Deal with reality, Najib is staying in power

 – Koon Yew Yin

The Malaysian Insider

3 November 2015

Lately the Internet has been filled with stories of how Prime Minister Najib Razak is losing ground in Umno and likely to resign soon.

Much speculation is going on about what is happening behind the scenes in the Umno Supreme Council and the party’s divisional leaders.

There is also a lot of chatter about the infighting and horse trading that is taking place among the supporters of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah – all seen as contenders to succeed Najib should he be toppled.

In my view this is all sound and fury which signify nothing. Also that it will not amount to much.

It is clear that the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, although it has severely dented Najib’s image and produced numerous smoking guns to kill off any other national leader, has not brought about any change in the Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) support for the prime minister.

Why there has been no change despite the prime minister being caught with his hands in the till to the tune of RM2.6 billion has mystified many of my foreign friends and analysts.

Even more surprising to them is the fact that the prime minister, as finance minister, is getting away with being responsible for one of the biggest monetary losses suffered by a company,

1MDB, which, under his ministry, was entrusted to secure the country’s financial well being.

As one of my good friends pointed out, “Come on – in any other country in the world, the leader responsible for such a massive loss would have committed harakiri. Or at the very least, he will be hounded out of office!”

However, this has yet to happen. It will not happen for one simple reason: “Cash is king!” Cash is king in Umno and for BN parliamentarians

Actually the “cash is king” line was given as explanation by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in explaining Najib’s response to his complaints and concerns over the controversial 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) cash policy.

The former prime minister has been critical of the direct cash handouts to lower income groups.

According to Dr Mahathir, he told Najib, “You can’t give money to the population, but Najib replied ‘Cash is king’.”

The same explanation applies to why the 1MDB scandal will not see Najib losing his position.

Basically, as I see it, the Umno Supreme Council members, divisional leaders and even the BN parliamentarians see and know that Najib is their cash register or money printing machine.

Some of this reward for their loyalty to the head of Umno and BN is of course transparent and accountable such as the salaries and allowance paid to parliamentarians.

Incidentally, last year the monthly salary of an MP was raised to RM16,000 from RM11,500, members of the Dewan Negara from RM7,000 to RM11,000, Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker and Dewan Negara Deputy president from RM16,000 to RM22,000 and Dewan Rakyat Speaker and Dewan Negara president from RM20,000 to RM31,000.

In addition to these salaries, MPs are paid a monthly allowance of RM5,000 for entertainment, driver’s pay, travel and handphone bill.

They are also paid a meeting allowance of RM200 a day when attending parliamentary sittings and a daily allowance of RM150 to attend meetings with government agencies.

However the definition of cash must not be taken too literally. Besides salaries, allowances, per diem and position there are other perks in the way of permits, licences, contracts, concessions, shares and the many other forms of material and non-material rewards that go with being part of the ruling BN elite.

What is visible, transparent and accountable really is the tip of the remuneration or rewards iceberg controlled by the prime minister.

When you put the carrots (visible and less visible) together with the Prime Ministers’ immense power to whack anyone out of line (such as Muhyiddin) then you get a virtually unbeatable combination.

In fact, Dr Mahathir knew that the odds were against him probably right from the start.

In April this year, he claimed that Umno leaders had pledged their loyalty to Najib to gain contracts.

“The Umno today is only about money. Umno leaders are loyal because they will gain something, contracts. Those who get positions are those who will get money,” he said in a video uploaded on a blog – dinturtle.blogspot.com.

How to fight this “cash is king” culture that dominates our country’s political system is the RM64,000 question.

In my opinion, the way to deal with it is to recognise that Najib cannot be toppled from within the Umno Supreme Council or in Parliament but only through the next general election.

This is where the battle for the country’s next government will be lost or won.

Fire sometimes must be fought with fire. While rejecting the cash is king culture, we must also realise that there will never be any change in government if the opposition parties are impoverished and lack the financial and human resources to fight against the BN money printing machine.

The formation of the new party Parti Amanah Negara and its inclusion in the new Pakatan Harapan provides an opportunity for all Malaysians who want to see a better government put their money where their mouth is.

Do it openly, transparently, without any agenda and into a publicly visible account – I urge everyone, especially the rich and well to do.

On October 20, I donated RM50,000 to the Perak Amanah branch at their fundraising dinner in Ipoh.

I hope others in Perak and all over the country can also do their bit in seeing that the opposition parties do not go into the next election so badly handicapped that they will not have a fighting chance at winning. – November 3, 2015.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 3 November 2015, 7:12 pm and is filed under
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Parliament has been reduced to a theatre of the absurd with the PAC Chairman wearing the dunce’s cap as the most absurd Parliamentarian with his absurd edict banning  Tony Pua  from speaking about 1MDB in public

Parliament has been reduced to a theatre of the absurd with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin wearing the dunce’s head as the most absurd Parliamentarian with his absurd edict banning Tony Pua from speaking about 1MDB in public.

At the rate of such absurdity in Parliament and the higher echelons of government leadership, it appears to be just a matter of time before “1MDB” joins the select group of subjects where mere criticism will  be criminalized and construed as an act of sedition!

It is clear that the Najib leadership had been brainstorming for quite some time to find a way to criminalise and ban public debate on the twin1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin scandals, starting with Parliament before the ban is extended to all public spaces in the country, especially with the two scandals acquiring lives of their own, exploding  every few days with new revelations completely beyond the control or ken of Najib’s PR handlers – to the extent that more than half a dozen countries have initiated their own separate investigations into the twin mega scandals.

Worst of all, the Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had been pinpointed by the United States media as  being the target of a FBI  probe under the United States Department of Justice Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010 with neither Najib nor the Government able to deny or clarify such a damning report of Najib being investigated as a kleptocrat although more than a month had elapsed since the United States media report.

Isn’t it taking absurdity to new heights trying to institute a ban on all discussions and reports about the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin scandals in Malaysia in the age of information when news travelled at the speed of light with the  latest developments and reports about the twin scandals happening all over the world, outside the  borderless borders of Malaysia?

Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia was breaking all parliamentary conventions, practices and procedures with his unprecedented ruling today that Pua should either resign from the Public Accounts Committee or abstain from the committee’s probe on 1MDB if he wants to debate with 1MDB CEO, Arul Kanda.

Pandikar also ruled that Arul can no longer be a witness in the PAC probe if the debate goes on.

One would have thought that the  Malaysian Parliament could not have been hit by a bigger seismic shock in one day than these rulings by the Speaker, but Hassan Arifin as new PAC Chairman has out-Pandikar Pandikar and created an even greater seismic shock with his instant weirdo interpretation of the Speaker’s ruling and declared that Pua must cease and desist from making any statements on 1MDB, whether in Parliament or outside?

Does Pandikar agree with this interpretation of his ruling by the new PAC Chairman?

The Malaysian Parliament has really entered the realm of the absurd in our journey to First-World Parliament!

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 3 November 2015, 4:50 pm and is filed under
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If Arul Kanda cannot testify before the PAC investigations on 1MDB, will Najib appear before PAC to testify on 1MDB’s behalf as everybody knows that an investigation into 1MDB is in fact an investigation into Najib?

Yesterday  was a double whammy for the long, difficult and windy mission to establish accountability and transparency for the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega-scandals afflicting the country.

There was firstly the morning episode where Parliament was reduced to a theatre of the absurd – with Parliament Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia ruling that DAP PJ Utara Member of Parliament Tony Pua should either resign from the Public Accounts Committee or abstain from the committee’s probe on 1MDB if he wants to debate with 1MDB CEO, Arul Kanda and that Arul can no longer be a witness in the PAC probe if the debate goes on.

The Speaker’s ruling was quickly followed up with the announcement by the PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin’s ruling that  Pua must cease and desist from making any statements on 1MDB, whether in Parliament or outside!

It is no surprise that the following comment was one of the  public reactions to all these parliamentary calisthenics over the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega-scandals:

“I was wondering why Arul was so quick to drop his condition. Now I know. He has someone else to impose the condition for him.”

Then last night, the twin mega-scandal “spectacular” grounded on with the first public appearance of Tan Sri Gani Patail since his sudden removal as Attorney-General for over 13 years, two months before his compulsory retirement, purportedly on “health” grounds.

Gani’s appearance, and his cheeky statement that his health was “okay”, was the first instance Gani confounded the official statement that he had been removed for “health reasons” – reinforcing the question posed by former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir recently asking where was Gani’s medical certificate as Gani had denied that he was sick.

There was a second instance last night where Gani’s appearance at the Bar Council forum on Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma)  was significant, as his silence on his controversial removal, particularly whether it was related to the allegation made by whistleblower site Sarawak Report that he was on the verge of charging Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak with corruption, or an alternative charge of criminal breach of trust, speaks louder than words!

Instead of getting to the bottom of the twin mega-scandals as clearly urged by the Malay Rulers in their unprecedented statement of concern on Oct. 6 and the strange goings-on in the past few months, including the sacking of Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Cabinet Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, the dissolution of the multi-agency Special Task Force on 1MDB and internal convulsions like arrests or instant transfers in key enforcement agencies, the derailment of Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee on 1MDB investigations for three months, Parliament is bogged down with the frivolous question  on whether the Pua-Arul debate on 1MDB should be held.

