat’ role in the new government, he said, bemused when referred to as an ‘elder statesman’ after receiving the Bersih Sydney Democracy Award earlier in the evening. His political secretary, the young constitutional lawyer Syahredzan Johan, drew giggles among the Sydney crowd thanking the “boss” when Mr Lim pointed audience misunderstandings about Malay rights and religion for him to answer.

There were principles of accountability, of good governance that couldn’t be cast aside, he said, that urgently needed reform in any ‘new Malaysia’. He suggested old men like the new nonagenarian prime minister, and octagenarian advisors like former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, were atoning for previous mistakes, keen to leave behind a nation that worked for more than just the few. The Malaysian people had to continue playing their renewed role, he stressed, whether it was through civil society movements like Bersih or other groups, to ensure the new government stayed true to their promises.

Fellow coalition leader Tian Chua faced similar questioning a few weeks earlier, when he took to the stage at a ‘Malam Merdeka’ dinner event in Sydney featuring Malaysian dancers, and a performance by legendary chanteuse Saloma’s niece Rozita Rohaizad that included the crowd singing along to the Mahathir-era anthem ‘Sejahtera Malaysia’. Unlike the mostly older crowd that attended Mr Lim’s talk a few weeks later, many younger Malaysians at Mr Chua’s event had been part of the storied overseas voters contingent that had gone to great lengths to vote at the historic 14th general elections (GE14).

The questions posed to Mr Chua suggested the crowd was still unsure about how a disparate coalition worked together, under a former authoritarian leader that had jailed so many in the new government, while doubts about another leader returning to centrestage also hovered into view. Where this fits into the past 20 years of acrimony between politicians now unexpectedly triumphant together was not easily answered by Mr Chua.

“I was quite surprised when Mahathir invited me to his office the day before he quit UMNO. We hadn’t seen each other since 1999, when he had advised me to eat more as I was going in and out of jail so often,” he revealed, as the audience laughed along.

“Both of us we alone in his office, and I started by saying that most of the time we’ve been opposite each other (sic), we’ve disagreed about most things, we have fought over various issues. But one thing I’ve never doubted was his commitment to Malaysia, never doubted his love for the country. That’s what I said to him. But now we could sit down and work out our differences. We wanted the country to be free, to have a proud and better future,” he said, explaining the meeting in 2016.

“Today, whether it’s led by Anwar or Mahathir, Malaysia will be governed by the set of principles laid down in the (Pakatan Harapan GE14) manifesto. It doesn’t matter who takes over from Mahathir, and after Anwar there will be others. We have to follow a new way of governance. We must strike a consensus among those running the country. There will be no more one-man-shows, no more PM-decides-everything. We must all agree, and the leaders must follow this principle.

This question of Dr Mahathir’s notorious authoritarianism, and how it had damaged Malaysia’s democracy by the time of 1998’s reformasi, intrigued the Australian parliamentarians Mr Chua met with during this short trip.

When catching up with Anthony Albanese, the former Australian deputy prime minister who’s now a senior leader of the opposition Labor Party, Mr Chua had explained to his old university comrade how a delicate coalition of parties was galvanised to win power after the previous regime’s scandals proved too much for Malaysians. This Sydney meeting contrasted with one a few years earlier, when Mr Albanese learnt of the outrage over the multi-billion dollar 1MDB heist that was still unfolding, and how opposition parliamentarians like Mr Chua faced arrest and worse as they raised the alarm.

The respect for human rights and the supremacy of Malaysia’s Federal Constitution (which had co-drafters from Australia) was a critical part of new Malaysia, said Mr Chua, and keeping the new government true to its word will not only be the task of parliamentarians but also a responsibility of civil society. Adhering to the principles outlined in the winning coalition’s election manifesto will be tough, he admitted, and as Mr Lim echoed a few weeks later, the disappointments will pile up if “practical” timelines for promised reforms are not publically discussed and expectations managed.

But it was the discussions about the tough party elections headlined by Rafizi Ramli’s challenge to Azmin Ali, and the opposing camps Mr Chua and his party peers were slotting into that made his long road trip between the Canberra and Sydney events so weary. The unbridled ambition and the urgency for power often obscured the ideals of the reformasi movement that he felt was still a core part of his identity.

The party polls had sounded a little like the party fratricide that Mr Albanese alluded to when explaining how yet another prime minister was torn down in Australia the previous week, making it the fifth time in 10 years. The enmity stayed raw for quite some time, and a brutal contest for party power was no way to ensure stability and purpose when in government.

It was a sobering reminder that lingered as we left Mr Albanese’s inner Sydney enclave. Just as we stepped out, the overcast skies broke into a stormy deluge as the Malaysian reformist rushed to the airport for his flight home, straight into another bruising election season.

//30/9/18 //

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New Malaysia is not what Mahathir, Anwar, Guan Eng, Sabu or  myself individually want, but what Malaysians inside the country and worldwide Malaysian Diaspora want

Julia Yeow of The Malaysian Insight has described it well: “Not quite Malaysia Baru, but never again Malaysia Lama”!

Either in my introductory talk or during the Q & A session during my recent eight-city tour of the Malaysian Diaspora in Australia and New Zealand, I would stress three points:

Firstly, the New Malaysia which the historic 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 made possible has not fully taken shape, but struggling to be born;

Secondly, it is not possible to establish New Malaysia and undo the wrongs and injustices of the past six decades in 100 hundred days or even six months, as it  is a task and mission  that will take a decade or two; and

Thirdly,  the New Malaysia is not what Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Guan Eng, Mohamad Sabu on myself individually want, but what Malaysians, both inside the country and the worldwide Malaysian Diaspora worldwide, want.

This is why I had suggested that the time has come for the formation of Diaspora New Malaysia in foreign cities, countries and continents so that Malaysians in the worldwide diaspora can contribute and participate in the building of a New Malaysia, whether in Australia, New Zealand, China, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar  or any other country.

As Julia put it:

“The 14th general election was Malaysia’s reset button, even if the changes and improvements will likely always remain a muted version of our dreams and ideals.

“But more than political change, May 9 is the embodiment of the spirit, resilience and unity of every right-thinking Malaysian desperate to set our nation back on the path to greatness.

“The elections empowered Malaysians to a degree never before experienced, and the realisation that we truly have the power and that our vote counts is the true miracle of GE14.

“May 9 goes far beyond a government change, and to reduce it simply to that makes a mockery of the sacrifices of Malaysians and the lengths we went to, to have our voices heard.”

My twelve-day tour of the eight Australian and New Zealand cities of Perth, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland in fact underlined  the need for Malaysians to have “Big Picture” and “Long Vision” perspectives  in the task and mission to build a New Malaysia.

I was in Canberra when the Minister for Youth and Sports Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman announced that the Cabinet had agreed to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.

Although in a faraway land in the Australian capital, I felt a sense of satisfaction as what I had advocated in Parliament about half a century ago  in the 1970s for   the lowering of the voting age to 18 is coming to pass.

Of course, we  do not expect the nation-building changes that we want in a New Malaysia  to take half a century to accomplish, but it is a lesson for the need to have  “Big Picture” and “Long Vision” perspectives.

I was in Melbourne when I read about the appointment of Art Harun as the Election Commission Charman, which further signals that a New Malaysia was being formed with the democratisation of the Election Commission and the electoral process.

