Nobody is interested in Arul’s fairy tales  but Najib should step forward to account fully for the 1MDB “kleptocracy at its worst”

New Straits Times today carried an extraordinary headline: “Ask me anything, Arul Kanda tells DAP leaders” on the invitation of the 1MDB Chief Executive Officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy to DAP leaders to a townhall session in Penang to explain issues about the 1MDB.

Let me tell Arul – that he is at least  two years too late. Furthermore, nobody is interested in Arul’s fairy tales about the 1MDB scandal, as the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should step forward to account fully for the 1MDB “kleptocracy at its worst” which has landed Malaysia with the ignominy, infamy and iniquity as a global kleptocracy!

In the past 16 days, Arul was suddenly holding court almost everyday, purportedly seeking to explain the various facets of the octopian 1MDB money-laundering scandal.

I was surprised that Arul had suddenly become a daily publicity-seeker on the 1MDB scandal  but now it is obvious it was all part of Najib’s 14th General Election strategy to pull the wool over everybody’s eyes, neutralise any Pakatan Harapan offensive on the 1MDB scandal and to remove the sting from multi-faceted octopian scandal  of the 1MDB “kleptocracy at its worst” – to use the description of the United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions.

Why didn’t Najib, who must legally, politically and personally bear full responsibility for the 1MDB scandal,  tell Malaysians and the world in the past three years: Ask me anything about the 1MDB?

Instead, even Parliament was prevented from probing the truth of the 1MDB scandal, and MPs were not allowed to ask questions or debate the 1MDB scandal.

I was twice suspended from Parliament for six months, both occasions basically related in the 1MDB scandal. In the last meeting of the 13th Parliament, I was virtually treated as a parliamentary “ghost” by the Speaker and the Deputy Speakers who claimed that they could not see me although I was sitting in the parliamentary front row and attended Parliament daily and diligently for the last six days of the meeting.

Now suddenly, the 1MDB wanted to explain everything about the “kleptocracy at its worst” although they were doing their utmost for over three years to keep the scandal under wraps.

Even the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was not allowed to probe Najib’s role in the 1MDB scandal, which is why Najib dared not accept my challenge for him to publicly quote chapter and verse in  the PAC Report on 1MDB where the PAC had cleared him of any wrongdoing in 1MDB!

But the present preparedness  to tell everything about the octopian 1MDB scandal did not come from Najib, but from the highly-paid 1MDB hack, the 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy.

Before Arul deserves any attention, let him declare how much remuneration he had received for being 1MDB CEO, not only his monthly pay and allowances, but all the perks and privileges he received and would be receiving as 1MDB CEO and all other agreed terms of his remuneration.

Is Arul prepared to declare all the remuneration he had received and would be receiving as 1MDB CEO, performing the role as public defender of the octopian 1MDB kleptocracy?

Strangely enough, thanks to Arul, the octopian 1MDB “kleptocracy at its worst” has returned to the forefront of issues for the 14th General Election.

I challenge everyone of the 730-odd Barisan Nasioanl parliamentary and state assembly candidates to declare before Polling Day on Wednesday, 9th May  2018 that they want full investigations into the international 1MDB money-laundering scandal, which spans the globe, causing Malaysia the ignominy, infamy and iniquity of a global kleptocray.

This will be a crucial test as to whether the 730-odd BN parliamentary and State assembly candidates are men and women of principle and substance who are prepared to subordinate their self-interests of being elected as MP or State Assembly representative to the greater interests of saving Malaysia from becoming a kleptocratic state and rogue democracy.

Let us see whether there is anyone among the 730-odd BN parliamentary and State assembly candidates, whether from UMNO, MCA, MIC, Gerakan or anyone of the Sarawak and Sabah component parties of Barisan Nasional who are prepared to break ranks with Najib because the UMNO/BN leadership must bear full and final responsibility for the 1MDB scandal and Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy.

Najib believes that he could get away from full accounting for the 1MDB scandal in the 14th general election, by allowing Arul to run riot on his 1MDB roadshow, obfuscating and censoring detailed examination and debate of what the US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions had described as “kleptocracy at its worst”.

If Najib succeeds in burying the 1MDB scandal as an important issue in the 14th General Election, the 1MDB scandal would become not only the “heist of the century” but the biggest electoral fraud in Malaysian history.

(Media Statement in Penang on Wednesday, May 2, 2018)

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Five days to decide whether there will be the first change of the Malaysian Government in 61 years

This is the sixth day  of the 11-day campaign for the 14th General Election. We have passed the mid-way point to the Polling Day on Wednesday, 9th May 2016.

The political landscape already looked quite different from the political configuration before Nominaton Day on April 28, 2018.

The 14GE is the first of its kind in Malaysia, for a combination of political events and forces had made it as virtually a Prime Ministerial direct election, with voters deciding not only on who is to be the Member of Parliament and State Assembly representative in their respective constituencies, but also who is going to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia – whether Najib is to continue in Putrajaya or whether the seventh Prime Minister will be Tun Mahathir to be followed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the eighth Malaysian Prime Minister.

This is why  May 9, 2018 can be a very important historic one, to bring about three political changes in Malaysia – change the Prime Minister, the Malaysian Government in Putrajaya and the national policies which have impeded and undermined the fulfilment of the Malaysian Dream for Malaysia to be a top world-class nation; and for other states apart from Penang and Selangor, three further political changes: change the Mentri Besar or Chief Minister and change the state government policies which are detrimental to the rights, interests and welfare of the people.

A political phenomena which take months to develop can be achieved in a matter of days in the feverish pace of an general election campaign, and this is a phenomena which is taking place in the 14GE, viz:

1. A Malay tsunami  in the making in the rural and Felda areas. The 14GE started with the Najib and UMNO declaring from the rooftops that there was no Malay tsunami, which is now replaced with attempts to run down the Malay tsunami, with some UMNO leaders claiming that the Malay tsunami was intended to destroy the Malay institutions and agencies.

Najib and the UMNO leader cannot be more wrong. The Malay tsunami has not come to destroy Malay institutions and agencies, but to ensure that the Malay institutions and agencies fulfil their mission of making Malays  successful Malaysians and the Malay race a progressive and modernizing one. The Malay tsunami is not racist as it is not anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Kadazan or anti-Iban, but an important part of the Malaysian tsunami for Malaysians to set Malaysia free from  the corruption,  abuses of power, injustices and exploitation of the UMNO/B  government and cronies.

2. (i)The advent of another “game-changer” for the 14GE, with the defection of former Finance Minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin and former long-standing Minister of International Trade Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz from the ranks of UMNO and in support of Pakatan Harapan to replace UMNO/BN in Putrajaya. Daim is popularising “RABU” – the UMNO/BN choice of a Wednesday for Polling Day to discourage high voter-turnout – as representing  “Rakyat Akan Buang Umno”!

(ii) Another “game changer” is the candidature of Nik Omar Nik Abdul Aziz, the second son of the late PAS spiritual leader Tok guru Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat as AMANAH candidate, whose maiden political speech is undoubtedly one of the most impressive in the nation’s history.

3. The Big Lie that the Malays will perish if UMNO is defeated suffered its greatest blow when the longest 22-year serving Prime Minister, two Deputy Prime Ministers (Anwar Ibrahim and Muhyiddin Yassin), the nation’s longest serving International Trade Minister, collectively called for the defeat of UMNO in the 14GE.  Would any Malay believe that Mahathir, Anwar, Muhyiddin, Daim and Rafidah are combined in  a joint conspiracy to betray the Malays in calling of a “change of contractor” in Malaysia!