Parliament has clearly lost its bearings.

If Arul Kanda cannot testify before the PAC investigations on 1MDB, will Najib himself  appear before PAC to testify on 1MDB’s behalf, as it is very clear that an investigation into 1MDB is in fact an investigation into Najib himself!

At the rate Parliament has become a theatre of the absurd, it appears to be just a matter of time before “1MDB” joins the select group of subjects where mere criticism will  be criminalized and construed as an act of sedition!

Should  Public Accounts Committee just shut down its investigations into the twin mega-scandals to end the rigmarole?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 4 November 2015, 8:42 am and is filed under
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Pondering Our Fate – Imagining Otherwise

M. Bakri Musa

www.bakrimusa.com

4th November 2015

It is human nature that when things go well we pay little attention to them; we take them in stride as if they are meant to be, the natural consequences. When we assume such an attitude, we miss some significant learning opportunities. We can learn so much more from our success than we could ever from our failures. For that to happen however, we first must recognize our successes. Contrary to common belief, this can sometimes be no easy task.

     One way would be to undertake a mental exercise, to imagine if things had taken a different path. What if Malays had not embraced Islam but fought and rejected it? Likewise, what would be our fate had we enthusiastically embraced the Europeans and adopted their ways? As for our pursuit of independence, imagine had we bowed to the wishes our sultans and their British “advisers” and accepted our fate to be under permanent British domination, as the Malayan Union Treaty would have it? Lastly, assume we had let those rabble rousers be our leaders fighting for our independence, and they took to fighting the British literally and seriously.

     In all of these instances there are ready examples of societies and cultures that had indeed chosen precisely those paths that I just outlined, and we can readily see the consequences today of their collective decisions then.

     Our brethren on the island of Bali were not enthusiastic about Islam; they decided to stick to their ancient animist and Hindu beliefs. That would be the fate of the greater Malay society had we not embraced Islam. I have tremendous respect for the Balinese; their pacifist ways appeal to me. However, I would not have the same qualms about my lovely island with its pristine beaches turned into a cheap replica of Waikiki or Australia’s Gold Coast, and my people reduced to performing exotic dances for tourists.

     On a more practical level, had we not embraced Islam our culture would still be trapped in the oral tradition and we would not have any written literature. We would definitely be the poorer for that.

     At the next juncture, imagine had we fully embraced the colonials. Again, there are ready examples; the Filipinos embraced the Spaniards, becoming devout Catholics in the process. Malays today would never wish to trade places with our Filipino brothers. That is not to say there is anything wrong with them, just that we do not wish to be like them. The Filipinos may have embraced the Spanish ways but the Spaniards have not reciprocated in any manner. I doubt whether Filipinos get preferential treatment to work in Spain or in any of the former Spanish colonies. Indeed except for their shared faith, there is little else that the Filipinos have in common with the Spaniards.

     At least the Filipinos were lucky; they could have easily suffered the fate of the Mayans; their civilization completely destroyed with the arrival of the Spaniards.

     More recently, imagine if Datuk Onn had not galvanized us to oppose the Malayan Union. We have ready examples of that too. Australia and New Zealand are both British dominions; look at their native populations, the Aborigines and Maoris respectively.

Closer to home are Christmas and Keeling Islands. Both are only a few hundred miles south of Sumatra but through the quirks of colonial history, they belong to Australia, many thousand miles away to the south. Both islands have substantial Malay populations, including a few former sultans and their families. See how well the Australians treat them and how those Malays fare.

     In our resistance against the Malayan Union Treaty we held fast to our values. We did not derhaka (rebel) against our sultans although we had plenty of reasons for doing so as they had literally sold our country to the British. Instead we co-opted the finest values of our culture – our loyalty to our sultans – to rescind that treaty.

     As for the path towards independence, imagine had we thrown our lot with Chin Peng and followed the violent path he pursued. We would still today be mourning fresh victims of our “war of independence” and freedom would still elude us.

     The arrival of Islam and European intrusions were both external events imposed upon us. We did not initiate them; we merely responded. Yet our culture had equipped us well in both circumstances. The path we chose for independence was of our own making; we acquitted ourselves exceptionally well there.

      Any change especially when initiated by events beyond our control can potentially be threatening to the existing order. With Islam, our leaders and rakyats as well as our culture reacted positively and creatively, and we were the better for it. With colonization, we reacted negatively as rightly we should to any evil. However, having recognized its vastly superior power we were divided in our subsequent responses. While our leaders made the necessary accommodations and in the end fully absorbed the ways and values of the colonials, they impressed upon their followers to resist or at the very least not participate. It is this hypocrisy on the part of our leaders and the divergence in their responses as compared to the rakyats that made our collective experience with colonialism so much more negative than it ought to have been. As a result our society unnecessarily suffered the ugly consequences.

     With the pursuit of independence, we relied on our traditional cultural values to guide us and in so doing we acquitted ourselves very well.

     The central lesson, as demonstrated by our response to Islam and in the pursuit of independence, is that there must be commonality of goals and aspirations between leaders and followers. This commonality can only be achieved through genuine two-way communications, from up to down and down towards up. That is the key strategy we should adopt as we go forward in dealing with today’s challenges.

     Another key element, again demonstrated in our own approach towards independence, is that we must choose our leaders wisely with the hope that they in turn would choose the right strategy and pick the right team as well as the right timing.

Our reactions to those events of the past did not occur by themselves; there were equally pivotal personalities that guided us. They were remarkably free-minded, ready to accept the challenges facing them and lead the rest of the community. Their examples should inspire us.

Adapted from the author’s latest book, Liberating The Malay Mind, ZI Publications Sdn Bhd, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia , 2013.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 4 November 2015, 9:34 am and is filed under
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Why Malaysia may have hit bottom

Leslie Shaffer

CNBC.com

4th November 2015

Malaysia’s hard-hit stock market is getting a less-than-ringing endorsement with one of the world’s leading lenders telling investors that things aren’t likely to get any worse.

“There have been numerous globally attention-grabbing headlines on Malaysia this year, which we believe have increased political uncertainty and risk in investing in Malaysia,” analysts at Deutsche Bank said in a note Monday.

“However, going forward, we do not expect this to increase.”

Shares in Malaysia have been hit hard over the year so far: The KLCI is down around 4.4 percent year-to-date, after trading down as much as 13 percent at its mid-August lows. Foreign investors have sold a net 17.6 billion ringgit ($4.11 billion) worth of Malaysian equities so far this year, according to data from Maybank Kim Eng.

Meanwhile its currency, the ringgit, has hit levels seen since the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis and lost as much as 28 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar from the beginning of the year through the end of September. It has, however, recovered around 4.5 percent since then.

Malaysia’s shares and currency have been hit with a toxic brew of declines in the prices of its commodity exports, especially palm oil and crude oil, as well as what may be the country’s worst-ever political scandal, which has spurred protests calling for the removal of the prime minister from power.

“Our base-case assumption is status quo: the Prime Minister and (ruling coalition parties) Barisan Nasional remain in power until the next general election in 2018,” Deutsche Bank said.

“With no change in this position, corporate Malaysia continues as usual, albeit with weaker consumer sentiment and a weaker currency.”

While it is not exactly full praise for the country, Deutsche Bank doesn’t see much risk that shares will fall further, in part because investors are “overwhelmingly underweight” on the market.

Indeed, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s October survey of fund managers showed that more than 10 percent of fund managers were underweight Malaysia, but that was down from a net of around 25 percent underweight in September.

Nonetheless, Deutsche Bank noted that it was only cautiously optimistic: “Now seems a good time to move positions closer to neutral,” it said.

For one thing, the concerns over the decline in crude oil prices may be overdone, it said, adding that the economy is still resilient and Malaysia is likely to maintain a trade surplus as demand for imports is also softening along with exports.

Also, even though falling oil prices will hit government revenue, a new goods and services tax is set to help make up the shortfall, Deutsche Bank noted.

The government forecasts the economy will grow 4.5-5.5 percent this year, although expectations are for the figure to come at the low end of the range, in danger of its slowest growth since 2009, during the Global Financial Crisis, when the economy contracted.

The political situation may be stickier, but Deutsche Bank tips a potential for a relief rally if that uncertainty is reduced.

The current scandal may be the country’s worst yet, with Prime Minister Najib Razak facing increasing political pressure — including large protests in August calling for his ouster and opposition parties filing last month to hold a parliamentary no-confidence vote; it isn’t clear when the vote would be held.

The scandal surrounding the government is due to one of Najib’s pet projects, the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund, launched in 2008 to promote economic development. It has been in the limelight for months, amid allegations of false auditing, huge debt and, more recently, financial fraud. In July, the Wall Street Journal published a report alleging nearly $700 million flowed from the fund to Najib’s personal bank account.

Najib has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, claiming the funds were a private donation from Middle Eastern country he has declined to name. Singapore and Switzerland have both suspended bank accounts tied to 1MDB and in the U.S., media reports said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating as well.

Investigations in Malaysia have been dogged by accusations they were biased toward the government or halted entirely.

The scandal returned to the front page again Tuesday, when The Wall Street Journal reported that an Australian fund management firm currently being wound down, Avestra Asset Management, had a key role in managing $2.32 billion for 1MDB.