My 12-day tour of the Malaysian Diaspora in Australia and New Zealand was cram-packed with many developments back home –  there was hardly a dull moment with the many events, like the implosion of UMNO, with the resignation of two former UMNO Ministers, Datuk Mustapha Mohamad and Datuk Anifah Aman; the arrest of UMNO MP for Baling and former Tabung Haji chairperson  Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahman by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission; the charging of the former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for a total of 31 charges for 1MDB corruption and money-laundering; the political circus of the UMNO General Assembly  and hot sales of the two books on 1MDB scandal, Clare Rewcastle Brown’s “The Sarawak Report – the Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose” and Tom Wright and Bradley Hope’s “Billion Dollar Whale”.

All these point to the need to have a “Big Picture” and “Long Vision” perspectives to the building of a New Malaysia and, as Juliet Yeow concluded her article, “while we are not quite Malaysia Baru, we now have the power to say, with certainty, we will never go back to being Malaysia Lama”!

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Tuesday, 2nd October 2018)

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Not quite Malaysia Baru, but never again Malaysia Lama

By
Julia Yeow |
TMI

WITH the exception of several die-hard Pakatan Harapan loyalists, the general euphoria of the May 9 general election appears to have finally died down.

In the place of adulation for the men and women who successfully convinced the majority of Malaysians that they would make better, wiser and more responsible leaders comes the disappointment of broken promises.

The new PH government has asked for patience to put in place the reforms and improvements it had championed and promised, and in view of the fact that our nation has never had a change in government, much less from one that was practically at the peak of unbridled corruption, I think it’s indeed a fair request.

But broken promises, and a rather lacklustre performance by almost all of the new cabinet members, cannot be excused by inexperience forever.

Our new government leaders must now work harder to convince an understandably impatient electorate that the future promises they make will be better thought through.

On a recent trip to Singapore, I had a chance to speak to some political analysts and Malaysians residing there, to get their take on our monumental change in government.

There was the expected dressing-down for the dramatic finger-pointing, which pretty much defined PH’s first 100 days, and for the seeming complacency with which some ministers viewed their pledges to reform.

“Nothing, really, has changed,” said a Malaysian who had gone through great lengths to return to vote on the midweek polling day on May 9.

“We’ve just swapped one corrupt, arrogant government for one that is not yet corrupt and arrogant.”

It’s easy to understand the sinking feeling hitting many Malaysians, even if it might be more emotional than factual.

But as disappointed as we may be at some of the blunders and politicking exhibited by some within the ruling coalition, proclaiming that nothing has changed after May 9 is a grave injustice to the efforts of every Malaysian who voted Barisan Nasional out of power.

The 14th general election was Malaysia’s reset button, even if the changes and improvements will likely always remain a muted version of our dreams and ideals.

But more than political change, May 9 is the embodiment of the spirit, resilience and unity of every right-thinking Malaysian desperate to set our nation back on the path to greatness.

The elections empowered Malaysians to a degree never before experienced, and the realisation that we truly have the power and that our vote counts is the true miracle of GE14.

May 9 goes far beyond a government change, and to reduce it simply to that makes a mockery of the sacrifices of Malaysians and the lengths we went to, to have our voices heard.

We may not look much like the “new Malaysia” we envisioned, or were promised before May 9. And we may never be.

But the biggest change that took place on May 9 is that wherever Malaysia heads to from this point on, we – the once powerless electorate – have the power to decide.

So, by all means, we must keep exerting pressure on our leaders. We must not allow them to rule with the impunity that fallen BN leaders had enjoyed for too long.

We must continue to flex the muscles we had only discovered in GE14, and remind PH that the victory was not theirs – it was ours.

Because while we are not quite Malaysia Baru, we now have the power to say, with certainty, we will never go back to being Malaysia Lama. – October 2, 2018.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 2 October 2018, 6:33 pm and is filed under
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The political circus has come to town!

For eight months from August to March next year, the famed Moscow Circus is performing in ten cities  in Malaysia, thrilling Malaysians with “dazzling and raw-dropping performances packed full of artistry, hilarity and world-class athletic skills”.

However  UMNO and Barisan  Nasional might have upstaged  the Moscow Circus  in the past few days with  many “dazzling and raw-dropping performances” in their political circus!

Just  to cite a few such super-circus performances:

1. UMNO President Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi in his inaugural UMNO Presidential speech called on members to remain patient and not to defect as they will soon be a hot commodity with the Pakatan Harapan which is expected to implode due to infighting. As a result, the Pakatan Harapan government can be dissolved at any time.

But it is UMNO which  imploded first, with the resignation of five UMNO MPs, two of whom  where former UMNO Ministers.

Apart from a lonely voice, the UMNO leadership seems to  fully  behind Zahid in the illusion  that UMNO is a government-in-waiting!

2. Zahid announcement  that he is open to forming a unity government with any Harapan party while at the same time, actively  flirting with the  PAS leadership for a “Malay unity” alliance, although his No. 2, UMNO Deputy President Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan in his UMNO closing speech just before Zahid that UMNO delegates should  stop dreaming about a unity government.

3. Zahid’s allegation that other races are  prejudiced against Malays and will not open up UMNO.

Is this true, and if so, it is  the best proof of UMNO’s  greatest failure in nation-building and the utter irrelevance of UMNO despite being in power for six decades.

Rejecting proposals for UMNO to adopt a multi-racial face, Zahid said Malaysian society had in the past and until this day lived in their respective communities and must remain so.

This is a wrong recipe for Malaysian nation-building, which should ensure that Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans should cease to live in a world of their own ethnicity, but must interact with other races and religions to tolerate, accept,  respect and understand  the diversity of different races, religions, languages and cultures which meet in confluence in Malaysia, as without such tolerance, acceptance, respect and understanding, Malaysian will fail as a nation!

4. The recent unveiling of the Barisan Nasional Opposition Shadow Cabinet by the UMNO Secretary-General Tan Sri Annuar Musa comprising UMNO, MCA and MIC MPs, although fresh in everybody’s mind was Annuar’s caustic warning to MCA to “buy their own tombstones” instead of continuing to be a “cripple” and having to be carried by UMNO.

5.  LA Wanita UMNO  member created a sensation at the UMNO General Assembly when she turned up with ‘MACC lockup’ orange-coloured T-shirt.

If all UMNO leaders who had participated in corruption  have to turn up at the UMNO General Assembly in the orange-coloured MACC uniform, how many of them will be at the UMNO General Assembly  in the MACC garb?

6. UMNO General Assembly yesterday had a tearful episode when “Najib  lets tears flow as Umno assembly closes”.

In a Facebook post later, Najib apologised for losing his composure and wrote: “All these had been a test from Allah, and now I know I am not alone. I have all of you with me giving strength and support.”

It is understandable for Najib to cry  over his personal ordeal, but did he cry for the children and children’s children of the 30 million Malaysians who will have to pay for his  monstrous  depredations and corruption from the 1MDB scandal, beggaring the country with tens of billions of ringgit?

Can the UMNO President and UMNO national leaders explain why the UMNO General Assembly failed to adopt a resolution condemning and sacking Datuk Seri Najib Razak from UMNO  for the international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal and the national disservice of transforming Malaysia into a global kleptocracy?