4. Najib’s fear for Mahathir, as evidenced by the following the three incidents;

(1) 30-day provisional dissolution order to PPBM on the eve of dissolution of Parliament when it was UMNO which was illegal;

(2) The wanton tearing out of the photograph of Mahathir (as well as Anwar) on Pakatan Harapan election billboards, while MCA erected in MCA constituiecies the picture of  China President Xi Jingpin;

(3) Police using Mahathir as “guinea-pig” for investigation and prosecution under the Anti-Fake News Act, when the first person to be arrested and charged in court is none other than Najib himself, for the falsehoods he had spread that there is no octopian 1MDB scandal and that not a sen had been lost, when the 1MDB money-laundering scandal is the subject of criminal and financial regulatory investigations and actions in some 10 different countries;

(4) The latest polls report by pollster Merdeka Centre that “Pakatan nearing

threshold to take Johor”, with the Merdeka Centre direrctor Ibrahim Suffian reporting that preliminary surveys showed that Pakatan Harapan was getting closer to the threshold needed to capture the state of Johor in the coming 14th general election.

He said for now, BN would still emerge victorious but the contest was expected to be “very close” going into the final days of campaigning prior to polling day on May 9.

(5) Najib’s clear failure to give a full accounting of the 1MDB scandal, which has given Malaysia the infamy and ignominy of a kleptocratic state.

Many things can happen in the last five days of the 14GE election campaign, in particular whether the first political change to the Malaysian government is going to take place for the first time in 61 years in the nation’s history.

(Media Statement in Penang on Thursday, 3rd May 2018)

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I have never accused Najib or UMNO of being  anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Buddhism, anti-Christianity or anti-Hinduism and they should stop making wild and false allegations that DAP and I are anti-Malay and anti-Islam

It is time that Malaysians return to honest, decent and civil politics about policies and programmes instead of the dishonest, indecent and uncivil politics of lies, hate and fear arousing primordial racial and religious sentiments of fear and hatred.

For instance, I have never accused the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak of being anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Buddhism, anti-Christianity or anti-Hinduism and Najib, UMNO leaders and UMNO propaganda apparatus should stop making wild and false allegations that DAP and I are anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

Najib and UMNO leaders warn that if UMNO is defeated in the 14th General Election, the Malays in Malaysia will perish.

How can Najib and the UMNO leadership, who have dominated the government in the country for more than half a century, have such low opinion of the Malays as to believe that the Malays are so gullible that they could believe such trash and falsehoods churned out by the UMNO propaganda mills?

How can the Malays perish in Malaysia when Tun Mahathir will be the seventh Malaysian Prime Minister and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim the eighth Malaysian Prime Minister if Pakatan Harapan defeats UMNO/BN in the 14GE on May 9, 2018?

Three demographic factors will ensure that the Malays will not perish if UMNO is defeated in the 14GE: firstly, the increasing Malay percentage in the Malaysian population; secondly, the overwhelming majority of Malaysian voters are Malay voters and thirdly, the overwhelming majority of parliamentary and state assembly constituencies in the country are Malay voter-majority constituencies.

But apart from these three demographic factors, there is the critical democratic factor which will ensure that the Malays will not lose their rights and become strangers in their own land as warned by UMNO leaders. We in Pakatan Harapan wants to win not just the 14th General Election, but also future general elections – the 15th, 16th and others thereafter.

A Pakatan Harapan Federal Government which wants its government mandate to be renewed in subsequent General Elections must be able prove in the next five years before the 15GE that a Pakatran Harapan Government in Putrajaya is better than UMNO/BN government for all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans or Orang Asli or be voted out of Putrajaya in the 15th General Election in five years’ time.

Just as the Chinese in Malaysia do not perish without MCA, Indians do not perish without MIC, Malays will not perish without UMNO!

The trouble with UMNO is that after half a century of nationhood and being the party in power, UMNO leaders at all levels have forgotten that they are servants of the Malay race and the Malaysian people, and are acting as the masters not only of the Malay race but the Malaysian people as well.

UMNO leaders have come to regard the Malays as a very gullible community who is easily duped, ignoring the fact that this is an information age when information travels at the speed of light!

I do not believe there is any race, religion or culture which will want their leaders to come from the ranks of the 4Ps of pencuri, perompak, penyagak and penyamun for the country to be regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

I have no doubt that every Chinese, Indian and Malay (if he or she is aware of th1MDB scandal and the Implications of a “global kleptocracy” will solidly support Pakatan Harapan to Save Malaysia from hurtling towards the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

May 9, 2018 will be a great test whether Malaysians can be duped to support Malaysia continuing as a global kleptocracy.

(Speech in Alor Star on Wednesday, 2nd May 2018 at 7 pm)

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May 9, 2018 is the third time in Sabah history to return power to the people after 1976 and 1985

May 9, 2018 is the third time in Sabah history to return power to the people 1976 and 1985, when Sabahans “tukar baju”.

Historian Lord Acton has rightly said the “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely”, and this is best illustrated by the 55-year history of Sabah since the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

In the last five decades, we see the double abuse of power – firstly by the Federal Government which trampled on the rights of Sabahans in utter disregard of the rights of the people of Sabah as agreed under the Malaysia Agreement 1963; and secondly, the abuses by the Sabah State Government itself, even those which started off carrying the great hopes and aspirations of Sabahans for change and reforms which prompted the two great electoral results in Sabah in 1976 and 1985.

Now we are on the cusp of a third great electoral change in Sabah, for Sabahans had been treated badly by both the Federal and State Governments of  Barisan Nasional in the past decades.

The Barisan Nasional manifesto for the 14th General Election pledged to implement the Malaysia Agreement 1963 proposals based on consensus achieved in Barisan Nasional.

This is a most fraudulent manifesto.

What has consensus got to do with implementing the Malaysia Agreement 1963?

The consensus on the Malaysian Agreement 1963 proposals was achieved 55 years ago when Malaysia was formed in 1963.

To subject the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 proposals to a new consensus achieved in Barisan Nasional would mean that any small BN party could raise an objection and there would be no consensus to implement the Malaysia Agreement 1963 proposals – which is most objectionable and highly deplorable.

If Pakatan Harapan wins the 14GE and forms the new Federal Government, we will implement the Malaysia Agreement 1963 without hesitation or compromise  as the question of a consensus does not arise.

(Speech in Tenom, Sabah on Thursday, 3rd May 2018 at 4 pm)

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“Six-in-One” for the May 9, 2018 General Election

Earlier today on my arrival in Sabah, I visited Tenom to campaign for the DAP Parliamentary candidate Noorita Sual (at the same time campaigning for the two State Assembly candidates from Warisan, Peter Anthony for Melalap and Haris Ongus for Kemabong)  and to Keningau to campaign for the DAP State Assembly Candidate for Bingkor Peter Saili.

I have just come from Luyang campaigning for the DAP Parliamentary candidate for Kota Kinabalu, Chan Foong Hin, and the DAP State Assembly Candidates Phoong Jin Zhe (Luyang) and Tan Lee Fatt (Likas).

I am now here  campaigning for the DAP State Assembly candidate for Kepayan Janie Lasimbang.