The Deutsche Bank note, published before the latest news, had indicated that the noise quieted somewhat. The bank declined to comment on whether the latest news changed its view on the market. Stocks don’t appear to have been badly hit by the latest news, with the KLCI rising around 0.4 percent in early trade.

“The situation is certainly much better than when the ringgit was depreciating every week, (amid) almost daily news flow on 1MDB/politics and large street demonstrations,” it said in the note. There’s another reason it’s not a bad time to enter Malaysia’s market: “the MSCI Malaysia has historically seen a year-end rally.”

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 4 November 2015, 6:31 pm and is filed under
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Song on missing 2.6 billion goes viral

Malaysiakini

5th November 2015

Netizens may be venting their anger over the unresolved issue of RM2.6 billion in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal bank accounts, but singer Amirudin Hizadin has instead chosen to express his concern through music.

His sombre song, which describes the RM2.6 billion as “missing stars” that has made his world dark, has quickly gone viral after less than half a day in the cyberspace.

The Malay music video titled ‘Mana Hilang 2.6 Bintang’ (Where have the 2.6 stars disappeared) uploaded on Facebook garnered over 80,000 views with more than 3,300 shares at writing time.

In the lyrics, Amirudin reminisced about the likelihood if he had not come to Kuala Lumpur as he thought about the hardships.

He lamented about the cost of toll, petrol, electricity and food but tried to soothe himself singing, “Never mind, (I’ll) wait for BR1M and assistance.”

As the song continued, Amirudin lamented about other hardships, and repeatedly attempted to convince himself that there may be a brighter side to things.

However, finally, the song questioned that if this was true, why everyone is still ‘depressed’.

The chorus avoided direct mention of the RM2.6 billion or the prime minister not coming clean on the matter, but references were apparent.

“Where have the 2.6 stars disappeared, which should be shining upon our nightmare and darkness.

“Where have the 2.6 stars disappeared? I ask ‘Mr Sun’ (Pak Mentari) but he remains still silent,” he sang.

‘Mentari’ means sun in Malay but the sound of the word closely resembles ‘menteri’ (minister).

Singing from rakyat’s heart

Amirudin’s song not only earned praise for highlighting the plight of every Malaysians but also his music skills.

“Good melody and deep lyrics,” said Facebook user Zainal Musa.

Another Facebook user Azimah Zianul, “This song is sad, it sounds like it is connected to my life.”

Facebook user Rini Reney said, “Good song. While we’re trolling, this is the reality of what’s in the rakyat’s hearts.

“It pains me when my dad once told me about a grandmother in the village who had to delay her bone operation, as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) charges for the metal pieces would run into the thousands.”

Mana Hilang 2.6 Bintang:

Mungkin takkanku ke Kuala Lumpur,

Nak bayar tol minyak, aku menggelupur,

Duit belanja cukup makanku waktu sahur,

Mungkin hidupku kegelapan,

Nak bayar bil elektrik, tak kemampuan,

Tapi tak apa, tunggu duit BR1M dan bantuan,

Mana hilangnya 2.6 bintang bintang,

Yang sepatutnya menerangi mimpi ngeri dan suram kita,

Mana hilangnya 2.6 bintang bintang,

Aku tanyakan pak mentari tapi masih lagi berdiam,

Mungkin yang sakit akan terus uzur,

Nak bayar ubat pun terus tersungkur,

Oh tapi PA, katanya baik untuk kita,

Mungkin harga barang akan turun,

Ada GST semua orang untung,

Tapi mengapa makin ramai yang bermurung,

Mana hilangnya 2.6 bintang bintang,

Yang sepatutnya menerangi mimpi ngeri dan suram kita,

Mana hilangnya 2.6 bintang bintang,

Aku tanya Pak Mentari, tapi masih lagi berdiam.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 5 November 2015, 9:59 am and is filed under
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Twenty-eight years and eight days ago…

— Lee Yew Meng

Malay Mail Online

November 4, 2015

NOV 4 — On Oct 27, 1987, The Star managing director Datuk Steven Tan told his top management that the newspaper’s publishing permit had been withdrawn with immediate effect. The letter was hand-delivered earlier during a downpour.

The front page on that day read: “DETAINED — 19 picked up in swoop”. The masthead was in black, dramatising the events of the previous day.

I have no recollection of what was discussed during that meeting. Stuck in my head was: “Hey, this is ridiculous. Our chairman is Tunku Abdul Rahman (our first prime minister) and we are owned by MCA, a senior coalition partner in the government.”

All employees were on a quarter-month’s pay henceforth. It was a double whammy for couples on The Star’s payroll.

As the commercial head, my task was to negotiate bulk purchase deals with food and beverage manufacturers. Those assigned specific duties received an additional RM12.50 each working day.

Operation Lalang

The backdrop and build-up scenario to the suspension were like an epic Hollywood movie.

At Umno’s annual general meeting (AGM) in April 1987, the challenger Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah secured 718 votes against Datuk Seri (now Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s 761 for the president’s post. The 43-vote margin wasn’t good, considering that Mahathir had the advantage of incumbency for six years and had received several times more nominations than Tengku Razaleigh.

Datuk (now Tun) Musa Hitam had teamed up with Tengku Razaleigh to contest the deputy president post he resigned from abruptly together with his deputy prime ministership just a year earlier. Musa, touted as “the best PM Malaysia never had”, retired for good after this colossal battle.

In early September, about 100 non-Chinese educated headmasters and senior assistants were assigned to SJKCs, causing a major uproar among the Chinese community. Dong Jiao Zong organised a protest rally supported by MCA, Gerakan, DAP and major Chinese NGOs at the Hainanese Association Hall in Thean Hou Temple. Angry words were thrown about, including a proposal for a three-day school closure. Umno Youth countered with the infamous TPCA stadium (now known as Stadium Raja Muda) rally where real ugly threats were reported.

MCA deputy president and labour minister Lee Kim Sai was persuaded to go overseas “for a rest” after famously retorting that all communities were “pendatang” at one time. He was stripped of his Selangor Datukship.

In the midst of all these events, a soldier went on a shooting spree in Chow Kit on Oct 20, killing one and injuring two others. It caused serious panic for some hours.

Private Adam Jaafar surrendered shortly after to his commanding general.

On Oct 26, arrests under Operation Lallang started. Eventually, around 110 people were detained, some for up to two years. I believe Lim Kit Siang obtained his LLB during his detention.

Meanwhile, the Umno AGM results were disputed. Twelve (one withdrew later) party members filed a lawsuit to void the election results and called for fresh ones because they claimed 78 voting delegates came from branches not registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

The High Court dismissed the suit of the Umno 11, invoking Article 41 of the Societies Act, which stated that a society automatically becomes unlawful if any of its branches was not registered with the ROS. Their subsequent appeal was rejected.

Mahathir sought and obtained the registration of Umno Baru and transferred all the assets from the unlawful Umno to the new vehicle.

Then, the judicial crisis of 1988 followed. The Lord President lost his job and five Supreme Court judges were suspended. Eventually, two were removed and three reinstated.

The immediate aftermath and the questions

The Star reappeared on March 26, 1988. By 1991, its average daily copy sales were on par with New Straits Times (NST), when it was only hovering at 60 per cent of NST’s before Operation Lallang. It continued to surge and has been way ahead of the competition for over 20 years.

Sin Chew Daily, which was one of the half dozen supporting acts in the Chinese newspaper category, also became a runaway leader. The Bahasa Malaysia weekly, Watan, which made up the trio of newspapers suspended, either never reopened or folded up shortly after.

I can still vividly recall looking out my window at the gardener watering the plants and asked “what did he do wrong”? Why did the publishing permit have to be withdrawn and cause so much misery to so many? Ninety nine per cent of the employees had nothing to do with the editorial direction. The word, “kejam” or cruel, was the only description appropriate for the revocation of the permit.

On the incarcerations of so many in Kamunting — they acted out the script most unsuspectingly (or naively?), and helped provide the reasons for their detentions. What a lark!

The High Court’s decision in declaring Umno an unlawful society — was it just?

How can sending 100 headmasters and senior assistants who are not Chinese-educated to Chinese schools be rational? But if intended with mischief, it was a rip-roaring success. It caused many to be detained, including the legendary Chinese educationist, Lim Fong Seng.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was the education minister from 1986 to 1990.

Prior to the judicial crisis in 1988, we heard serious rumblings from the executive about court interpretations, which went against the intent of the authorities.

Checks and balances and the concept of separation of powers were obviously deemed nuisances.

Postscript

I think the nation is still reeling from the events 28 years and eight days ago. Are you? I certainly am.

My incurable positive thinking and the fondness for my country insists that the script for this “epic movie” is still a work-in-progress.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 5 November 2015, 9:20 am and is filed under
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What I had predicted is coming to pass – flouting of parliamentary tradition  and conventions to stack and answer all parliamentary questions about  Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” on the last day

What I had predicted last week is coming  to pass – that the UMNO/BN government would flout parliamentary tradition and conventions to stack all parliamentary questions about Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion “donation” in the current 25-day budget meeting of Parliament and answer them in “one go”, not allowing the subject to be pursued  further even if MPs are completely dissatisfied with a “tai chi” non-answer.