Why the UMNO General Assembly failed  to make a  clean break with the past, and publicly apologise for all lies, falsehoods and fake news unleashed against the then Opposition, including the DAP?

With the publication of the two books on the 1MDB,  “The Sarawak Report – the Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose” by Clare Rewcastle Brown and  “Billion Dollar Whale” by Wall Street Journal reporters Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, no one in the UMNO leadership especially the former UMNO Ministers  can continue to  claim ignorance of the criminal monstrosity and moral turpitude of the 1MDB kleptocratic and money-laundering  scandal.

By the UMNO General Assembly’s failure to condemn the 1MDB scandal, the entire UMNO is  complicit in continuing to aid and abet Najib in the 1MDB scandal. If only UMNO and the Barisan Nasional parties could also be charged in court for being complicit in aiding and abetting Najib in the 1MDB scandal!

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 1st October 2018)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 2 October 2018, 3:46 am and is filed under
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Has the PAC Chairman Ronald Kiandee  misunderstood the intent and purpose of the parliamentary motion directing the PAC to re-open a detailed investigation into the 1MDB scandal?

Has  the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee misunderstood  the intent and purpose of the parliamentary motion last August directing the PAC to re-open a detailed investigation into the 1MDB scandal?

The Parliamentary motion unanimously passed by all MPs last August directed the PAC to “conduct again a detailed investigation on the embezzlement of monies and the scandal with regard to 1MDB and its related companies in order to restore the dignity of the Dewan Rakyat; and that all related information should be made public”.

In his interview with the New Straits Times yesterday, Kiandee said that the PAC will “resurrect and deconstruct” the previously-concluded report on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDG) scandal that “cleared” former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

In the first place, the very unsatisfactory PAC report of the 13th Parliament on the 1MDB scandal never “cleared” Najib of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal – a claim which Najib himself had repeatedly asserted before the 14th General Election but could not substantiate.

On 25th March 2018, I had emailed the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to ask him to fix an appointment for him to show me and DAP National Publicity Secretary and MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua, where in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on 1MDB he was  absolved of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal which had transformed Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy.

I said that Najib’s claim that he had been cleared of any wrongdoing in the PAC report over 1MBD was false and baseless, and the latest example of the “fake news” concocted and peddled by those-in-power in Putrajaya before the 14th General Election.

I was even prepared to indulge Najib by declaring that if he could not show chapter and verse  from the PAC Report absolving  him of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, I would be satisfied if he could show that he is exonerated by the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB, which had not been public at the time on  the ridiculous ground that it was classified under the Official Secrets Act.

But there was no response from Najib as he could neither  quote chapter and verse whether from PAC Report or the Auditor-General’s Report on the 1MDB absolving him of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal!

It was the mistaken mindset and mentality of  Barisan Nasional MPs and leaders before the 14th General Election that the PAC Report had absolved Najib of any wrongdoing the 1MDB scandal, and it is necessary for Kiandee to get rid of such mistaken mindset and mentality if he is live up to his responsibilities as PAC Chairman in the 14th Parliament.

How can the PAC or the Auditor-General absolve Najib of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal when neither the PAC nor the Auditor-General had the opportunity to question him Najib, considering Najib’s key role in 1MDB?

On hindsight, it is clear that if there is no Najib as the Prime Minister, giving his full blessing and authorisation to Jho Low to carry out his depredations and thievery through 1MDB, the 1MDB scandal would not have happened and Malaysia would never have suffered in the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy!

Kiandee should realise that the Parliamentary motion in August never asked the  PAC of the 14th Parliament  to “resurrect and deconstruct”  – whatever that means – the PAC Report on 1MDB of the 13th Parliament,  but to carry out a detailed investigation into the 1MDB scandal – which the PAC of the 13th Parliament had not been able to do because of the obstruction, miscarriage  and subversion  of justice perpetrated by Najib’s agents in the PAC and Parliament.

The PAC Report of the 13th Parliament on the 1MDB scandal failed Parliament and  the nation as it failed  to do justice to the biggest kleptocratic scandal in the nation’s history and save Malaysia from the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy.

Let not the PAC Report on the 1MDB scandal  of the 14th Parliament follow the footsteps of its counterpart of the 13th Parliament.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Wednesday, 3rd October 2018)

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Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Gelang Patah pada Rabu, 3 Oktober 2018:

Adakah Pengerusi PAC Ronald Kiandee tersalah faham akan tujuan dan maksud usul Parlimen mengarahkan PAC untuk menyiasat semula skandal 1MDB secara terperinci?

Usul Parlimen yang disokong sebulat suara oleh semua Ahli Parlimen dan diluluskan pada bulan Ogos lalu mengarahkan PAC untuk “melaksanakan semula siasatan terperinci ke atas skandal dan pengelapan wang 1MDB dan syarikat berkaitan bertujuan mengembalikan maruah Dewan Rakyat; dan semua maklumat berkaitan harus didedahkan kepada orang awam”.

Dalam temu bualnya dengan New Straits Times semalam, Kiandee berkata PAC akan “membangkitkan semula dan membongkar” laporan yang telah diselesaikan sebelum ini mengenai skandal 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) yang “membersihkan” bekas Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Pada mulanya, Laporan PAC pada Parlimen ke-13 yang sangat tidak memuaskan mengenai skandal 1MDB sebelum ini, tidak pernah “membebaskan” Najib daripada sebarang salah laku membabitkan skandal 1MDB – dakwaan yang berulang kali ditegaskan oleh Najib sendiri sebelum Pilihan Raya Umum ke-14, namun tidak dapat dibuktikan.

Pada 25 Mei 2018, saya telah menghantar e-mel kepada Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak untuk memintanya menetapkan perjumpaan baginya untuk menunjukkan kepada saya dan Setiausaha Publisiti DAP dan Ahli Parlimen PJ Utara (Kini Damansara), Tony Pua, di bahagian mana dalam Laporan Jawatankuasa Kira-kira Wang Negara (PAC) mengenai 1MDB yang menyatakan bahawa beliau (Najib) dibebaskan daripada sebarang salah laku berkaitan skandal 1MDB yang telah mengubah Malaysia menjadi kleptokrasi global.

Saya berkata bahawa dakwaan Najib yang beliau kononnya telah dibersihkan daripada sebarang salah laku berdasarkan laporan PAC mengenai 1MBD adalah palsu dan tidak berasas, dan contoh terkini “berita palsu” yang dikarang dan dilancarkan oleh mereka yang berkuasa di Putrajaya sebelum Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-14.

Saya juga bersedia untuk menurut kemahuan Najib dengan menyatakan bahawa jika beliau tidak dapat menunjukkan bahagian daripada Laporan PAC yang membebaskannya daripada sebarang salah laku dalam skandal 1MDB, saya akan berpuas hati jika beliau dapat menunjukkan bahawa beliau telah dibebaskan oleh Laporan Ketua Audit Negara berhubung 1MDB – yang tidak didedahkan kepada umum pada masa itu dengan alasan yang tidak masuk akal bahawa ia diklasifikasikan di bawah Akta Rahsia Rasmi.