Lets target a “six in one” for the 14GE in Sabah and Malaysia on May 9, 2018, viz:

1. Support BN representing “Buang Najib” and change the Prime Minister;

2. Support BBN representing “Buang Barisan Nasional” and change the Malaysian Government in Putrajaya;

3. Change the national policies inimical to the interests of Malaysians, such as GST or on the 1MDB scandal which has landed Malaysia with the deplorable epithet of a global kleptocracy;

4. Change the Chief Minister of Sabah;

5. Change the Sabah state government; and

6. Change the Sabah state government policies detrimental to the rights and interests of Sabahans.

Malaysians have been waiting for six decades for the opportunity to change the Prime Minister and the Malaysian Government.  If we miss the opportunity to bring about such changes, it may be another generation or two before such an opportunity will come our way.

This is why May 9, 2018 is a “Now or Never” and “Do or Die” moment to bring about the “Six-in-One” political changes in Sabah and Malaysia.

Sabah is a very rich state with plenty of natural resources. Why has it ended up as among the poorest states in Malaysia with the worst poverty rates in the country, while a few people in power and their cronies amass fantastic wealth?

This is because of we have bad government, which does not believe in good governance principles where those who govern must be accountable to the governed.

The eleven days of the 14GE are the only days in five years where the ordinary Malaysians are treated like the bosses by the political leaders in government, when in a democracy, the people are the bosses  and the political leaders the servants of the people all the time in the five years before the renewal of mandate in a general election.

The Barisan Nasional 14GE manifesto pledged to implement the Malaysia Agreement 1963 proposals based on consensus achieved in Barisan Nasional.

This is a real cop-out. What has consensus got to do with implementing the Malaysia Agreement 1963?

Consensus on the rights of Sabahans (and Sarawakians) had been concluded 55 years ago when the Malaysian Agreement 1963 was signed and sealed, and there is no need any more for consensus, but just to implement them.

If Pakatan Harapan wins the 14GE and forms the new Federal Government, we will implement the Malaysia Agreement 1963 without hesitation or compromise  as the question of a consensus does not arise.

(Speech in Kepayan, Sabah on Thursday, May 3, 2018 at 10.30 pm)

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The single biggest issue in 14GE on May 9, 2018 is whether Najib continues as Prime Minister or is ousted from Putrajaya

The single biggest issue in 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 is whether Datuk Seri Najib Razak continues as Prime Minister or is ousted from Putrajaya.

In four years, Najib has undone what the first five Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak, Hussein Onn, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Abdullah Badawi, have done for Malaysia in 52 years – international admiration, respect and even acclamation for Malaysia!

Under Najib, Malaysia is the ridicule and scorn of the whole world as a global kleptocracy, as a nation whose leaders come from the four categories of kleptocrats – the four Ps of Pencuri, Perompak, Penyagak and Penyamun – responsible for  a whole catalogue of corruption scandal led by  the world’s “kleptocracy at its worst”, the multibillion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal!

So much so that when Malaysians go abroad, instead of proudly identifying themselves as Malaysians when overseas, they are very reluctant to admit that they are Malaysians to avoid inevitable questions about Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy.

The epithet of Malaysia as a global kleptocracy is a national disgrace and humiliation for Malaysia, and the 13th Parliament from 2013 to 2018  should have taken proactive action to defend Malaysia’s dignity, reputation and integrity and cleanse Malaysia of such ill reputation in the international community.

A responsible and patriotic Parliament would have gone to the bottom of the 1MBD scandal, either bringing to book the person or persons responsible for Malaysia’s  infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy, or passed a resolution to tell the world that Malaysia is not a global kleptocracy with leaders who do not emanate from the categories of Pencuri, Perompak, Penyagak and Penyamun, but a model  democracy with God-fearing leaders of integrity, principle and honesty!

Did the 13th Parliament do this?

It is to the eternal shame and disgrace of the Ministers and MPs of the 13th Parliament that this was not done, but  Pakatan Harapan MPs  are excluded from this hall of shame as they had tried but were not allowed to pursue the issue of the 1MDB scandal in Parliament.

The 13th Parliament not only failed in its national and patriotic duties, but became   a tool of the Najib executive to aid and abet Najib in the 1MDB scandal, refusing to allow MPs to ask questions or debate the 1MDB scandal.

I was even suspended  from Parliament for six months  for demanding full accountability for the 1MDB scandal, to the extent that in the last six days of the 13th Parliament, I was regarded  as a parliamentary “ghost” for the Speake and Deputy Speakers pretended that they could not see me although I attended Parliament diligently every day and was sitting in front of the Speaker’s Chair!

On May 9, 2018, we must elect MPs who are committed to restore Malaysia’s honour and reputation by exorcising the monster of the 1MDB scandal.

If Pakatan Harapan wins the 14th GE and becomes the new Malaysian Government in Putrajaya, the new MPs must full support the setting up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to get to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal.

If PH remains in Opposition, we must have MPs who can stand up in their demand that the 14th Parliament should not be like the 13th Parliament which had refused to get to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal, and must support full parliamentary debate and investigation into the 1MDB scandal.

In the Sibu and Lanang parliamentary constituencies, only the DAP candidates of Oscar Ling Chai Yew and Alice Lau Kiong Yieng can pass this test – in fact, they had passed such a  test as Members of Parliament in the 13th Parliament.

Now the responsibility to Save Malaysia and cleanse the reputation and integrity of Malaysia are in the hands of the 15 million voters on May 9, 2018 – to decide that Najib should not continue as Prime Minister and that there should be a full investigation into the 1MDB scandal in the form of a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

(Speech in Sibu on Friday, May 4, 2018 at 10 pm)

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Visit to eight states and 28 parliamentary constituencies in 7 days to urge voters to change the  Prime Minister, Malaysian Government and national policies detrimental to Malaysians and Malaysia

In the first seven days of the 11-day 14th General Election campaign, I visited eight states and 28 parliamentary constituencies to urge Malaysian voters to make full use of the first opportunity in six decades to change the Prime Minister, the Malaysian Government in Putrajaya as well as national policies detrimental to the rights and interests of Malaysians and the future of Malaysia.

The eight states are: Johore (10 parliamentary constituencies), Negri Sembilan (3),  Selangor (1), Pahang (3), Kedah (2), Penang (2), Sabah (4) and Sarawak (3).

Wherever I go in the past week, there is a thirst and hunger for political change which rises above race, religion, region and even political party affiliation to Save Malaysia from kleptocracy, racial polarization and exploitative economic policies like GST.

A silent but major theme throughout the 14th General Election is the 1MDB scandal, which has gone underground, especially after the passage of the Anti-Fake News Act  and a Minister’s announcement that any report which is not verified by the government is “fake news” and criminally actionable under the Anti-Fake News Act which carries the draconian penalties of RM500,000 fine, six years’ jail or both.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is the No. 1 maker and peddler of fake news in country, but the Anti-Fake News Act will not be used against him – showing the double standards and hypocrisy of the UMNO/BN Government.

Instead, the Fake News Act is being used against Tun Mahathir and Pakatan Harapan leaders, with the Police investigating Mahathir for fake news in connection with his accusations against Najib and the UMNO/BN government.

The great disservice Najib has rendered Malaysia is to cause Malaysia to be regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy – which was never the case under the first five Malaysian Prime Mihisters for 52 years, namely Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak, Hussein Onn, Mahathir and Abdullah Badawi.

In fact, a subterranean theme of the 14GE is whether Malaysia can cleanse itself of the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy, or whether we are condemned to have national leaders in government who are regarded by the international community as products of the 4Ps – pencuri, perompak, penyagak and penyamun.