This was my reaction to the bad, undesirable and unacceptable parliamentary precedent set by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Othman, on the first day of the current meeting on Oct. 19, refusing to answer questions on the RM2.6 billion “donation” issue by DAP MPs Lim Guan Eng (Bagan) and Lim Lip Eng (Segambut) on the ground that  the government will answer questions about the RM2.6 billion “donation” and other relations questions on an undetermined date of the present meeting.

Deploring such a new-fangled practice as undermining an important principle of parliamentary control over the Executive, I asked whether this would mean that  the question would be answered on the last day of the 25-day parliamentary meeting on Dec. 3, allowing MPs no room or opportunity to pursue the question if the answer was totally unsatisfactory?

Furthermore, whether the “bad, undesirable and unacceptable” parliamentary practice  would be “set a disastrous precedent for Ministers to evade and avoid answering parliamentary questions posed by Members of Parliament by pushing the questions to the very last day with totally unsatisfactory and unacceptable answers”?

Azalina admitted this when she told the media today  that Najib or another Minister would explain on  the last day of the Parliamentary meeting on Dec. 3 the controversial RM2.6 billion donation that went into Najib’s bank accounts.

It is not use Azalina holding the parliamentary Standing Orders claiming that the rules do not specify that an answer must be given on the day a parliamentary question is asked.

The Standing Orders do not empower a Minister to avoid or evade an answer, and even more important, it has become the Parliamentary tradition and convention in Malaysia for 56 years from 1959 to 2015 for a Minister to answer question when asked, and not  to push it to a later date  or to the very last day of a Parliamentary meeting.

It is shocking that at a time when the Speaker is talking about parliamentary reforms to make Parliament may effective and contemporaneous, we are seeing Ministers doing the very opposite – making Parliament even less competent and efficient in holding the Executive to parliamentary account.

Why is Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” causing such havoc in the whole system of governance, not only in the Cabinet and Executive, the various government agencies and now in Parliament?

It would appear that Najib and the Cabinet have a lot to hide about the RM2.6 billion “donation” and the RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega-scandals, and the entire system of good governance and checks-and-balance to ensure meaningful parliamentary control of the Executive are being turned upside down to achieve their ulterior objective of avoiding full accountability on these twin mega scandals.

Will there be any UMNO/BN MP who would have the conscience and courage to stand up with Opposition MPs to oppose such systematic violation of parliamentary traditions and rights?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 5 November 2015, 3:19 pm and is filed under
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With protracted and inordinate delays  in PAC investigations on 1MDB, would’nt Parliament’s credibility and integrity be undermined  if there is no PAC report on 1MDB when Dewan Rakyat adjourns on Dec 3?

Parliamentary and national attention had been focused in the past few days on the debate between DAP PJ Utara MP and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member  Tony Pua and the 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy on the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal and the threat by the  Speaker, Tan Sri Padikar Amin Mulia’s of resignation by Monday if the debate is held and televised live by RTM tomorrow on Friday.

Pandikar defended his ruling on the ground that he is upholding the integrity of Parliament.

Wouldn’t Parliament’s credibility and  integrity suffer greater damage if there is protracted and inordinate delays in PAC investigations into the 1MDB scandal, particularly if there is no PAC report on the 1MDB scandal when the current meeting of the Dewan Rakyat ends on December 3?

Pandikar asked what was wrong for the proposed debate to be conducted after the PAC had submitted its report to Parliament?

There is nothing wrong, but it would be academic.

A “live discussion, talk show or debate” between Pua and Arul at this time command national attention precisely  because of the protracted and inordinate delays caused by the various circumstances  and investigative bodies, including the PAC, to get to the bottom of the reasons and causes of the  RM50 billion 1MDB scandal, and if there has still to be a debate on these issues post-PAC Report, it could only mean that the PAC had failed in its terms of reference in giving definitive answers,  leaving the  reasons and causes of the 1MDB scandal still very open-ended!

It should be a matter of grave concern to the Speaker, all Parliamentarians and Malaysians that despite three-month PAC derailment of the 1MDB investigations until the appointment of a new PAC Chairman and filling of the other three PAC vacancies, the new PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin has no sense of urgency or priority to make up for the lost three-months.

Arul and the previous 1MDB CEO Shahrol Halmi were to appear before the PAC on August 4 and 5, after absconding from their previous PAC appearances on May 26, until the PAC investigations into 1MDB  investigations were derailed for three months in a major 1MDB exercise involving the sacking of Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Cabinet Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, the dissolution of the multi-agency Special Task Force on 1MDB and internal convulsions like arrests or instant transfers in key enforcement agencies.

Anyone would have thought that the first item of business of the reconstituted PAC under a new Chairman this Monday would be to immediately follow-up on the PAC’s schedule in its 1MDB investigations, as calling up the present and past 1MDB CEOs, Arul and Sharol to appear before the PAC to testify about the 1MDB.

But this was not the case, as no date had been fixed for resuming the PAC investigations into 1MDB interrupted three months ago.

From all indications, no report by the PAC on the 1MDB would be tabled in the current  Parliament before  it adjourns on Dec.3 to enable MPs to specifically debate the 1MDB issue before the end of the budget meeting.

As Pandikar is talking about upholding the integrity of Parliament, shouldn’t he impress on the PAC Chairman Datuk Arifin Hasan and the PAC the importance of the PAC presenting its report on the 1MDB to allow for MPs to debate the issue before the end of the current meeting of Parliament on Dec. 3?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 5 November 2015, 12:11 pm and is filed under
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Call on Najib not to condone Azalina’s unparliamentary schedule but  to be in Parliament on Nov. 16 to give full accountability on the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals

When Parliament resumes on Monday November 16 after the Deepavali holidays, it will be the last day of three-day Ministerial winding-up of the debate on the 2016 Budget.

Will the Prime Minister cum Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak appear in person to wind up the debate and answer the various pertinent issues raised by Members of Parliament from both sides of the House in the six-day debate by the parliamentary backbenchers or will Najib again play truant from Parliament?

The new Minister for the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Othman Said has already set the stage for Najib to play truant from Parliament on Nov. 16, when she told the media yesterday that the government would reply on the controversial RM2.6 billion “donation” that went into Najib’s personal bank accounts on the last day of the 25-day budget meeting on Dec. 3, although she could not yet say whether it would be Najib or another Minister who would be nominated to do the answering.

This is the height of contempt of Parliament, treating Parliament like a classroom of recalcitrant students, with the Speaker given the role of a mere school principal but the Prime Minister like  the education supervisor whose word and action is law!

Azalina who is Minister in the PM’s Department in charge of parliamentary affairs should understand the doctrine of separation of powers in a parliamentary democracy and the principle of parliamentary control of the Executive where the Prime Minister must also comply with the Parliamentary tradition, conventions, procedures and practices and  cannot act as he likes in Parliament.

I call on Najib to show greater respect for Parliamentary tradition, conventions, procedures and practices than his Minister for parliamentary affairs, and not to condone Azalina’s unparliamentary schedule but  to be in Parliament to answer MP speeches on the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals on the final day of Ministerial winding-up on 16th November.

I fully agree with DAP MP for Kulai, Teo Nie Ching that Azalina has completely misunderstood her duties, powers and responsibilities as Minister in charge of parliamentary affairs, thinking that her KPI and No. 1 job to continue as one of Najib’s ministers is to shield Najib from questions from the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals.

Najib should explain what he has to hide that he dare not come to Parliament to give a full accountability on the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals?

The new Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin has impressed no one since his appointment on Oct. 19 with any sense of urgency or priority to complete the PAC investigations on 1MDB as soon as possible, in particular to catch up on the three months lost in the derailment of the PAC investigations since August.

Hasan’s only sense of urgency and priority appears to want to seal the lips of the DAP MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua from speaking on the 1MDB scandal, instead of heeding the concern of the Malay Rulers who in a statement of Oct. 6 called for 1MDB investigations to be completed as “soon as possible” and to take “the appropriate stern action” against all found to be implicated.

This is  a most perverted and inverted sense of urgency and priority by the new PAC Chairman, which may be why Najib wants Hasan to be the new PAC Chairman!

Can Hasan give Parliament and the country an assurance that the PAC would be able to table a report on its 1MDB inquiries to Parliament to allow for a debate before Dewan Rakyat adjourns on Dec. 3?

Hasan late this evening told the press that the 1MDB Chief Executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy will appear before the PAC on Dec. 1, and that the former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Haklmi is being summoned before the PAC a week earlier on Nov. 25.

Arifin should explain why he is talking his own sweet time to continue PAC investigations into the 1MDB, why Arul and Shahrol could not be summoned earlier as by  the middle of the month especially as both of them were supposed to testify before the PAC on August 4 and 5 (after absconding from the earlier May 26 PAC hearing) before the PAC investigations were derailed for three months.

Arul seems to be ever ready to be available for an instant debate with Tony Pua, which has been prohibited by the Speaker on the most ridiculous of grounds – why then is Hasan giving Arul almost one whole month before summoning him to appear before the PAC on such  a matter of grave,  urgent and public priority?

I also cannot understand why Arifin is so “soft” on the key  personality in the  1MDB scandal, tycoon Jho Low, claiming that the  PAC cannot summon him just yet because of the legal snag.