Tetapi tidak ada sebarang respons daripada Najib kerana beliau tidak dapat memetik bahagian mana daripada Laporan PAC atau Laporan Ketua Audit Negara mengenai 1MDB yang membebaskannya daripada sebarang salah laku berhubung skandal 1MDB!

Ia adalah pemikiran dan mentaliti salah ahli parlimen dan pemimpin Barisan Nasional sebelum Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-14, apabila mereka menganggap bahawa Laporan PAC telah membebaskan Najib daripada sebarang salah laku skandal 1MDB, dan Kiandee perlu menyingkirkan pemikiran dan mentaliti yang salah itu jika beliau mahu memenuhi tanggungjawabnya sebagai Pengerusi PAC pada Parlimen ke-14.

Bagaimana PAC atau Ketua Audit Negara boleh membebaskan Najib daripada sebarang salah laku dalam skandal 1MDB apabila PAC mahupun Ketua Audit Negara tidak mempunyai peluang untuk menyoal siasat Najib, mengambil kira peranan utama Najib dalam 1MDB?

Sekali lagi, adalah jelas bahawa jika Najib bukan Perdana Menteri, yang memberikan restu dan kuasa sepenuhnya kepada Jho Low untuk melakukan penyelewengan dan rompakan ke atas 1MDB, skandal 1MDB tidak akan berlaku dan Malaysia tidak akan pernah menderita dalam keaiban, rasa malu dan ketidakadilan apabila dianggap di seluruh dunia sebagai kleptokrasi global!

Kiandee sepatutnya sedar bahawa usul Parlimen yang dibawa pada Ogos lalu tidak pernah meminta PAC pada Parlimen ke-14 untuk “membangkitkan semula dan membongkar” Laporan PAC mengenai 1MDB yang dikeluarkan pada sesi Parlimen ke-13 yang lalu, tetapi sebaliknya untuk menjalankan siasatan semula secara terperinci ke atas skandal 1MDB – yang tidak dapat dilakukan oleh PAC pada Parlimen ke-13 ekoran halangan, kesilapan dan subversi keadilan yang dilakukan oleh agen-agen Najib dalam PAC dan Parlimen.

Laporan PAC dalam Parlimen ke-13 mengenai skandal 1MDB telah menghampakan Parlimen dan negara kerana gagal melakukan keadilan terhadap skandal kleptokratik terbesar dalam sejarah negara dan menyelamatkan Malaysia daripada kleptokrasi global, yang aib, memalukan, dan tidak adil.

Jangan biarkan Laporan PAC mengenai skandal 1MDB pada Parlimen ke-14 mengikuti jejak langkah seperti yang berlaku pada Parlimen ke-13.

– Lim Kit Siang

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 3 October 2018, 11:53 am and is filed under
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Will the PAC under Ronald Kiandee produce the most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date  account on the 1MDB scandal?

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the 14th Parliament has the opportunity to produce the most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date account on the 1MDB scandal, which has been described by  the US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions as “kleptocracy at its worst” and which  landed Malaysia with the international  infamy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

It is not the job of the PAC to “resurrect and deconstruct” or even reconstruct the PAC Report on the 1MDB scandal of the 13th Parliament, or to persist in the pretence that the previous PAS Report had “cleared” Datuk Seri Najib Razak of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal.

In fact, if the present PAC is going to do justice to the parliamentary motion in August directing it to “conduct again a detailed investigation on the embezzlement of monies and the scandal with regard to 1MDB and its related companies in order to restore the dignity of the Dewan Rakyat; and that all related information should be made public”, it will have to repudiate the previous PAC Report which was conceived to aid and abet Najib in the world’s “worst kleptocracy” and helped cement the world perception that Malaysia was unrepentant as  a global kleptocracy.

If there had been no historic change of the Federal Government in Putrajaya on May 9, 2018, , the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, the Parliament Speaker, all government MPs and Barisan Nasional leaders  would have  used the previous PAC Report on the 1MDB as authoritative proof that  Najib had been cleared of any  wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, and  that the entire 1MDB scandal was just :”fake news” and an international conspiracy against Najib  and Malaysia!

This was why at the last meeting of the 13th Parliament in March/April this year, I had given notice to the Speaker  to move a motion for Parliament to reject the PAC Report and on  the need for a more comprehensive investigation into the 1MDB scandal to cleanse Malaysia of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity as a global kleptocracy.

My motion read:

“That this House rejects the Report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on 1MDB tabled in April 2016 as unsatisfactory and not comprehensive enough and resolves that the PAC should conduct a fuller and more comprehensive investigation into the 1MDB scandal which had brought Malaysia the 3Is – infamy, ignominy and iniquity – of a global kleptocracy.”

I complied with the Parliamentary Standing Orders which requires MPs to give 14 days’ notice for any motion, but motion to reject the PAC report on 1MDB never saw the light of day, and I was instead suspended for six months in the 13th Parliament and the last few days of the 14th Parliament,  I became a “parliamentary ghost”” when  the Speaker and two Deputy Speakers (one of whom as Ronald Kiandee) could not “see” me although I was physically  in front of them, disregarding my presence resulting in my being unable to speak or vote.

Will the PAC under Ronald Kiandee produce the most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date  account of the 1MDB scandal?

In his Q & A with New Straits Times on Tuesday, where he announced that the PAC under him will “resurrect and deconstruct” the previous PAC report on the 1MDB, which he claimed  – wrongly –  had “cleared” Najib of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, Kiandee said he had read the book “Billion Dollar Whale”, describing it as a “a good read and it is related to what is being investigated by PAC”.

I want to ask  Kiandee a direct question, whether he has read the earlier book on 1MDB scandal “The Sarawak Report – The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose” by the

Sarawak Report editor, Clare Rewcastle Brown?

Anyone of who have  read and digested the two books, Clare’s book and the “Billion Dollar Whale” by the two Wall Street Journal reporters, Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, would not be talking about “resurrect and deconstruct” of the previous PAS Report on the 1MDB scandal, but embark a demolition work to produce the most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date report on the 1MDB scandal, which would be the classic report on the  1MDB scandal –  more comprehensive and authoritative than the  251-page kleptocratic litigation on 1MDB, Clare’s book and Tom Wright and Bradley “Billion Dollar Whale”” all added together!

The latest report is that the former PetroSaudi executive, Xavier Justo, who was once trapped and incarcerated in Bangkok, but  whose cache of PetroSaudi emails led to the expose of the 1MDB scandal, is also writing a book of his 1MDB experience.

Will the PAC under Ronald Kiandee be able to produce the most authoritative, comprehensive and up-to-date report on the 1MDB crime, corruption and money-laundering scandal to cleanse Malaysia of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity as a global kleptocracy and be the first important step for Malaysia to transform itself from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation in integrity?

Even more pertinent, will Kiandee as PAC Chairman be able to rise from the 13th Parliament mindset and mentality to suppress all question, debate and discussion on the 1MDB scandal to fully reflect the 14th Parliament mindset and mentality to fully unravel the 1MDB scandal?

In the 13th Parliament, the 1MDB  scandal was fake news which must be suppressed at all costs, but in the 14th Parliament, the 1MDB scandal is fully accepted as an international scandal and a national curse which must be exorcised if  Malaysia is  to restore her honour and pride in the international community  and transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity!