During my walkabout at the Sibu market, a 81-year-old ex-teacher, who has become an unlicensed hawker, complained of  his plight, how he refused to be dependent on his children and decided to eke out a living hawking goods, and his experiences of being hounded and bullied  by the various government agencies who failed to look after the interests of the senior citizens.

I was touched by this senior citizen’s complaint, who spoke not only on his own behalf but also on behalf some two million senior citizens in the country.

According to the 2017 Population Census, there are some two million senior citizens who are 65 years and above, some one million males and over 900,000 females, representing some seven per cent of the Malaysian population.

I agree with the complaint of the senior citizen I met during the Sibu market walkabout that the country is not showing sufficient appreciation and respect to the senior citizens for their contributions to the nation.

If Pakatan Harapan forms the Malaysian Government on May 9, there will be a special department with special allocation to cater  to the needs of the senior citizens in the country to show that the Government must be a caring one to all sectors of the Malaysian population.

In fact, I would suggest to the Pakatan Harapan Malaysian Government to conduct regular town-hall meetings throughout the country, for ordinary Malaysians to speak up  about their problems and their views how the Government can look after their interests and welfare.

This consultative approach, with will make the Government in Putrajaya more people-centred and caring by institutionalisng dialogues with the people, instead of a one-way traffic communication by the present UMNO/BN government, will be a distinctive feature of the new Pakatan Harapan government.

(Media Conference Statement after a walkabout at the Sibu Market on Saturday, 5th May 2018 at 9 am)

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Will May 9 accomplish what was intended five years ago today, 5th of May, to achieve a “3 in One” to  change the Prime Minister, the Malaysian Government and national policies which allowed Malaysia to become and remain a global kleptocarcy?

Malaysians must be asking today whether they can accomplish next Wednesdy on May 9 accomplish what was intended five years ago today, 5th of May –  to achieve a “3 in One” to  change the Prime Minister, the Malaysian Government and national policies which allowed Malaysia to become and remain a global kleptocarcy?

When I was at the Sibu market walkabout this morning, a supporter approached me and asked whether it is true that Datuk Seri Najib Razak had resigned as Prime Minister so that Pakatan Harapan would not have a target to focus their attacks.

I told them this will not happen as Najib had studiously prepared the last five years to make sure that whatever happens, he cannot be dislodged as UMNO President and Prime Minister of Malaysia – and this is where the 1MDB scandal played a strategic role in Najib’s re-election plans, for 1MDB was to ensure that he would have an uninterrupted flow of money, what Tun Dr. Mahathir had described as “dedak”, to sweeten his path to re-election as Prime Minister of Malaysia.

But “Man Proposes, God Disposes”, and the 1MDB caper did not work out smoothly as planned, as although 1MDB managed to raise RM50 billion through debts, the !MDB “masterminds”, particular Jho Low, was unable to prevent the kleptocratic aspects of the 1MDB scandal from becoming public in the world – although the 1MDB scandal  was studiously blacked out inside Malaysia and now even equated as “fake news” which is criminally punishable under the Anti-Fake News Act with draconian penalties of RM500,000, six years’ jail or both.

On looking back, it is now obvious that Najib had set up a decoy to ensure that the 1MDB scandal would not be a major issue of the 14th General Election by getting  the 1MDB chief executive officer, Arul Kanda Kandasamy to embark on a daily nation-wide roadshow purportedly to give a full accounting of the world’s “kleptocracy at its worst” and in the process, to remove all the stings from the 1MDB scandal.

But Arul Kanda’s roadshow was a great failure, for the 1MDB CEO had lost all credibility and nobody, except the UMNO/BN rent-a-crowd audience, was going to be “Arul Kanda-ied” by his lies and fairy tales about the 1MDB scandal.

With or without Arul Kanda, whether the issue is shouted from the rooftops and questioned by Malaysians in the silence of the conscience, the MDB “kleptocracy at its worst” scandal remains one of the leading issues of the 14GE, even when it is banished from the official media after the enactment of the Fake News Act.

Najib has a vested interest to win big in the 14GE, for he can then tell the world that 31 million Malaysians agree with him that the world is wrong, that there is no 1MDB scandal, that it was the Arab royalty who put RM2.6 billion into his personal bank accounts and that not a single sen of public funds had been lost by 1MDB – despite evidence to contrary, whether the RM1 billion Equanimity luxury superyacht seized by the Indonesian authorities in February, or the RM144 million pink diamond necklace which Jho Loh bought with 1MDB-related funds to give to the “wife of MO1” as a gift!

If the old rules of the game in Malaysian general elections are followed, Najib and the UMNO/BN are assured of a landslide victory on May 9, especially after the Election Commission’s constituencvy redelineation, which saw the worst gerrymandering in Malaysian history.

However, there had been at least eight “game changers” to alter the rules of the game in competitive electoral politics, which place the outcome of the 14GE on May 9 into a zone of uncertainty.

The eight “game changers” are:

1. Mahathir leading the Pakatan Rakyat offensive to change the Prime Minister, the Malaysian Government in Putrajaya and national policies detrimental to the Malaysian nation and people;

2. Decision of the DAP leadership not to use the Rocket symbol in Peninsular Malaysia but the Pakatan Harapan common symbol of the PKR blue-eyes to send a message to all Malaysians to rise above race, religion and political party affiliation to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state;

3. High-profile parliamentary contests in Ayer Itam, Teluk Intan, Seremban, Langkawi, Pagoh, Semporna, Stampin, Iskandar Puteri, Jerlun, etc.

Since the dissolution of Parliament, there have been more “game-changers” like:

4. The declaration of Bersatu as provisionally dissolved, when it is UMNO which is illegal;

5. The wanton tearing out of the pictures of Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim from Pakatan Harpaan election billboards while photographs of Barisan Nasional leaders, and even leaders of foreign nation, were left untouched and intact;

6. The Police investigation of Mahathir under the Anti-Fake News Act;

7. The candidature of Nik Omar  Nik Aziz as Amanah candidate in Kelantan; and

8. Former UMNO heavyweights like former Finance Minister and UMNO treasurer Tun Daim Zainuddin, former UMNO Wanita chief and Minister for International Trade and Industry Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz and former Cabinet Minister Tan Sri Rais Yatim declaring their support for Pakatan Harapan and the need for UMNO to be replaced.

I do not think  Najib could now deny the existence of a Malay tsunami, but only whether the Malay tsunami is strong enough to  sweep Najib and UMNO/BN out of Putrajaya on May 9, 2018.

(Speech to Iskandar Puteri (PACA) Polling and Counting Agents in Skudai  on Saturday, 5th May 2018 at 3pm)

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Call on 15 million voters to vote for parliamentary candidates who are committed to full probe of 1MDB scandal and ensuing action in the 14th Parliament – whether as government or opposition MPs

I want to make a special call to the 15 million voters in the 222 parliamentary seats on Polling Day next Wednesday on 9th May 2019 – to vote for parliamentary candidates who are committed to full investigation of the 1MDB scandal  and due process action against the corrupt and the culprits of the 1MDB scandal in the 14th Parliament, whether as government or opposition MPs.

Malaysians must speak loud and clear that they do not want to be tainted and smeared by the epithet of global kleptocracy, of having kleptocrats from the ranks of the 4Ps of pencuri, perompak, penyagak and penyamun as national leaders.