Jho Low is on public record as saying in August that he is ready to assist the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in its investigations into SRC International, which is implicated in the  Wall Street Journal expose which claimed that RM42 million made its way from SRC into Najib’s personal accounts.

What is this “legal snag” that Hassan Arifin is talking about obstructing the PAC from summoning Jho Low to testify before PAC?

I call on Hasan to speed up the dates of hearing for Arul and the past 1MDB CEOs and operatives, as well as to summon Jho Low, so that PAC can table a report on its 1MDB investigations in time for the PAC report to be debated by Parliament before it adjourns on Dec. 3.

I also hope that Najib will set a good Prime Ministerial example by appearing in Parliament on Monday, Nov. 16, to give a full accountability for the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals, and in particular, over the series of shocking events including the sacking of Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Cabinet Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, the dissolution of the multi-agency Special Task Force on 1MDB and internal convulsions like arrests or instant transfers in key enforcement agencies.

With the public appearance of Tan Sri Gani Patail at the Bar Council forum on Security Offences  (Special Measures) Act (Sosma)  on Tuesday, showing him “hale and hearty”, questions as to why Gani was sacked three months before his compulsory retirement, whether it was really on health grounds, have resurfaced.

Let Najib tell Parliament on Nov. 16 whether Gani had been sacked because Gani was on the verge of charging the Prime Minister with corruption or an alternative charge of criminal breach of trust, or to issue a categorical denial in public for the first time.

(Speech at the Penang DAP “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang – Mana RM2.6 billion” ceramah held at Penang Chinese Town Hall, Penang on  Thursday, 5th November 2015 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 6 November 2015, 7:49 am and is filed under
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Its not just me, suspended from Parliament for six months, but the 30 million Malaysians including the three million UMNO members, who are victims of RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal

I thank Penang DAP under the chairmanship of Sdr. Chow Kon Yeow for organising this “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Where have RM2.6 billion gone?” ceramah, and the participation of the Penang Chief Minister, Lim  Guan Eng, the head of Pakatan Harapan secretariat, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Parti Amanah Negara Deputy Chairman Mujahid Yusuf Rawa, Nobel Laureate Pak Samad,  DAP Members of Parliament Zairil Khir Johari and Ram Karpal Singh.

I am a victim of the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals which have wrought such economic and political devastation in the country.

But I am not the only one. In fact, the 30 million Malaysians, including the three million UMNO members, are also victims of the twin mega scandals of the country, for we are suffer from their damaging consequences, like the fall in the value of the Malaysian ringgit, the collapse of the Malaysian stock market, the plunge in international reserves, the exit of foreign capital and our inability to sell Malaysia to foreign investors as a haven for foreign investment.

Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament sent a powerful message when they stood up in Parliament after the Prime Minister cum Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had presented his 2016 Budget on Oct. 23, displaying the placards “Mana RM2.6 billion?”, for undoubtedly, this is the foremost concern of the country and Malaysians which had been conspicuously ignored by the Prime Minister in his budget presentation.

The RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals have corrupted the Malaysian system of governance, resulting in the sacking of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Rural and Regional Development Minister, the Attorney-General, the dissolution of the multi-agency Special Task Force on 1MDB, the derailment of Public Accounts Committee investigations into 1MDB and the unprecedented fracture and fragmentation of the government illustrated by the inter-departmental warfare with arrests or transfers of key government personnel.

Unfortunately, the majority of the 30 million Malaysians, including the majority of the three million UMNO members have not realised that they have become victims of the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals.

As I have been suspended from attending Parliament for half a year, I will spend these six months visiting all the states in the country to explain to the 30 million Malaysians, including the three million UMNO members, that everyone in Malaysia, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans or Kadazans, regardless of gender, age, religion or political affiliation, are the real victims of the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB mega scandals.

It is only when the 30 million Malaysians and the three million UMNO members realise that it is not an esoteric group of Malaysians but they themselves who have become victims of the RM2.6 billion and 1MDB twin mega scandals that sufficient pressure could be brought to bear to compel a full accounting and satisfactory resolution and end to these scandals.

[Speech (2) at the Penang DAP “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Where have RM2.6 billion gone?” ceramah held at Penang Chinese Town Hall, Penang on Thursday, 5th November 2015 at 10 pm]

                This entry was posted on Friday, 6 November 2015, 10:51 am and is filed under
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Penang’s “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang – Mana RM2.6 billion” (photos)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 6 November 2015, 12:44 pm and is filed under
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If DAP and Pakatan Harapan are only interested in our own political interests, we will do everything possible to ensure that Najib will  remain as Prime Minister and lead UMNO/BN into the 14th General Elections because he will be an easier target

If DAP and Pakatan Harapan are only interested in our own political interests, we will do everything possible to ensure that Datuk Seri Najib Razak will remain as Prime Minister and lead UMNO/Barisan Nasional into the 14th General Elections because he will be an easier target with  so many political and economic scandals exploding all over the place.

We will not force an issue of a vote of confidence in Parliament, whether in the form of a no-confidence motion or in defeating the government on an important measure like the Second Reading of the 2016 Budget which will be voted on Monday 16th November at the end of the three-day Ministerial winding-up of the budget debate.

But our national interests must override all our political party interests for we want to send a clear and unmistakable message that the present state of national affairs where confidence, whether national or international,  has plumbed to the lowest depths in the nation’s history, cannot continue for the next two-and-half-years before the 14th General Elections, as the country cannot afford the great economic and nation-building costs of such prolonged crisis of confidence.

November 16. when there will be a vote in the Second Reading of the 2016 Budget, will be Najib’s first test of leadership in Parliament.

Pakatan Harapan has 72 Members of Parliament, but only 71 votes, as I have been suspended from Parliament for six months.  PAS has declared that it will not support any effort to vote out the 2016 Budget.

In these circumstances, is it possible to expect 41 Members of Parliament from UMNO/Barisan Nasional to cross the floor on Nov. 16 to support Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament to vote down Najib’s 2016 Budget by ensuring that there is an absolute simple majority of at least 112 votes out of a Parliament of 222 Members of Parlaiment?

I do not see two scores of UMNO/BN Members of Parliament crossing the floor to join Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament on Nov. 16 to vote down the 2016 Budget.

This is not because there are no UMNO/BN Members of Parliament who are extremely unhappy with Najib’s 2016 Budget, in particular  his complete failure to give proper and satisfactory accounting for the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation”  twin mega scandals, which had jointly created the worst crisis of confidence in the Prime Minister in the nation’s history.

However, unless there are some 40 UMNO/BN Members of Parliament who are prepared to gang up and team up with Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament and risk disciplinary actions by the UMNO/BN leadership, I do not expect to see  UMNO/BN Members of Parliament to act singly, or in twos or threes, to declare their dissatisfaction with Najib which would be tantamount to a break with the Prime Minister.

In the circumstances, I do not expect any surprises in the vote in the second reading of the 2016 Budget on 16th November.

However, even if Najib wins the vote in the 2016 Budget second reading on Nov. 16, it does not mean that the coast is clear for him and that he is safe  and no more  vulnerable from any attacks, particularly from UMNO itself, on his leadership.

After the second reading on the 2016 Budget, there is still the motion of no confidence in Najib as Prime Minister which the Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, has given notice in Parliament.

Even if Azizah’s no-confidence motion is not allowed to come up  in the current meeting of Parliament for debate and vote, Najib’s position as Prime Minister and head of the UMNO/BN coalition government could still come under challenge after the Parliamentary meeting on  Dec. 3, largely through a constitutional precedent on the toppling of a head of government which had been set by none other than Najib himself.

Recent polls  in August 2015 have shown that for the first time in the nation’s history, approval for the government among Malays have fallen below 50 per cent since Merdeka Centre began recording the data in February 2012.

Malay support for the government fell from 52% in January this year to 31 per cent in August, and this could have fallen even lower now in November after the many economic and political economic scandals in the past two months, with the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” scandals continuing to produce one adverse publicity after another, not only in Malaysia but also internationally.

The government’s overall approval rating had also plummetted from 38% in January this year to mere 23 per cent in August.

As I said, if DAP and Pakatan Harapan are only interested in our own political party interests, the last thing we want to do now is to rock Najib’s boat as there cannot be a weaker Prime Minister and head of UMNO/BN to lead the 14th General Election than Najib.

However, we put national interests above everything else, as we do not want Malaysia to go down the drain from a country  which half a century ago had  the potential to be among the best and most  successful countries in the world losing out to one country after another in terms of economic achievements, educational attainments and a show case of successful multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation-building to become a basket-case on the road to a rogue and failed state where there is not only a breakdown of the rule of law but collapse of good and democratic governance.

For this reason, DAP and Pakatan Harapan are prepared to co-operate even with UMNO/BN parties, Members of Parliament and ordinary members who want  to save the country from becoming a rogue and failed state by putting an end to the multitude of disastrous political and economic polices pursued by the Najib government.

A silent war is being waged in UMNO, between the 300 UMNO chieftains who have vested personal interests to protect like Najib and the three million UMNO members who have no such vested personal interests to protect.

DAP and Pakatan Harapan are prepared to work with the three million UMNO members and the 30 million Malaysians to save Malaysia.