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

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 4 October 2018, 9:23 am and is filed under
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Meaning of  Port Dickson by-election: Solid endorsement for a New Malaysia and the vision of  a New Port Dickson to restore its previous greatness as a premier tourist destination

The Port Dickson by-election on October 13  is important not only for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to return to Parliament in preparation for his becoming the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia as decided by the Pakatan Harapan leaders, but is an important building block of the New Malaysia the country has an opportunity to build after the  reset of nation-building policies following the historic 14GE election on May 9, 2018.

The Port Dickson by-election on Oct. 13 has two major objectives: Firstly, as a solid endorsement of the building of a New Malaysia; and secondly, the vision of the  building of a New Port Dickson to restore its previous greatness as a premier tourist destination.

The building of New Malaysia and the undoing of the corruption, abuses of power, injustices and repression of the past decades cannot be accomplished in one hundred days or five months, but is a sacred mission and task which needs  the support of more and more Malaysians and may take a  decade or two.

Only recently, we read about  reform measures like the Cabinet decision to set up the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 and the appointment of Art Harun as Election Commission Chairman, which heralds far-reaching electoral reforms.

With every month  we must continue in the direction of a New Malaysia, as on May 9, 2018  we have fortunately saved Malaysia from the trajectory of a failed state, rogue democracy, kakistocracy and global kleptocracy.

We must now  dare to dream great dreams for Malaysia to be world top-class nation in every field of human endeavor.

But while we must have the Big Picture and Long Vision perspectives to  realise that “Rome is not built in a single day”, and time is needed to carry out all the reforms, we must lose sight of our reform objectives.

Although in the last few days, Malaysians were agog with the former Prime Minister and his wife charged in court for 49 counts of corruption and money-laundrring, a murder trial had reminded Malaysians that the country was notorious in the world for several unresolved and mysterious deaths.

I would urge the  Pakatan Harapan Government to give thought as to how these mysterious deaths could be resolved, including the re-opening of investigations and and establishment of special inquiriesl

These mysterious deaths would include mysterious deaths linked to the investigation of 1MDB, such as  the murder of AmBank founder and banker Hussain Najadi; the mysterious death of deputy public prosecutor Kevin Morais; the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu and the death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the Port Dickson by-election kopitiam ceramah at Medan Selera Plus One in  Lukut on Friday, 5th October 2018 at 9 am)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 October 2018, 1:25 pm and is filed under
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Ronald Kiandee should recuse himself from PAC investigation into 1MDB scandal as he was Deputy Speaker of previous Parliament banning questions and debate on 1MDB scandal

As the Pakatan Harapan candidate for Port Dickson parliamentary by-election Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has just said, on his return to Parliament, Tun Mahathir Mohamad would continue to focus on his Prime Ministerial duties while he would focus on parliamentary reforms.

There is no doubt that parliamentary reforms in Malaysia is long overdue.

The last 13th Parliament became an international joke and charade as Members of Parliament were not allowed to submit questions or to debate the 1MDB scandal, when the whole world was aware of its monstrous criminality and moral turpitude.

In fact, I was suspended twice for six months each in the 13th Parliament, basically for wanting to get to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal.

In the last few days of the previous Parliament, I became a parliamentary “ghost” when the Speaker and the two Deputy Speakers refused to “see” me although I was physically in front of them in the Dewan Rakyat!

One of the parliamentary reforms Pakatan Harapan has initiated in the 14th Parliament is to appoint an Opposition MP as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

As a result, Barisan Nasional MP Ronald Kiandee, the former Deputy Speaker, was appointed as Chairman of the PAC as the UMNO President and Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi had declined the post.

Before Parliament adjourned  its August meeting, it unanimously passed a motion which  directed the PAC to “conduct again a detailed investigation on the embezzlement of monies and the scandal with regard to 1MDB and its related companies in order to restore the dignity of the Dewan Rakyat; and that all related information should be made public”.

Kiandee should recuse himself from PAC investigation into 1MDB scandal as he was Deputy Speaker of previous Parliament banning questions and debate on 1MDB scandal, undermining the dignity of the Malaysian Parliament and the nation, thereby raising conflict-of-interest questions.

Kiandee can continue as PAC Chairman but in all fairness, he should sit out in the re-opening of investigations into the 1MDB scandal, and let the PAC Deputy Chairman Wong Kah Woh (Ipoh Timor) to chair the investigations into the 1MDB scandal.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the Port Dickson by-election kopitiam ceramah at DS Kopitiam in  Lukut on Friday, 5th October 2018 at 10.30 am)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 October 2018, 1:51 pm and is filed under
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Call on voters of Port Dickson to create history twice in six months – first time on May 9 and second time on October 13; and to vote  for a New Malaysia and a New Port Dickson

I call on  the voters of Port Dickson to create history twice in six months.

The first time when they made history was on May 9, 2018 when together with justice-loving Malaysians, the voters of Port Dickson with a voter turnout olf 83%, voted solidly for a peaceful and democratic change of government in Putrajaya which for the first in many years made Malaysians both inside the country and in the worldwide Diaspora,  stand tall and  proud to be Malaysians.

The Pakatan Rakyat candidate won with 36,225 votes with a great majority of 17,710 votes, while the PAS candidate who took part in the three-cornered contest lost his deposit, securing only 6,594 votes.

The second time when the voters of Port Dickson can make history will be on 13th October 2018, the polling date for the Port Dickson parliamentary by-election where Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is the PKR/Pakatan Harapan candidate – for him to return to Parliament in readiness to be the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia after Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as agreed by the Pakatan Harapan leadership before the 14th General Election.

It is important that  Anwar Ibrahim wins the Port Dickson by-election  on Oct. 13 with a huge majority – as it will not only be a vote of confidence of the voters of Port Dickson in the designated eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia, but even more significant, an endorsement of the historic 14th General Election result on May 9, 2018 and the building of a New Malaysia started after the 14th General Election.

I visited Port Dickson parliamentary constituency today, covering Lukut, Pasir Panjang, Port Dickson town and now Bukit Pelandok and I found a common feature and concern among the people in Port Dickson as during my recent visit  of the Malaysian Diaspora in  Australia and New Zealand – covering eight Australian and New Zealand cities, namely, Perth, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland in 12 days.

Malaysians, whether in Port Dickson or in the Malaysian Diaspora in Australia and New Zealand, are still rejoicing at the great historic change they achieved on May 9, 2018 to end the unbelievable corruption, abuses of power, repression and injustices of the old Barisan Nasional government, the full magnitude of which are only now  beginning to be known.

There is still an  element of wonderment as to how Malaysians could  achieve such a great feat which put Malaysia atop the world map, as Malaysians became a “beacon of light” to  the world to ask the world  to continue to have faith in democratic governance at a time when democracy worldwide is in retreat and facing an unprecedented crisis of confidence.

The New Malaysia we are embarking on building after the 14th General Election  cannot be accomplished  in 100 days or six months, as it is a task and mission which will take a decade or two, as it is impossible to undo decades of corruption, abuses of power, repression and injustices in  weeks or months, but will take years and even decades.

The New Malaysia is not what Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Guan Eng, Mohamad Sabu on myself individually want, but what Malaysians, both inside the country and the worldwide Malaysian Diaspora worldwide, want.