If by the next three days, parliamentary candidates are not prepared to demonstrate their full commitment to pursue to the bitter end those who were responsible for Malaysia suffering  the disgrace, scorn and humiliation because of corruption scandals like the 1MDB scandal, then they do not deserve to represent the Malaysian people in the 14th Parliament.

In particular, Malaysia does not want a Speaker like Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia who serves Najib’s agenda by not allowing full accountability of the 1MDB scandal in the 13th Parliament, whether during question time or parliamentary debate, and I could be regarded as a parliamentary ghost where the Speaker and Deputy Speakers could not see me for the last six days of Parliament, although I attended Parliament diligently every day and was sitting in front of them.

MPs who do not mind Malaysia being disgraced and scorned in the international community as a global kleptocracy are no more than kleptocratic MPs, and Malaysia does not need kleptocratic MPs just as Malaysia must not continue to be  global kleptocracy.

The time has come for the 15 million voters to ascertain which candidate does not mind Malaysia continuing as a global kleptocracy, so long as he or she can become an MP.

This is one of the important issues to be decided on Wednesday on May 9, 2018 – for Malaysia to be liberated from the epithet and curse of a global kleptocracy.

If the 15 million voters do not liberate Malaysia from the curse and epithet of a global kleptocracy, then Malaysians are condemned to be regarded by the world for the next five years as citizens of a global kleptocracy, undoing all the work of building up Malaysia’s international reputation and standing by the first five Prime Ministers of Malaysia for 52 years from 1957 to 2009.

(Speech at the Ceramah in Iskandar Puteri, Johor on Saturday, 5th May 2018 at 10 pm)

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Don’t give patriotism a bad name by claiming that defending 1MDB scandal and Malaysia as a global kleptocracy is an act of patriotism

The 1MDB Chief Executive Officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy should not give patriotism a bad name by claiming that defending the 1MDB scandal and Malaysia as a global kleptocracy is an act of patriotism.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak may have appealed to Arul Kanda’s misguided notion of patriotism when he recruited him as CEO of 1MDB.

But even Arul Kanda’s misguided notion of patriotism cannot be the reason for his becoming  CEO of 1MDB – but more pragmatic and practical considerations.

Let Arul Kanda reveal how much remuneration he had received, is receiving and will receive  for his role as 1MDB CEO with the specific task of “white-washing” the 1MDB scandal which, in effect, also means “white-washing” Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy as a “global kleptocracy”.

Cleansing Malaysia’s ill-repute in international society because of the nation is being regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy” should be the task and responsibility of the 13th Parliament, which failed miserably in its patriotic mission.

MPs were not allowed to ask questions about the 1MDB scandal or to debate and demand full accountability for Malaysia degenerating into a global kleptocracy, and I was suspended twice from Parliament for six months for wanting full accountability for the 1MDB scandal.

Because of the failure of MPs and Ministers in the 13th Parliament – except for Pakatan Harapan MPs – to clear or cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy, a case can be made that these Ministers and MPs in the 13th Parliament have failed in their patriotic duties.

I call on the 15 million voters on Polling Day next Wednesday on 9th May 2019 to vote for parliamentary candidates who are committed to full investigation of the 1MDB scandal  and due process action against the corrupt and the culprits of the 1MDB scandal in the 14th Parliament, whether as government or opposition MPs.

We want Najib to stop beating around the bush on the 1MDB scandal and the RM2.6 billion “donation” in his personal banking accounts.

Asking Arul Kanda to weave fairy tales about the 1MDB purportedly to defend the 1MDB scandal will not work, as Malaysians are not interested what a 1MDB hack has to say to justify his super-remuneration.

In the next two days, will Najib able to give a full and satisfactory accounting for the 1MDB scandal – a first step to purge or cleanse Malaysia of the ignominy and infamy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

(Speech in Bidor  on Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 7 pm)

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For first time in Malaysian history, Malaysian Dream of a united, harmonious, democratic, progressive and prosperous Malaysia becomes the basic goal of a general election

This is the first time in 61-year history of Malaysia where the Malaysian Dream of an united, harmonious, democratic, progressive and prosperous Malaysia is the basic goal  of a general election.

Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or even political party affiliation, have a common aspiration – they want Malaysia to  succeed as a diverse nation of different races, religions and cultures, a model of a plural nation in the world, and  be a world top-class nation in various fields of human endeavor.

Today, some six decades after Merdeka in 1957 and the formation of Malaysia in 1963, Malaysia had slid down the ladder of nations, becoming a worm instead of a economic dragon, known worldwide for our new epithet as a global kleptocracy and on the threshold of  becoming a rogue democracy?

What  went wrong with Malaysian nation-building in the last few decades and who is responsible for this tragic state of affairs?

I dropped into the PATRIOT forum for NGO aspirations in Kuala Lumpur on my way to KKB from Iskandar Puteri this morning.

I met the veteran soldiers and policemen, the illustrious sons of the country many of whom sacrificed their lives  or limbs in the defence for the country.

The military veterans, many of whom are in the sixties, formed PATRIOT because they do not want their sacrifices and that of their comrades-at-arms to be in vain with the country losing its moral compass, national unity and common sense of purpose with the nation increasingly more divided than ever because of unchecked racial and religious polarisation and rampant corruption, to an extent that Malaysia is known world-wide as a global kleptocracy.

The voices of PATRIOT, as well as other NGOs who gathered at the forum to state their national aspirations like C4 (Combat Corruption and Cronyism), Young Professionals Movement, Pergerakan Tenagal Akademik Malaysia (GERAK),  Persatuan Orang Asli Semenanjung Malaysia, Group of 25 (G25) must be heard by the government of the day and given full consideration.

This is the time for political change on May 9, 2018. I have dedicated 53 years of my life to the struggle to achieve the Malaysian Dream. I call on the 15 million Malaysian voters to sacrifice one, two or even three days for those who need to fly in from overseas from various points of the globe to cast their vote so that Malaysia can start anew in nation-building  efforts and directions to create a democratic, united and tolerant  world top class nation.

(Speech in Kuala Kubu Baru on Sunday, 6th May 2018 at 4.30pm)

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Three questions for Najib Razak

Tonight I have three questions for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Firstly, whether he would accept the results of the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018, if the Pakatan Harapan totals command of 112 seats, which is over half of the total of 222 parliamentary seats, as would have happened in other developed democracies. In fact, this is something which Asian countries which have an electoral system of government accept with any demur.

Secondly, whether he would stay in Malaysia and would not flee abroad if UMNO/BN is defeated by Pakatan Harapan in the 14GE; and

Thirdly, whether win or lose, he would remain in the country and would not go abroad, to face all consequences, including the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 1MDB scandal and Najib’s role resulting in Malaysia being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

(Speech at the election ceramah in Teluk Intan on Sunday, 6th May 2018 at 9.30 pm)

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Dear 15 million Voters of Malaysia,

Dear 15 million Voters of Malaysia,

The 11-day 14th General Elections is coming to an end tomorrow on midnight on 8th May 2018.

The fate of the nation and the future generation of Malaysians are  literally in your hands when you cast your vote on Wednesday, 9th May 2018.

Apart from Sarawak, you will be voting who will be your State Assembly representative and Member of Parliament.  But even more important, and for the first time in Malaysian history for 61 years, you will vote who will be the Prime Minister and who will form the new Malaysian Government in Putrajaya.