The challenge is whether a new political configuration can emerge in Malaysia where national interests  override party or personal interests!

(Speech to the Johor DAP workshop for political assistants to elected representatives held at Taman Megan DAP Branch premises in Batu Pahat on Saturday, 7th November 2015 at 11 am)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 November 2015, 4:29 pm and is filed under
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New PAC Chairman Hasan Arifin is more concerned about shutting up Tony Pua on 1MDB than about completing PAC investigations and getting to the bottom of the RM2.6 billion  “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals

On the first day of the current budget parliamentary meeting on Oct. 19, Parliament elected the UMNO/BN MP for Rompin, Datuk Hasan Arifin as the new Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which had been derailed for three months from continuing its 1MDB investigations because of the promotion of the previous PAC Chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamad  and three other PAC members as Minister and  Deputy Ministers.

However, in the 17 days that he had become PAC Chairman, Hasan seemed more interested  in shutting up the DAP MP for PJ Utara and PAC member, Tony Pua, from speaking about the 1MDB scandal both inside and outside Parliament, than about completing the derailed PAC investigations and getting to the bottom of the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals.

Was this the “brief” that was given to Hasan before his name was proposed as the PAC Chairman in Parliament – his KPI (Key Performance Indicator) as PAC Chairman being to stop Tony Pua from continuing to speak about the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals, both inside and outside Parliament?

Hasan has insisted that the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia has imposed  a blanket gag on Pua from commenting on the 1MDB, including debating about 1MDB in Parliament.

Quoting Pandikar as having said that it was “difficult to differentiate between the chilli from the spice or the sweet and the sugar”, Hasan said that he would advise the PAC and Pandikar if Pua makes any remark about the 1MDB.

Hasan is clearly twisting the Speaker’s words, as Pandikar had told Pua in Parliament yesterday morning that  he could talk on 1MDB if he did not touch on the PAC’s 1MDB probe and Pua had repeated umpteenth times that he had never made use of any classified information which he had obtained as a member of PAC.

A blanket ban on a Member of Parliament from speaking inside and outside Parliament on a particular subject matter would be a most shocking,   unprecedented and outrageous  parliamentary practice, showing to the world that there is something very wrong with the Malaysian Parliament.

In fact, it would fly in the face of current parliamentary practice in Malaysia, as Pua devoted his entire speech in the debate on the 2016 Budget on 27th October 2015 on the 1MDB scandal, without ever touching on information presented in the PAC.

In fact, at one stage, the Deputy Speaker presiding over Parliament at the time, Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee specifically asked Pua whether he was “extracting” information from the Auditor-General’s Interim Report to the PAC, which is still confidential and classified – and Pua made it clear that he was not doing so.

Was Ronald Kiandee breaking parliamentary rules, conventions and practices in allowing Pua to speak for half an hour in the 2016 Budget debate solely on the 1MDB subject?

Neither Pua nor Ronald Kiandee had broken any parliamentary rules and conventions and the Prime Minister cum Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should be in Parliament on November 16  on the last day of the Ministerial winding-up of the debate on the 2016 Budget  to  reply to Pua and other Members of Parliament who have raised the same issue  and give a proper and satisfactory accounting on the twin mega scandals afflicting Malaysia.

The Speaker , on his part, should clarify whether he had imposed a blanket ban on Pua from making any speech whatsoever, whether in Parliament or outside, on 1MDB even when not  touching on the PAC’s 1MDB probe, or whether the PAC Chairman, Arifin is wrong in claiming that the Speaker had imposed a total ban on Pua from speaking on 1MDB.

Hasan would have failed as PAC Chairman if his primary task as PAC Chairman is to shut up Pua from speaking anywhere on the 1MDB scandal than speedily completing PAC’s derailed investigations and getting to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal.

Hasan owes Malaysians a proper explanation why he is taking his own sweet time to continue the derailed PAC investigations on 1MDB.

Why is the  1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy only summoned to appear before the PAC on Dec. 1, when Arul  should have already been summoned to appear before the PAC  – as Hasan has been PAC Chairman for 17 days?

Is it because Arul Kanda Kandasamy is a very busy man and had no time for PAC hearings, the excuse he gave for  absconding from the initial May 26 date fixed by PAC for his appearance?

The PAC next fixed August 5 for Arul’s appearance, but the whole PAC investigations into 1MDB was derailed when the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak carried out his major 1MDB offensive at the end of July, which included the sacking of Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, the dissolution of the multi-agency Special Task Force on 1MDB and the three-month derailment of PAC investigations into 1MDB.

Arul seems to have a lot of time on his hands, and there can be no reason for the dilly-dally by Hasan as   PAC Chairman to summon Arul to appear before the PAC in the shortest time possible – especially as Arul is available within 48 hours notice to have “live telecast” debate with Pua over RTM on 1MDB today if the Speaker had not stopped it.

On Oct. 27, Arul had the time to give to a MCA forum a special briefing on 1MDB and on November 14, Arul will be at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) in Kuala Lumpur to give  a special briefing for UMNO division chiefs from all over the country on 1MDB.

Why is it not possible for Hasan to summon Arul to appear before the PAC any time in the 18 days between  Oct. 27 to Nov. 14 to continue PAC  investigations into 1MDB so that the PAC can present its report on 1MDB to Parliament in time for Members of Parliament from both sides of the Hosue to debate it before Parliament adjourns on Dec. 3?

This episode is  the best proof that Hasan has no proper sense of urgency or priority  that PAC investigations into 1MDB should be completed in the shortest time possible, a sentiment shared by Malay Rulers in their statement of Oct. 6 calling for the 1MDB investigations to be  concluded in the shortest time possible and for the culprits to be punished sternly.

The ball is now in Hasan’s court.

Will Hasan expedite the stalled PAC investigations into 1MDB and  call  up Arul to appear before the PAC before his briefing to UMNO leaders on November 14?

(Speech at the DAP Bakri Anniversary dinner held in Bakri, Muar on Friday, 6th November 2015 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 November 2015, 7:07 am and is filed under
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Police and MCMC raid of Malaysiakini and Star Online must be condemned in strongest possible terms as part of a repressive plan to create culture of fear to stifle freedom of expression and dissent in country

The police and Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) raid of Malaysiakini and Star Online yesterday must be condemned in the strongest possible terms as part of a repressive plan to create a culture of fear to stifle freedom of expression and dissent in the country.

Pakatan Harapan leaders had been on the receiving end of lies and criminal defamation for years but I do not see the police and MCMC taking any action against the UMNO/BN and pro UMNO/BN media or cybertroopers for these flagrant lies and falsehoods.

A classic case is the Utusan Malaysia front-page report that the DAP wanted to create a Christian Malaysia, which was not on a most mischievous, malicious and diabolical lie – but no  action had been taken by the authorities against Utusan Malaysia not only in this instance but also many similar such cases by the same guilty parties.

The government of  Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has done enough to stain Malaysia’s reputation as a moderate, transparent and democratic nation without more violations of basic democratic rights and freedoms of Malaysians as in the police and MACC raids on Malaysiakini and Star Online yesterday.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 November 2015, 8:33 am and is filed under
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“SAYA ORANG TUA DARI SASTERA, ORANG MUDA DARI SIASAH”

By
~ A. SAMAD SAID

UCAPAN MALAM SOLIDARITI BAGI LIM KIT SIANG @5.11.15

SETIAP kali kerajaan dikritik atau ditegur

biasanya sangat cepat ia ditafsir atau didakwa

sebagai hajat atau upaya menggoyah kerajaan.

Tidak ditanya apakah selaran atau kritik itu

sahih atau palsu, berdasar atau tidak, seolah-

olah ia tidak perlu.

Tampaknya, teguran atau saranan itu sentiasa

bermula sebagai salah atau sememangnya nakal.

Kerajaan kita kini seolah-olah menganggap yang

menegur tetap seteru, tidak kiralah apa yang ditegur,

sementara kita orang biasa atau kelompok

oposisi, alhamdulillah, masih berupaya coba tetap

berarah. Malah, jika berkhayal pun, masih tetap

berniat sihat.

Lihat, kini yang mengkritik atau menegur kerajaan

bukan lagi melulu pihak oposisi. Sebaliknya,

semakin ramai dan bergema yang resah membantah

mula datang dari kalangan parti pemerintah

sendiri. Khusus tentang kesamaran 1MDB, yang

menegur, malah ketika-ketika tidak tersangka,

datang dari tokoh-tokoh UMNO yang terpenting.

TS Muhyiddin Yassin menggusari sumber modal

bagi 1MDB, dan turut menggusari mengapa

modal sedemikian perlu masuk ke simpanan

pemimpin yang tertentu; sementara Shafie Afdal,

tokoh Barisan dari wilayah timur, turut resah

dengan kesamaran sumber modal yang sama.

Dan lebih menggelorakan lagi upaya bekas

tokoh UMNO Batu Kawan membawa keresahan

itu sehingga ke Singapura, Switzerland, Perancis

dan Hong Kong setelah upayanya melaporkan

keresahan niaga 1MDB itu tidak berkesan

di negaranya sendiri.