But it is important that Malaysians continue to give support to the vision of a  New Malaysia, and this is why the Port Dickson by-election is important, as it is a by-election for a  New Malaysia.

No other candidate except for Anwar stands for a New Malaysia. We may make mistakes and even disagree with individuals proposal and measures, but we must be heading towards a New Malaysia, and not return to the Old Malaysia of Najib and UMNO/BN government which gave birth to the world’s “kleptocracy at its worst” – the 1MDB scandal – and brought Malaysia into international disrepute and odium because Malaysia was regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

The Port Dickson by-election provides the voters of Port Dickson an opportunity to  vindicate the historic choice of Malaysians in the 14GE  for a peaceful and democratic transition of power from UMNO/Barsian Nasional to Pakatan Harapan, and equally important, an endorsement of the continuing commitment of Pakatan Harapan Federal Government to build a New Malaysia.

The Port Dickson by-election voters must turn out in record numbers on Polling Day on Oct. 13, not only to vote for a New Malaysia, but also for a new Port Dickson to re-establish  Port Dickson as one of the premier tourist destinations in Malaysia and even in South-East Asia.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the Port Dickson by-election ceramah at Taman Mayan, Bukit Pelandok on Friday, 5th October 2018 at 6 pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 6 October 2018, 10:31 am and is filed under
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A note from Malaysian expert in Australia Dr. John Funston on 14th General Election

When I visited Canberra in my recent tour of eight Australian and New Zealand cities last month, a came across a note from a Malaysian expert in Austraia, Dr. John Funston, of the Department of Political and Social Change, College of Asia and the Pacific of Australian National University (ANU) whose preliminary studies showed that Malay support for UMNO in Peninsular Malaysia in the 14th General Election was only about 5% higher than support for Pakatan Harapan, and not 15% as had earlier been estimated by Merdeka Centre.

Polls analysis by Merdeka Centre have earlier estimated that some 95% of the Chinese and 70-75% of the Indian voters voted for Pakatan Harapan and a New Malaysia, while only 25 – 30% of the Malays voted for Pakatan Harapan and a New Malaysia.

Funston’s preliminary analysis is at variance with the earlier estimates that 35-40% of Malays voted for UMNO/BN, 30-33% voted for PAS and 25 – 30% voted for Pakatan Harapan in the 14GE.

This is a note from Dr. Funston which I saw when I visited Canberra last month:

“How was Malay support divided in this election?

“It must first be noted that virtually all comments on this refer only to the peninsula, as the Malay electorate is a minority in Sabah and Sarawak and do not necessarily represent the same interests as those on the peninsula. By my calculations Malay support for UMNO on the peninsula was about 5% higher than support for PAS and PH – 36.6% against 31.7% for both PAS and PH. This is indicated in the table below:

The Peninsula Electorate

Total vote 10,347,357

Total Malay  6,346,739 (61.34%)

UMNO vote  2,323,665 (36.6%)

PAS vote  2,012,381 (31.7%)

Other (PH)  2,010,693 (31.7%)

“It is true that the UMNO vote cannot simply be equated with the Malay vote for UMNO. Some of the UMNO vote would have been contributed by non-Malays, while Malay UMNO supporters in other constituencies would have expressed their support for UMNO by voting for other BN candidates.

“Not many non-Malays would have supported UMNO candidates — most estimates are that over 93% of non-Malays voted against the BN — but nor are many Malays likely to have supported non-UMNO BN candidates, as the massive defeats suffered by these candidates indicates.

“It should, moreover be noted that UMNO contested in nearly twice as many seats as other BN (106-59). I therefore assume that non-Malays supporting UMNO and Malays supporting non-UMNO BN candidates would approximately cancel each other out, and that the percentage vote for UMNO would remain around 36.6%.

“For the PAS vote it seems safe to assume that non-Malay support would have been negligible, so its share of the peninsula vote would have been around 31.7%.

“That leaves another 31.7% of the Malay vote unaccounted for, and this could only have been directed to PH.

“PH also had more Malays elected on the peninsula than UMNO – 51 of PH’s Malay parliamentarians were from the peninsula (PKR 26, PPBM 13, PAN 11, DAP 1) compared to 46 for UMNO. UMNO was soon reduced to 42 after 4 resignations.

“Cabinet is overwhelmingly Malay. 18 of its 26 members are Malays (69%), including the key posts of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.

“Parliament also remains a predominantly Malay institution. PH and UMNO Malays elected for the peninsula on 9 May totalled 97. To this must be added a further 10 Malays elected for BN in Sarawak, and 15 in Sabah (8 UMNO, 6 Warisan and one from PRK). In total 122 members of the House of Representatives are Malays, 55%.”

Funston’s note throws an interesting new light on the 14th General Elections in Malaysia.

After the great and historic result of the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018, when Malaysians returned to the great and noble task to build a world-class nation – not in the worst possible sense of being a global kleptocracy but, in the words of Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman in the early years of nationhood, to be “ a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world”, a New Malaysia is struggling to be born!

It is now five months since  the great and historic result of May 9, 2018 when Malaysians, whether inside the country or in the worldwide diaspora, felt proud as Malaysians, unlike the previous few years when they were so ashamed about global kleptocracy and rogue democracy in Malaysia that they stopped identifying themselves as Malaysians to avoid embarrassing questions about the shenanigans of the Najib government.

It is however not possible to build a New Malaysia in 100 days or in five months, but it is important that the Malaysian ship of state make a critical turn of direction from a trajectory of a failed, kleptocratic and kakistocratic state to a trajectory of greater national unity, integrity, democracy, rule of law and excellence, setting a new course in nation-building towards a New Malaysia especially in the direction of public integrity, rule of law, democracy, good governance, greater transparency and economic justice.

The Pakatan Harapan Government has made this critical turn in nation-building  in the past five moths, with the restoration of the doctrine of separation of powers where Parliament and the Judiciary are not subservient agents of the Executive or the Prime Minister, but equal branches of government.

We are now in the process of aiming for  another world achievement – to transform a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity, which must bring to book all leaders who  had been guilty of monster crimes of corruption, abuses of power and money-laundering, especially in  the 1MDB “kleptoracy at its worst” in the world.

We must not waste the “second chance” to reset nation-building policies to fulfil our national destiny to be a great nation, where we can leverage on the assets of the diverse races, religions, languages, cultures and civilizations which meet in confluence in Malaysia and form the basis for a new civilization based on the best values and assets of the world’s great religions and civilizations.

The great task to build a New Malaysia cannot be accomplished in 100 days or in five months, but will take a decade or two.

This is why Pakatan Harapan needs to win the 15th and 16th General Elections if the vision of right-thinking Malaysians is to be translated into reality, which means fulfilment of two conditions: increase of percentage of Malay voter support to about 50 per cent in the 14th General Election and sustaining the high support of non-Malay voter support for a New Malaysia which is good and fair to all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, class or region.