You will in fact be voting for the next two Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim if Pakatan Harapan forms the new Malaysian Government in Putrajaya as the PH Presidential Council has announced that Mahathir will be the seventh Prime Minister and Anwar the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

On the eve of the historic 14th General Election, I ask the 15 million Malaysian voters to Save Malaysia and our future generations and not to save Najib and UMNO/Barisan Nasional.

Najib has betrayed both the Malays and Malaysians because he had turned Malaysia into a rogue democracy, forgetting his promise in Sept. 2011 to make Malaysia the best democracy in the world; and even worse, turned Malaysia into a global kleptocracy as a result of the 1MDB scandal, described by the US Attorney-General as “kleptocracy at its worst”.

May 9, 2018 is a “now or never”, “do or die” moment for Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or party affiliation to set Malaysia free from corruption, abuses of power, injustices and exploitation and to reach for the Malaysian Dream of Malaysians down the decades for a united, harmonious, progressive, prosperous nation which is a model to the world of how a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural could succeed in turning our differences and diversities into an unique national strength.

The three main issues in the 14th General Election are:

· 1MDB scandal and Malaysia as a global kleptocracy;

· Economic hardships of the people of Malaysia, in particular the GST; and

·  A battery of undemocratic laws and measures, especially the  Anti-Fake News Act and the worst gerrymandering in the nation’s history with the Election Commission’s latest redelineation of electoral constituencies.

There have been systematic attempts by the UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and quinoa cybertroopers to censor these three issues to prevent them from surfacing publicly in the 14GE, by resort to the  politics of race, hatred and fear to create baseless fears as well as to incite unfounded hatred among Malaysians against Pakatan Harapan and DAP leaders.

If the first and the third Prime Ministers of Malaysia are still alive today, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn would be standing on the stage of Pakatan Harapan to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state. I had worked with both of them after they had relinquished the premiership for a Malaysia where there is democracy, rule of law and good governance.

Now we not only have Tun Mahathir leading the Pakatan Harapan campaign for political change, we have former UMNO stalwarts like Tun Daim Zainuddin, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz and Tan Sri Rais Yatim.

We have in the ranks of Pakatan Harapan today one former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir; two former Deputy Prime Ministers, i.e. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin; three former Finance Ministers, i.e. Daim, Anwar and Mahathir himself and the former Minister for International Trade and Industry for 21 years from  1987-2008, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz – patriotic men and women of experience, ability and commitment to ensure Malaysia can rise again as a respected and esteemed member of the international community!

Najib and UMNO leaders are trying to scare the Malays into continuing to give support to UMNO in the 14GE, warning that the Malays will perish if UMNO is defeated.

Najib and the UMNO leaders are wrong.

The Malays will not perish if UMNO is defeated in the 14GE – only Najib and the UMNO leaders will perish, if they are incapable of making use of the opportunity of a spell in the ranks of the Opposition to reform and make themselves relevant again to the Malays and Malaysians!

I have three questions for Najib.

Firstly, whether he would accept the results of the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018, if the Pakatan Harapan  commands  more than 112 seats, which is over half of the total of 222 parliamentary seats, as would have happened in other developed democracies. The Sin Chew Daily today carried a forecast by UMNO

Veterans that Pakatan Harapan would win 127 parliamentary seats – a clear and categorical margin  of victory for Pakatan Harapan to form the new Malaysian Government in Putrajaya.

Secondly, whether he would stay in Malaysia and would not flee abroad if UMNO/BN is defeated by Pakatan Harapan in the 14GE; and

Thirdly, whether win or lose, he would remain in the country and would not go abroad, to face all consequences, including the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 1MDB scandal and his role resulting in Malaysia being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.

Will Najib answer these three questions before voting close on May 9, 2018?

(Open Letter to 15 million voters issued from Skudai on Monday, 7th April 2018)

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Najib and UMNO must be defeated in 14GE because they have betrayed the trust of the  Malays and Malaysian by making Malaysia into a global kleptocracy

The Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak must be defeated in the 14th General Election on Wednesday, 9th May 2018, because they have betrayed the trust of the Malays and Malaysians by making Malaysia into a global kleptocracy.

There is no doubt that despite UMNO/BN  censorship attempts and their  politics of race, hatred and fear, to create baseless fears as well as to incite unfounded hatred among Malaysians against Pakatan Harapan and DAP leaders, the three major issues in the 14th General Election remain to be firstly, 1MDB scandal and Malaysia as a global kleptocracy; secondly, the economic hardships of the people of Malaysia, in particular the GST; and thirdly, Anti-Fake News Act and the battery of undemocratic laws and measures, including the worst gerrymandering in the nation’s history in the form of the Election Commission’s latest redelineation of electoral constituencies.

I have no doubt that if the first and the third Prime Ministers of Malaysia are still alive today, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn would be standing on the stage of Pakatan Harapan to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

Now we not only have Tun Mahathir leading the Pakatan Harapan campaign for political change, we have former UMNO stalwarts like Tun Daim Zainuddin, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz and Tan Sri Rais Yatim.  Other former UMNO stalwarts are sending out cryptic messages which clearly meant their support for political change and the end of UMNO role in government like Tan Sri Syed Hamid.

We have in the ranks of Pakatan Harapan today one former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir; two former Deputy Prime Ministers, i.e. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin; three former Finance Ministers, i.e. Daim, Anwar and Mahathir himself and the former Minister for International Trade and Industry for 21 years from  1987-2008, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz – patriotic men and women of experience, ability and commitment to see Malaysia rise again as a respected and esteemed member of the international community!

Najib and UMNO leaders are trying to scare the Malays into continuing to give support to UMNO in the 14GE, warning that the Malays will perish if UMNO is defeated.

Najib and the UMNO leaders are wrong.

The Malays will not perish if UMNO is defeated in the 14GE – only Najib and the UMNO leaders will perish, if they are incapable to make use of the opportunity of a spell in the ranks of the Opposition to reform and make themselves relevant again to the Malays and Malaysians!

When Najib is ousted as Prime Minister in Putrajaya, Tun Mahathir will take over as the Prime Minister of Malaysia with Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the Deputy Prime Minister (which will the breaking of another glass ceiling in Malaysian politics) to be followed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the eighth Prime Minister.

I deplore the dirty electoral tactics of Najib and UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and quinoa cybertroopers of trying to pit race against race, religion against religion, by continuing to purvey the lies and falsehoods that DAP and I are anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

What Najib and the UMNO leaders, propagandists and quinoa cybertroopers are doing in continuing to peddle such lies  is to go against the very grain of clean and responsible politics, as well as Najib’s earlier concept of 1Malaysia, when there is not a single anti-Malay and anti-Islam bone in my body.

What is significant about the Malay tsunami is that it is not a racialist tsunami – not something for the Chinese and Indians to be frightened or worried about, as it is not anti-Chinese or anti-Indian, but an important component of the Malaysian tsunami to match the urban and semi-urban political tsunami evident in the 2008 and 2013 General Elections – which were not Chinese tsunamis, but urban and semi-urban political tsunami of Chinese, Indians and Malays in the urban and semi-urban areas.

Najib can deny until the cows come home, but the ineluctable fact is that a Malay tsunami is in the making, with Malay voters in rural areas and Felda schemes realising the UMNO and UMNO leaders have outlived their usefulness, and that the time has come for Malaysia to have a non-UMNO Government in Putrajaya if the rights and interests of the Malays as well as all Malaysians are not to be mortgaged to Najib and his cronies by  transforming Malaysia virtually overnight into a global kleptocracy.