Ternyata kekecohan itu terus menyala dan

semakin berang membakar. Saking kerasnya

kritikan, lalu Khairuddin Hassan ~ malah

peguamnya ~ kini tersangkut dalam jaring Sosma.

Pendeknya, berniat untuk memperjelas krisis

siasah tanah air menjadi semakin beranjau

dan menyala.

Kini ternyata menjadi lebih berserabut lagi dengan

upaya mendebatkannya secara terbuka tersangkak

oleh “peraturan”  khusus yang menjadi dilema

besar, sehingga debat besar sudah pun tergendala,

memakan beberapa orang mangsa yang sebenarnya

berniat baik untuk memperjernih kekalutan seputar

1MDB.

Dalam keserabutan itulah tampaknya kini lidah

YB Lim Kit Siang telah sempat dikacip selama enam

bulan. Betapa sesianya peranan seorang Wakil

Rakyat yang terhalang suaranya. Ternyata

perkembangan baru di Dewan Rakyat itu sendiri

mula merunsingkan awam. Di mana lagi tempat

sebaiknya untuk rakyat mencari jawapan jika

tidak boleh diharapkannya lagi dari khidmat Wakil

Rakyat yang terkacip lidahnya.

Ternyata kebisuan baru di pentas bersuara yang

bermaruah itu mula membimbangi umum, apalagi

Wakil Rakyat yang merasa terputus dari tugas

dan tanggungjawabnya.

Ternyata kepada Wakil-Wakil Rakyat yang tulen

perkembangan kacip lidah yang baru ini adalah

satu permulaan lain bagi menyelesaikan keserabutan

 1MDB. Mula terbayang tembok yang tebal dan

tinggi, sesuatu yang sangat menggerunkan. Apalagi

apabila  disedari bahawa tindakan kacip lidah itu

bakal menular menjadi penyakit yang payah disembuh

secara santun dan berakal.

Saya kira itulah antara sebabnya YB Gobind Deo

merasakan perlu untuk menilai masalah dan mencari

jawapan warasnya demi menyelamatkan suara

demokrasi yang murni dan tulus itu.

Tindakan mengacip lidah di Dewan Rakyat dirasakan

perlu diwarasi melalui satu saluran badan penimbang

yang adil dan berhemah. Tampaknya, inilah sebenarnya

yang sedang digerakkan agar suara waras para

Wakil Rakyat dapat terus bermanfaat bagi rakyat awam.

Lidah YB Lim Kit Siang perlu dimuliakan semula.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 November 2015, 4:49 pm and is filed under
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Five  factors why Najib cannot shift responsibility for the country’s woes to external causes  – twin mega scandals and prolonged crisis of confidence in Najib premiership

Yesterday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak told the Malay Contractors Association that blame should not  be placed entirely on the government for what is happening in the country right now, especially with the weakening ringgit, as the main factors causing this are external and out of the government’s control.

I do not think Najib would find much sympathy or support  for his attempt to “pass the buck” and blame  external factors for the country’s woes.

Najib is guilty of serious  denial syndrome in refusing to accept that while the falling oil prices have a huge impact on the depreciation of the Malaysian ringgit, the prolonged crisis of confidence and the  political turmoils in the country have been major factors undermining the economy.

Let me outline five factors  why Najib cannot shirk or shake responsibility for the country’s present prolonged woes:

1. The RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal.

It is now over four months since the Wall Street Journal  (WSJ) first reported the shocking revelation of RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts for the last general elections in 2013, and although  Najib had not been able to deny the WSJ report, he has not been  able to answer two simple questions being asked all over the country: Where the RM2.6 billion donation came from and where the RM2.6 billion had gone to.

2. The RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.

Although Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said in his last speech as Deputy Prime Minister when addressing the Cheras UMNO Division on July 26, 2015 that the 1MDB debts had ballooned from RM42 billlion to more than RM50 billion, no one in government including Najib had dared to contradict or deny Muhiddin’s estimate that 1MDB has become a  RM50 billion scandal.

Although many agencies purportedly investigating the 1MDB scandal, whether willingly or unwillingly, are dragging their feet on the 1MDB investigations, over half a dozen countries are independently conducting a probe into various aspects of impropriety and illegality of the 1MDB transactions.

This has brought unprecedented shame to the reputation of Malaysia as well as giving an international dimension to the prolonged crisis of confidence afflicting Malaysia.

3. Najib investigated by FBI whether he is a kleptocrat.

It is the height of national shame that New York Times reported on Sept 11 that Najib was being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the US Department of Justice probe under the DOJ’s Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010 but neither Najib nor anyone in Putrajaya had been able to deny or clarify the report after a passage of close to seven weeks.

Never before in Malaysia’s 58-year nation-building history under five previous Prime Ministers from 1957 to 2009 had the country’s Prime Minister had to suffer the dishonour and humiliation of being investigated by a foreign country as to whether he is a kleptocrat or not.

4. Malaysian Governent never so fractured as now.

The recent public stand-off between the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the fully-owned Finance Ministry company SRC International is the latest example that the Malaysian government had never been been so fractured  or chaotic since Merdeka as now.

On Thursday, SRC International issued an ultimatum that unless “leakages or possible sale of classified information” about MACC investigations into SRC International are completed, it would not co-operate with MACC.

This led to a warning to SRC International by MACC that the state-owned company, which is being investigated by MACC in connection with the reported RM42 million channelled into Najib’s bank accounts, would have face action for obstructing MACC investigations.

This is a most extraordinary state of affairs and has never happened before. SRC International in under the Finance Minister who is Najib while MACC is under the Prime Minister who is also Najib.

How could  relations between two agencies  both of which are under Najib, although in different Ministries,  deteriorated to such a stage as to be warring publicly?

What is the status now of the MACC’s ongoing investigations into the SRC International?

In fact, this raises the question as to whether Najib is in full charge and control of Putrajaya or whether there is somebody else who is running the Federal Government –  a question reinforced by various strange goings-on in Putrajaya, including the suspicious sacking of Tan Sri Gani Patail as Attorney-General and the various  strange and still unexplained arrests or immediate transfers meted out to top officers from key enforcement agencies in the past three months.

5. Najib’s popularity rating, including among Malay voters, at an all-time low.

Whether Najib can last until the next general election in 2018 as Prime Minister, a new political reality is intruding into the political equation – Najib’s popularity rating, including among Malay voters, plumbing to an all-time low.

Recent polls in August 2015 show that for the first time in the nation’s history, approval for the government among Malays have fallen below 50 per cent since Merdeka Centre began recording the data in February 2012.

Malay support for the government fell from 52% in January this year to 31 per cent in August, and this could have fallen even lower now in November after the many economic and political scandals in the past two months.

The government’s overall approval rating had also plummetted from 38% in January this year to mere 23 per cent in August.

These five factors have combined to make Najib personally responsible for the depth of the multitude of crisis afflicting Malaysia – economic, political, good governance and nation-building – to the exent that analysts are talking about the approach of a “perfect storm” to hit the country.

Instead of wasting time denying that he has any responsibility for the woes of the country and the approaching “perfect storm”, Najib should tell Malaysians what he is doing about the prolonged crisis of  confidence bedevilling his premiership and government, and in particular the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.

(Speech at the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Mana RM2.6 billion” Kopitiam Ceramah in Air Hitam, Johor on Sunday, 8th November 2015 at 1 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 8 November 2015, 4:40 pm and is filed under
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Just as Deepavali celebrates eternal battle and victory of light over darkness, the darkness of the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals must be exposed by the light of  integrity, transparency and good governance

Deepavali celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of truth and justice over falsehood and oppression.

The course of human history is replete with examples in different countries and civilisations of the hard and difficult battles fought by righteous men and women down the ages  to uphold truth and justice against injustice, falsehoods and oppression and how eventually, light prevailed over darkness.

We must always be mindful that the  darkest hour is just before dawn!

For me, the Deepavali this year will be quite out of the ordinary, for I have been suspended from Parliament for six months not because I had committed any crime but because I was speaking what was in the hearts and minds of ordinary Malaysians in Parliament  – that the three-month derailment of the Public Accounts Committee in its investigations into the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals was wrong and unacceptable and that the Parliament Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia had no such powers to stop the PAC from continuing with its 1MDB investigations for three months.

The three-month derailment of PAC investigations into Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s two mega scandals was only one of the many hanky-panky manoeuvres which those in power resorted to in order to obstruct speedy investigations, which had included the sacking of the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, the dissolution of the multi-agency Special Task Force investigating the 1MDB and the arrest or transfer of top government officers who dare to show independence and professionalism in the investigations into 1MDB scandal.

This is however not the firs time I had been suspended for a long spell from Parliament – for some 23 years ago in May 1992, I was suspended from Parliament for eight months for speaking up in Parliament on behalf of the downtrodden Indians who were victims of the RM100 million MAIKA Telekoms shares scandal.

I am now a victim of Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals, but I am not the only one in the country. In fact, all the 30 million Malaysians, including the three million ordinary UMNO members, are also victims of the twin mega scandals, for nobody can be exempted from the adverse consequences of these scandals, like the fall in the value of the Malaysian ringgit, the plunge in the Malaysian stock market and the international reserves, the prolonged crisis of confidence in the government resulting in foreign investors avoiding Malaysia, and the resultant economic and nation-building crisis afflicting the nation.