This is also why the Port Dickson by-election on Oct. 13 is a very important building block in the great task of building a New Malaysia apart from returning Anwar Ibrahim, the Eighth Prime Minister-designate, to Parliament.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the Mentakab DAP Branch anniversary dinner in Mentakab on Saturday, October 6, 2018 at 8 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 7 October 2018, 5:54 pm and is filed under
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Every PAC member should be given a copy of the two books on 1MDB scandal – the “Sarawak Report” and “Billion Dollar Whale” – and every PAC member should have read them by Tuesday for  PAC to re-open investigations into 1MDB scandal

Every Public Accounts Committee member should be given a copy of the two books on the 1MDB scandal, viz.  “The Sarawak Report – The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose” by the Sarawak Report editor, Clare Rewcastle Brown and “Billion Dollar Whale – the Man who fooled the Wall Street, Hollywood and the World” by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope,  two Wall Street Journal reporters.

Furthermore,  all the PAC members should have read the two books on the 1MDB scandal by next Tuesday when they start to carry out Parliament’s directive following an unanimous parliamentary motion last August to  “conduct again a detailed investigation on the embezzlement of monies and the scandal with regard to 1MDB and its related companies in order to restore the dignity of the Dewan Rakyat; and that all related information should be made public”.

Clare’s book is about the origin  and development of the 1MDB scandal while

Tom Wright and Bradley Hope’s book is more focussede on Jho Low, who with former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, were responsible for the world’s “kleptocracy at its worst” in Malaysia,   and both them wrecked Malaysia’s international reputation and integrity turning Malaysia into a global kleptocracy.

If the PAC members have not supplied with these two books, and would not have read them by Tuesday, then the re-opening of PAC investigations into the 1MDB scandal should be deferred by a week to allow all PAC members to read up both books.

I have yesterday suggested that the PAC Chairman, Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee should recuse himself from PAC re-opening of investigations  into 1MDB scandal as he was Deputy Speaker of the previous Parliament, taking a very biased and prejudicial position on the 1MDB scandal at the behest of the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak by banning questions and debate on 1MDB scandal, undermining the dignity of the Malaysian Parliament and the nation, as well as   raising serious conflict-of-interest questions.

There is another PAC member in the new Parliament who should also recuse himself from the PAC re-opening of investigations into the 1MDB scandal – Datuk Hasan Arifin, who was Chairman of the previous Public Accounts Committee whose report on the 1MDB scandal tabled in Parliament in April 2016  had been found wanting and most unsatisfactory, requiring a new parliamentary motion requiring a re-opening of investigations into the 1MDB scandal!

The PAC Report on the 1MDB scandal of the 13th Parliament in fact aided and abetted Najib and Jho Low to cover up massive corruption and money-laundering crimes instead of getting to the truth of the 1MDB scandal.

What is more serious, Hasan had been accused of dishonest conduct as PAC Chairman as he had admitted in the parliamentary debate on the motion for PAC  to re-open investigations into the 1MDB scandal in August of having unilaterally and without consultation or consent of the other members of the PAC of deleting critical information about the ownership of Good Star Ltd (GSL) –  which is the genesis of the 1MDB scandal!

In fact, Clare in her book described Hasan’s action as “skullduggery” in doctoring the final PAC report by chopping out the “most dangerous and damning sections” of the PAC report.

Hasan should be in the dock instead of being a PAC member in the re-opening of PAC investigations into the 1MDB scandal.

I have no objection to Hasan being a member of PAC, but surely the least he can do is to recuse himself from the PAC re-opening of investigations in the 1MDB scandal so that he would not be a standing embarrassment.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for  Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 6th October 2018)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 7 October 2018, 9:04 am and is filed under
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Why did  Najib allow travesties of justice during his premiership and did not re-open investigations into mysterious deaths like that of Altantunya Shaariibuu, Kevin Morais, Hussain Najadi and Teoh Beng Hock?

I was taken aback when I read of the speedy agreement of the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to my proposal when I campaigned for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim  in the  Port Dickson by-election on Friday, proposing that several mysterious deaths which occurred during Najib’s tenure should be re-opened for investigation, and even for the establishment of special inquiries.

Among these mysterious deaths were the Mongolian model Altatunya Shaariibuu who was killed in a deserted area in Shah Alam on October 18, 2006 and her remains destroyed by C-4 explosives; Deputy Public Prosecutor Kevin Morais who was last seen alive on 4th September 2015 and his body subsequently found in a drum filled with concrete; Hussain Najadi, the  AmBank founder and banker who was fatally shot on 29th July 2013 in a parking lot in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur; and Teoh Beng Hock, a DAP political aide to Selangor State Exco Member, Ean Yong Hian Wah who was found dead on 16th July 2009  falling from the 14th floor of Selangor MACC premises while in MACC custody.

The question that immediately comes to mind following Najib’s exclamation that it was high time “justice is served” to him is why Najib had allowed such travesties of justice during his premiership and did not re-open investigations into mysterious deaths like that of Altantunya Shaariibuu, Kevin Morais, Hussain Najadi and Teoh Beng Hock when he had the power to direct such re-investigations?

Could it be that “justice” did not  matter when he was the Prime Minister while it matters when Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is the Prime Minister?

For Najib’s elucidation, justice matters regardless of time or who is the Prime Minister. Let me remind Najib of what a great African American Malcom X said: “I am for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter what it’s for or against.

It would appear that during the  five months since he had been toppled as Prime Minister, Najib is personally heading his team of propagandists and cybertroopers to scour through all the things that have been said about him in the past nine years of his premiership, to the extent that he knows more about what I had said about him than I myself.

I was driven by his blog yesterday to check what I said about him and Najadi in 2015, since he said that I was among those who had attempted to link him to the case.

I checked and I found that this was what I said on 7th July 2015:

“I call on the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to re-open investigations into the murder of founder of AmBank, Hussein Ahmad Najadi who was shot dead in broad daylight in the centre of Kuala Lumpur in Lorong Ceylon in Bukit Bintang on July 29, 2013 to ascertain whether the murder had any links with the 1MDB scandal.

“The Police should investigate whether it is true that in March 2013, Hussein had reported to Bank Negara about significant amounts of money deposited into Najib’s personal accounts and subsequently about withdrawal of significant amounts of money from these bank accounts; and that Hussein lodged a police report on the above matters on 28th July 2013 when no actions were taken by Bank Negara.

“The 75-year-old Hussain was shot dead in a car park in Kuala Lumpur on 29th July 23, 2013.”

Why was it so difficult to answer these questions which I posed in July 2015,
“whether  it is true that in March 2013, Hussein had reported to Bank Negara about significant amounts of money deposited into Najib’s personal accounts and subsequently about withdrawal of significant amounts of money from these bank accounts; and that Hussein lodged a police report on the above matters on 28th July 2013 when no actions were taken by Bank Negara”
?

A simple “yes” or “no” would suffice. Why was there thunderous silence, instead?

May be, with so much free time on his hands, Najib can answer these questions now!

Since Najib is suddenly so enamoured with the concept of “justice”, he can probably explain why he had not sued Clare Rewcastle Brown for her book “The Sarawak Report – the Inside Story of the 1MBD Expose” or Tom Wright and Bradley Hope for their “Billion Dollar Whale – the Man who fooled Wall Street, Hollywood and the World” for defamation of character?

In page 457, Clare called Najib “a thief and a liar”, while  in page 224, Tom Wright and Bradley Hope accused Najib of winning the 2013 general election “armed with dirty 1MDB cash”.

Both books are best-sellers but why is Najib so quiet and inactive to seek “justice” for his reputation and character?