The question is whether the Malay tsunami would become potent and powerful enough with two days go to before Polling Day on Wednesday 9th May to evict Najib and UMNO/BN from Putrajaya in the 14GE.

The time has come for Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or party politics,  to vote for a new Malaysia.

This is why the DAP has taken the important decision not to use the Rocket logo in the 14th General Election, but to use the Pakatan Harapan common logo of PKR’s blue eyes, to set an example that in this “Now or Never”, “Do or Die” moment, all Malaysians – including the 3.6 million UMNO members, one million PAS members and one million MCA members – must unite to vote for Pakatan Harapan for the first political change in Putrajaya in 61 years in the 14GE on Wednesday, 9th May 2018.

(Speech in  Kampar on Sunday, 6th May 2018 at 11 pm)

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After 53 years dedicated to a united, democratic, progressive and prosperous Malaysia, I ask Malaysians to sacrifice one, two or even three days to cast their vote to save Malaysia from Najib, kleptocracy and kakistocracy

I have dedicated 53 years of my life to a united, democratic, progressive and prosperous Malaysia.

All I ask how is that the 15 million voters in Malaysia sacrifice one, two or even three days to cast their vote in the 14th General Election on Wednesday, 9th May 2018 to save Malaysia from Najib, kleptocracy and kakistocracy.

One day of sacrifice is for Malaysians in the country, two days of sacrifice is for the 500,000 Malaysians working in Singapore who may have to take an extra day off to return home from the island republic to cast their vote. Three days of sacrifice is for Malaysians from farther overseas, whether the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada or United States, who may have to sacrifice three days to fly home to exercise their constitutional right to cast their vote.

“Kleptocracy” has been  defined as “a government or state in which those in power exploit national resources and steal; rule by a thief or thieves”.

“Kakistocracy” has been defined as “a government by the worst persons; a form of government in which the worst persons are in power”.

Najib’s live TV3 interview today is a shocking reminder to Malaysians that we are  not only a global kleptocracry, Malaysia has also become a kakistocracy.

Otherwise, how could Najib in truth and  honesty state that there are no Malays at Pakatan Harapan rallies, only DAP supporters?

DAP is flattered that the thousands and tens of thousands, with many women in tudong and men in baju Melayu,  who gathered  to hear Tun Mahathir at the Pakatan Harapan rallies in Langkawi, Gombak, Jerlun, Bukit Katil, Putrajaya, Lembah Pantai, Pandan, Kuantan and Wangsa Maju in the second part of the 11-day election campaign, have become DAP supporters.

For Najib’s information, for the past half a century since the formation of the party, DAP had never bussed anyone to any DAP or Pakatan function, which the Special Branch – one of the most efficient in the world – would know and can confirm.

Either Najib as Prime Minister was telling a downright lie – making him liable to be arrested and charged under the Anti-Fake News Act which carries the draconian penalties of RM500,000 fine, six years’ jail or both – or the Special Branch had not been able to give the Prime Minister a briefing about the true  political situation on the ground.

Whatever the real  situation, it shows a Prime Minister who is either suffering from a fatal form of delusion or bizarrely cut off from the reality on the ground to the extent that he could claim with a straight face that BN’s support remains intact.

On his TV3 interview alone, Najib deserves to be voted out of office in Putrajaya tomorrow.

(Appeal to 15 million voters at Bukit Indah, Pulai on Tuesday, 8th  May 2018)

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Closure of TV 3 is neither DAP nor Pakatan Harapan policy

The closure of TV3 is neither DAP nor Pakatan Harapan policy.

The DAP MP for Jelutong RSN Rayer has explained that  he was venting his personal frustrations at how  TV3 had vilified the Penang State Government and the Penang Chief Minister for the last 10 years but would abide by the DAP and Pakatan Harapan policy on press freedom.

I have been vilified and demonized by UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and quinoa cybertroopers for all the baseless, unMalaysian and unspeakable misdemeanours and  misdeeds, including from the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, which  could cover quite a volume, and I do not think anyone can equal my frustrations at such lies, fake news and false information.

DAP and Pakatan Harapan leaders must set the tone for a new Malaysia, where there will no place for vengeance and settling of scores, unless the law had been broken.

We must be aware and conscious of the  exhilarating sense of freedom in the air  felt by Malaysians at the historic results of the 14GE on 9th May on Wednesday giving Malaysians  a second chance to re-set nation-building policies and directions after a long night of repression.

I believe top on the agenda of the Pakatan Harapan government is to ensure press freedom in the country, and I suggest that one of the first acts of the 14th Parliament must be the repeal of the Anti-Fake News Act, and the initiation of a consultation process with journalist and press  organisations and NGOs as to how we can ensure press freedom in Malaysia.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 11th May 2018)

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Time for unity and reconciliation

There is an air of freedom and liberation in Malaysia, that the country has been given a second chance to pursue our original Malaysian Dream to be a model to the world as to how a nation of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures could be united, harmonious, democratic, progressive and prosperous, with a government of integrity guided by the principles of good governance and accountability.

We must  institute reforms to restore the independence, efficiency and professionalism of national institutions which had been ravaged by the excesses and mistakes of the past.

Those who have not broken the laws of the land and have not abused their powers  should have nothing to fear.

This a time for national unity and reconciliation.

All Malaysians must be given an opportunity to support the new Pakatan Harapan Governemnt to save Malaysia from kleptocracy and kakistocracy and to pursue  the Malaysian Dream of a united, democratic, just and great Malaysian nation.

This is not a time for vengeance and petty-mindedness.

All Malaysians, including those who had opposed Pakatan Harapan, should be welcome to join in the Pakatan Harapan’s new but challenging journey to re-set nation building policies and directions, provided they fully endorse the Pakatan Harapan’s vision and manifesto – without any conditions whatsoever.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 12th May 2018)

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Back to basics for Malaysians

The 14th General Elections on Wednesday, 9th May, 2018 provided a second chance to Malaysia to reset nation-building policies and directions.

Sixty-one years ago, when the country attained Merdeka in 1957, and 55 years ago when Malaysia was formed in 1963, we set out as a young nation, brimming with hope and confidence, dedicated, in the words of the Merdeka Proclamation 1957 and reaffirmed in the Malaysia Proclamation six year later, that the nation “shall be for ever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations”.

We promised to ourselves that the nation will be  “a beacon of light for a disturbed and distracted world”.

But we lost our way and became instead a black hole of kleptocracy and kakistocracy.

Malaysians must go back to the basics, and what better way to begin than to return to basic constitutional and nation-building documents like  the Merdeka Constitution 1957,  the Malaysian Agreement and Constitution 1963 and Rukunegara 1970  to fulfil the Malaysian Dream to be  a model to the world as to how a nation of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures could be united, harmonious, democratic, progressive and prosperous, with a government of integrity guided by the principles of good governance and accountability.

This is the challenge to all Malaysians today, because it is unlikely that Malaysia will be given a third chance to fulfil the Malaysian Dream.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 14th May 2018)

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Let us  put the  dark days of May 13, 1969  forty-nine years firmly behind us and learn the most important lesson of all – the need for perpetual mutual respect, sensitivity, civility  and decency among Malaysians even among political foes in our plural society

Today is May 13.

Let us put the dark days of May 13, 1969 forty-nine years firmly behind us and learn the most important lesson of all – the need for perpetual mutual respect, sensitivity, civility and decency among Malaysians even among political foes in our plural society of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures.