The RM2.6 billion and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals are the latest manifestation of “darkness” which Malaysians must battle against with the “light” of integrity, transparency, accountability and good governance – not just by one community, religion or region, but by all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans, Orang Asli, by Malaysians of all religious faiths  and in every state in the country.

As far as the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal is concerned, Malaysians want answer to two questions: Firstly, where the RM2.6 billion came from and secondly, where the RM2.6 billion have gone to?

Why is it so difficult for  the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak  to answer these two simple questions, that the Prime Minister want so many “heads to roll” in order to avoid answering them?

Willi Najib go to Parliament on Monday, Nov. 16 on the last day of the three-day Ministerial winding-up of the parliamentary debate on the 2016 Budget to answer these two questions or would he continue to “run and hide”?

However, if all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, demand that these two questions must be answered without any more delay, there will be no place for Najib or any UMNO/BN Minister or leader to run and hide.

We await another manifestation of the Deepavali message of the triumph of light over darkness in the RM2.6 billion and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals!

(Speech at the DAP Gelang Patah Deepavali celebration at Taman Universiti, Skudai on Saturday, November 7, 2015 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 8 November 2015, 7:37 am and is filed under
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Tun Dr Ismail would’ve been disappointed with current leadership, says son

by Anisah Shukry

The Malaysian Insider

8 November 2015

Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s second deputy prime minister, would have been disappointed by the state of the country’s leadership if he were alive today, his eldest son Tawfik Ismail said.

The government is paralysed and the country is “in a mess” because leaders are preoccupied with defending Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over issues, such as 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and his RM2.6 billion donation, says Tawfik in an interview with The Malaysian Insider.

“I think he would have been disappointed with the way the leadership is right now,” said the 64-year-old in an interview in conjunction with the release of Drifting into Politics, a collection of writings by Dr Ismail himself.

It was also the 100th birth anniversary of Dr Ismail on November 4.

“He would’ve been quite disturbed that the moral compass has been lost when it comes to racial relations,” added Tawfik of his father, who was renowned for his role in rebuilding Malaysia in the aftermath of the May 13, 1969 race riots and served as deputy prime minister under Najib’s father, Tun Abdul Razak.

Dr Ismail died in 1973 at 57.

In the interview, Tawfik also said he believed Najib could change, provided more moderates spoke up and exerted pressure against lobby groups with more extremist views which were influencing Najib.

Tawfik said Malaysia’s leadership had become, over the years more right-wing, money politics had flourished in ruling party Umno, race was used as a scapegoat, and religious authorities were encroaching more and more into the personal lives of Malaysians.

But unlike many government critics, Tawfik does not believe that the solution lies in removing Najib – mainly because he doesn’t think Najib can be removed in the first place.

The opposition simply “won’t get their act together”, while former Umno president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had, during his time, placed safeguards which would make unseating the party president and prime minister near impossible, he said.

These safeguards included how the Umno president was elected, how the security forces were appointed and amendments to the judiciary act.

Tawfik was also unmoved by arguments that Najib should resign over the controversies surrounding 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donation.

He said the matter had become so convoluted that no one could be sure who was telling the truth: Najib or his critics.

He compared the back-and-forth between the government and the opposition with a record playing the same track: “It gets boring”.

And while others would insist otherwise, Tawfik said there was a “glimmer of hope” in Najib, whom he described as “a moderate who has his back to a wall”.

“We want to break the hold that the right-wingers have on Najib. If enough moderates come out, let their voices be heard, Najib can change,” said Tawfik.

“Our view is to work with whoever’s in power to steer Malaysia back to the right path.”

The “we” he was referring to is the G25 – a group of prominent and retired Malay civil servants promoting moderation, of which Tawfik is a part.

The G25 began as a group of 25 retired civil servants who late last year wrote an open letter to the government appealing for a return to moderation and rational dialogue on the position and application of Islam in laws and national policy.

The group has since grown in number and comments on issues involving race and religion while advocating moderation. – November 8, 2015.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 8 November 2015, 7:52 am and is filed under
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Five things I will do on RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals  if I am Chairman of Public Accounts Committee

These are the five things I will do on the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals if I am Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee:

Firstly
, I would have summoned the former Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail as a star witness of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigations, in particular to testify whether there was a draft corruption charge sheet against the Prime Minister, Datuk Sri Najib Razak related to 1MDB and whether this was the real reason why Gani had been summarily sacked as Attorney-General although he was three months short of compulsory retirement?

Gani’s presence and testimony is all the more urgent as a result of two recent developments: the statement by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Oct. 22 that it had never denied the authenticity of a draft charge sheet against the Prime Minister and Gani’s first public appearance at the Bar Council forum on Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma)  on 3rd  November rubbishing the government claim that Gani was removed for “health” reasons as Gani had showed up at the public forum not in a wheelchair or as an invalid but looking very “hale, hearty and healthy”!

Secondly
, I would have summoned the present Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali as another star witness before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearings to find out what change of policies he had initiated on the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals on replacing Gani as Attorney-General, and in particular why he rejected Bank Negara Malaysia’s recommendations for prosecution against 1MDB for violation of financial laws.

Would Gani have agreed to the Bank Negara recommendation for prosecution of 1MDB if he is still Attorney-General in contrast to Apandi Ali?

Furthermore, Apandi Ali should also explain why whistleblower and former Batu Kawan division deputy chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan and his lawyer Matthias Chang have been charged under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 which allowed detention without trial – in total contradiction  to Ministerial assurances given to Parliament that Sosma would not be abused as it related to special measures on security offences for the purpose of maintaining public order and security, which could have no connection with either Khairuddin or Matthias.

Thirdly
, as Chairman of PAC, I would have ensured that PAC gets to the bottom of WHO were the donor/donors of the RM2.6 billion “donation” deposited into Najib’s personal bank accounts a month before Parliament was dissolved for the holding of the 13th General Elections in May 2013.

Former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir had ridiculed the story that an Arab potentate had anonymously  donated RM2.6 billion to Najib for the 13th General Election campaign, expressing doubt that there is such a generous Arab who is prepared to part with billions of ringgit when he could not get a single sen from the Arab countries when he had solicited aid from them for the International Islamic University when he was Prime Minister.

Mahathir further pointed out that the Arab leaders did not even bother to reply when he had written to them asking for help to finance an Islamic centre in Oxford University that Malaysia had funded.

If the DAP had  received a single sen from any  foreign source for our party activities in the past 50 years, party leaders would have been charged and jailed and the party accused of being guilty of anti-national and even treasonous activities.

With RM2.6 billion from a foreign source as admitted by Najib himself, would this make the Prime Minister guilty of anti-national and even a treasonous act?

There is one more question to be established by the PAC.  Was RM2.6 billion the total amount deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts or was it more than RM2.6 billion?

Fourthly
, as Chairman of PAC, I would be  equally  committed to get to the bottom of the other question  resonating throughout the country, where have the RM2.6 billion gone to?

The RM2.6 billion was allegedly donated to Najib for the 13th General Election election campaign.

Malaysia’s election laws stipulate that the maximum expenditure legally permissible for a parliamentary candidate is RM200,000 while the maximum legal expenditure for a State Assembly candidate is RM100,000.

With 222 Parliamentary seats and 505 State Assembly seats to be contested in the 13th General elections, this meant that the maximum election expenditures permitted by Malaysian election laws come to RM44.4 million  by all UMNO/BN’s 222 Parliamentary candidates and  RM50.5  million by the  505 BN  State Assembly candidates, or a total of RM94.9 million – short of RM100 million!

But Najib has received  RM2.6 billion “donation” which is 26 time more than the legally permissible election expenditures for all the 222 Parliamentary and 505 State Assembly candidates from Barisan Nasional.

Two questions immediately arise:  Firstly, are the anonymous donor/donors so ignorant of Malaysian election laws that they are prepared to donate 26 times what is legally permissible to be spent by the 222 Parliamentary and 505 State Assembly candidates of BN in the 13th General Elections?  Where have the rest of the RM2.5 billion ringgit, which is over 96% of the donation, gone to?

Secondly, how can Najib accept RM2.6 billion donation for the 13th General Election, when the maximum expenditures legally permissible for all the BN Parliamentary and State Assembly are  less than RM100 million?

Former MCA President, Datuk Chua Soi Lek recently threw some light on the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal, when he recollected how Najib had in a Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting before the 13th general election made an unprecedented pledge to fund BN component parties.

Chua said Najib delivered what he promised and disbursed funds to the BN component parties for the 13th General Election campaign.

All the heads of Barisan Nasional parties should appear before the PAC to state how much they received from Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” for the 13th General Elections campaign and what amounts were given to the BN candidates, whether parliamentary or state assembly.

Fifthly
, if I am head of PAC, I would ensure that the PAC would table a report on  its investigations into the RM2.6 billion and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals latest by November 30, so that MPs from both sides of the House could debate the PAC report latest by the last day of the current meeting of Parliament on Dec. 3.

Will the new PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin do all five, or any one of these five, measures?

(Speech at the DAP “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Mana RM2.6 billion?” ceramah in Bandar Sungai Long, Selangor on Sunday, 8th November 2015 at 8 pm)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 9 November 2015, 11:47 am and is filed under
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