Najib has been summoned to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in its re-opening of investigations into the 1MDB scandal, as the report of the PAC of the 13th Parliament on the 1MDB scandal was an impaired and tainted one, designed to aid and abet Najib to suppress the truth of the 1MDB scandal instead of unearthing the truth about  the 1MDB scandal,  – and which had been described as the world’s “kleptocracy at its worst” by the United States Attorney-General, Jeff Sessions.

Will Najib “tell all” at the PAC re-opening of investigations into the 1MDB scandal, or will he  clamp up, pleading that with the 49 1MDB-related charges concerning corruption, money-laundering and abuse of power against him and his wife, Datin Rosmah Mansoh, he can no longer speak freely about the 1MDB scandal?

Let’s hear from Najib on this.

Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri  Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has said he wants the other mastermind of the 1MDB scandal, Jho Low, to turn up in Malaysia to testify in Najib’s trial.

Does Najib want Jho Low to return to Malaysia as he had been accused of secret meetings with Jho Low in China, Thailand and Turkey as Jho Loh has become and international fugitive with many legal jurisdictions looking for him in their 1MDB-related investigations.

Would Najib want Jho Low to return to Malaysia to testify about the 1MDB scandal or whether he wants Jho Low to continue as an international fugitive from the law – far away from the clutches of the Malaysian legal system as well as many legal jurisdictions?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 7th October 2018)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 7 October 2018, 11:59 am and is filed under
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Najib is  the last person qualified  to talk about “justice” unless he is prepared to volunteer to be first witness of the PAC re-investigation of 1MDB scandal to help cleanse Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy

Let me put it straight to former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that he should stop strutting around fulminating about “justice”, as he is the last person qualified  to talk about “justice” unless he is prepared to volunteer to be the  first witness of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) re-investigation of the 1MDB scandal to help cleanse Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy.

How can Najib babble about “justice” when he perpetrated the 1MDB “kleptocracy at its worst”, shamed Malaysia as a global kleptocracy, and aided and abetted the fugive financier Jho Low in the crime and corruption of the 1MDB scandal?

Is  this why Najib studiously avoided answering several questions which I put to him in my media statement yesterday, including:

1. Whether he would “tell all” about the 1MDB scandal when summoned before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in re-opening of investigations into the 1MDB scandal, or will he  clamp up, pleading that with the 49 1MDB-related charges concerning corruption, money-laundering and abuse of power against him and his wife, Datin Rosmah Mansor, he can no longer speak freely about the 1MDB scandal?

2. Does Najib want Jho Low to return to Malaysia to testify about the 1MDB scandal?

3. Would Najib disclose the number of meetings he had with Jho Low, whether in China, Thailand, Turkey or in any other country as Jho Loh had become an international fugitive with many legal jurisdictions looking for him in their 1MDB-related investigations.

4. Why Najib had not sued Clare Rewcastle Brown for her book “The Sarawak Report – the Inside Story of the 1MBD Expose” for libel as in page 457 of her book, Clare called Najib “a thief and a liar”.

5. Why Najib had not sued Tom Wright and Bradley Hope for their book “Billion Dollar Whale – the Man who fooled Wall Street, Hollywood and the World”, as in page 224, they accused Najib of winning the 2013 general election “armed with dirty 1MDB cash”?

Had Najib realised the supreme irony when he declared that it was high time “justice is served” to him and he welcomed the re-opening of mysterious deaths like Mongolian model Altantunya Shaariibuu, former Deputy Public Prosecutor Kevin Morais and Ambank founder Hussein Najadi, when these were all cases which happened when he was Prime Minister?

Yes, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar were found guilty of the Altantunya’s murder by the Federal Court on 13th January 2015 and were sentenced to death, but even school children would know that there was something very wrong in the trial, as the motive for Altantunya’s motive had not been established – in fact, no attempt was ever made to establish the motive of the murder in the trial.

I have no doubt that if a referendum is held, for the sake of the truth and the country’s international reputation,  Malaysians would overwhelmingly demand a re-opening of investigations into Altantunya’s mysterious murder.

The same applies to other mysterious deaths, whether Kevin Morais, Hussein Najadi or even Teoh Beng Hock.

It is also the height of impertinence for Najib to challenge me to urge the Prime Minister to re-open investigations into the high-profile mysterious deaths.

Didn’t Najib repeatedly tell the whole country before the 14th General Election that if Pakatan Harapan wins the 14th General Election, DAP will dominat the Pakatan Harapan Federal Government and I will become the Prime Minister instead of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad?

Is Najib prepared to apologise for such vicious and toxic lies and falsehoods which he and the UMNO/BN propagandists and cybertroopers perpetrated in the 14th General Election campaign?

Let me tell Najib that if I am the Prime Minister, I will re-open investigations into the high-profile deaths of Altantunya Shaariibuu, Kevin Morais, Hussain Najadi, Teoh Beng Hock and customs officer Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed.

However, I am not the Prime Minister. My stand is clear but it is Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s call as the Prime Minister of Malaysia to make the relevant decisions.

Coming back to Najib, Malaysians will really like to know why he is not taking legal action against the authors of the two books on the 1MDB scandal.

For instance, Clare Rewcastle Brown, Sarawak Report editor,  in Chapter 37 of her book entitled “The China connection”  wrote about receiving information in July 2016 that the Najib government was planning to award an over-valued project to laundry money to fill the 1MDB “black hole” of debts.

This referred  to the plan to award the East Coast Rail Project (ECRL) to a Chinese company, China Communications Construction Company Ltd. (CCCC).  The initial budget for the project was RM30 billion, and the overvalue of the project was for another RM30 billion, making the ECRL project to cost RM60 billion, with the extra RM30 billion to be used to launder money for 1MDB.

At the time Calre received the information, the ERCL project had not been announced yet.

Chapter 40 of Clare’s book, on “The Truth Will Out”, carried a most interesting account of how one of her informants escaped from an assassination attempt in central Paris on a Sunday morning.

In page 503, Clare wrote about her meeting with this source in mid-2017 and “got a fuller account of how he had been cornered in his car on a busy road, much in the same way that Kevin had been in KL, but he had seen the danger and managed to escape”.

She was told that the price paid for the hit against her source was a million American dollars!

Tom Wright and Bradley Hope in their “Billion Dollar Whale” was not sparing in their condemnation of the Najib regime either.

As they said in page 230:

“In an earlier era, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan had reached developed-world status. Now, rampant corruption was condemning Malaysia, as well as Brazil, Russia and a number of other nations, to mediocrity. But the elite – and those serving them – continued to thrive.”

In the past five months since the historic 14th General Election vote on May 9, 2018, Malaysians have been discovering how big had been the “black hole” which Najib had been hiding from the people – all the while putting up an interntional charade that the 1MDB scandal was “fake news” and  an international conspiracy against Malaysia.

Is Najib prepared to make amends, volunteer as the first witness in the PAC re-investigation of the 1MDB scandal to help cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy?

If he has still any compunction left or has not completely lost all moral compass, he must do what is within his means to restore Malaysia’s good reputation in the international community.

Let him to write to the PAC immediately as PAC will meet tomorrow in re-opening investigations into the 1MDB scandal.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on  Monday, 8th October 2018)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 8 October 2018, 1:50 pm and is filed under
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