Let us not only resolve that our politics should be more decent and civil, minus the  lies, fake news and false information so ubiquitous in recent general elections campaign, but such qualities should guide us in every aspect of our national life.

Let us never forget, what whatever our differences, including our political differences, we are first and foremost Malaysians singing a common national anthem of Negaraku.

The 14th General Election has given Malaysians a second opportunity to re-set nation building policies and directions and to forge a new  national reconciliation and unity – whether Pakatan Harapan or non-Pakatan Harapan voters and supporters.

Let us begin a new day for Malaysia.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, May 13, 2018)

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Pakatan Harapan Government at Federal and State levels must look after the interests of all Malaysians, including those who have not voted for PH, to demonstrate that the PH  is a government for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or political opinion

History was made in Malaysia on May 9, 2018, and the world sat up  amazed  when Malaysians took  the first important step to become a normal democratic  country, where the people could peacefully and democratically change government without violence, chaos or catastrophe.

It is to the eternal credit of Malaysians, that we are capable of giving the nation a second chance to rebuild a new Malaysia.

Sixty-one years ago, when the country attained Merdeka in 1957, and 55 years ago when Malaysia was formed in 1963, we set out as a young nation, brimming with hope and confidence, dedicated, in the words of the Merdeka Proclamation 1957 and reaffirmed in the Malaysia Proclamation six year later, that the nation “shall be for ever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations”.

We promised to ourselves that the nation will be “a beacon of light for a disturbed and distracted world”.

But we lost our way and became instead a black hole of kleptocracy and kakistocracy.

From a country highly respected and esteemed in the international community of nations, we became a country which was scorned and look askance because of our kleptocracy, kakistocrcy and rogue democracy.

Now Malaysians  have saved Malaysia and given ourselves  a second chance to re-set nation-building policies and directions to fulfill the Malaysian Dream to be a model to the world as to how a nation of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures could be united, harmonious, democratic, progressive and prosperous, with a government of integrity guided by the principles of good governance and accountability.

The four Pakatan Harapan component parties are Malaysian patriotic parties, which are not anti-Malay, anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Kadazan or anti-Iban nor not anti-Islam,  anti-Buddhism, anti-Christianity, anti-Hinduism or anti-Sikhism as we are all pro-Malaysia and pro-Malaysians always conscious of the fact that Malaysia is plural nation of diverse races, religions, cultures and languages.

One great challenge of the new Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya is to fufill the hopes of Malaysia that we have arrived at a juncture where all Malaysians regard themselves as Malaysians first and their race, religion, region or soci-economic status second.

This the time to bring the people, regardless of race, region, region or political opinion, closer as Malaysians and not to polarise them further.

Pakatan Harapan Government at Federal and State levels must look after the interests of all Malaysians, including those who have not voted for PH, to demonstrate that the Pakatan Harapan is a govenrment of all  Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or political opinion.

(Speech at the Pakatan Harapan Ceramah Mega at Penang Esplanade on Monday, May 14, 2018 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 15 May 2018, 4:26 pm and is filed under
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Khairy’s regrets are too little and too late  – will he make amends and ask the UMNO Supeme Council, Barisan Nasional Supreme Council and all former Ministers and MPs to tender abject public apology for their betrayal of  the nation’s trust in not speaking up against the 1MDB scandal and when Malaysia was stained  with the epithet of “global kleptocracy”

The regrets of the UMNO Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin is too little and too late.

Khairy wishes that he had told former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak about how the grassroots had rejected Umno following the sacking of Muhyiddin Yassin and Mohd Shafie Apdal.

“We didn’t want to bell the cat,” the Umno Youth chief told Channel News Asia.

“Nobody, after Muhyiddin was purged, after Shafie was purged… Nobody wanted to acknowledge we have a problem. That was a terrible mistake on our part.

“Was there a signal? Yes, there were clear signals but we became oblivious to the signals.

“This must not happen again, we must not ever allow our leaders in Umno to be detached from reality and not ask tough questions. If we continue with our feudal mindset of protecting the leader from the truth, Umno will go extinct.”

Is Khairy now prepared to bell the cat?  Has he seen “clear signals” now?

Apparently not, for is as clear as day that Khairy is studiously avoiding the issue of 1MDB scandal and Malaysia being tarred with the epithet of a global kleptocracy.

Is Khairy prepared to accept the verdict  of the Malaysian voters, regardless of race,  religion and region in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 and their strong judgment against the 1MDB scandal and  Malaysia suffering international odium and ignominy for degenerating into a “global kleptocracy” under his  watch in the past three years?

Will Khairy make amends and requisition  the UMNO Supreme Council and the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council to meet urgently, and all former Ministers and MPs, to tender abject public apology for their betrayal of  the nation’s trust in not speaking up against the 1MDB scandal and when Malaysia was stained  with the epithet of “global kleptocracy”?

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 16th March 2018)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 16 May 2018, 8:04 am and is filed under
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A historic week Malaysians will never forget

The past week was a historic week that Malaysians will never forget – exhilarating times for Malaysians not only inside country, but for everyone in  the Malaysian Diaspora all over the world, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans.

For the first time in many years, Malaysians can hold their heads high and not feel ashamed as Malaysians despite their deep love and great patriotism for the country.

They can now proudly declare that they are Malaysians when abroad  instead of trying to avoid or evade the question about their nationality  for they were themselves ashamed of Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy and the monstrous charade by the Malaysian powers-that-be that the 1MDB money-laundering scandal, described by US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions at an international conference as “kleptocracy at its worst”, simply did not exist.

They can now proudly tell the world that they have proved the international society, which  had expected the return of the political status quo in Malaysia in the 14th General Election, wrong and that Malaysians are capable of self-correction and self-renewal, to re-set nation building policies and direction after going down the wrong path along the trajectory towards a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state.

The week that started on Polling Day on May 9, 2018 began on a most insidious note, as key Pakatan Harapan leaders throughout the country had their mobile telephones sabotaged and disabled by incessant incoming calls from the United States and Greece, an international bots attack which must have cost a lot of money and  which did not end until near the close of polling at 5 p.m. that day.

But there was an air of determination throughout the country, with Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region or political affiliation, not prepared to be cowed by strong-armed tactics or lured by short-term gains from saving Malaysia, conscious that this was a “Now or Never” moment for the country if we were to re-set nation-building policies and directions, and that another opportunity in the foreseeable future was not likely to present itself.

It is no exaggeration to say that Malaysians voted  not  so much for any individual candidate but for the nation and future generations, to Save Malaysia from hurtling along the trajectory towards a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state and to grasp the “Now or Never” moment to start anew on the journey towards a Malaysian Dream to be a model to the world as to how a nation of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures could be united, harmonious, democratic, progressive and prosperous, with a thriving democracy and a government of integrity guided by the principles of good governance and accountability.

It was a very  long night.

As the late hours that night on  Polling Day dragged into the early hours of the next morning, I remember Ambiga Sreenivasam asking me at Sheraton Hotel, where Pakatan Harapan leaders and MPs had converged from all over the country,  why the Pakatan Harapan Chairman Tun Mahathir Mohamad could not announce to an increasingly anxious and tense nation that Pakatan Harapan had achieved the simple parliamentary  majority to form the new Malaysian Government and for him to be sworn in as the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Ambiga however agreed that Mahathir cannot make any such announcement until we were sure that the component parties of Pakatan Harapan had achieved the magic number of 112 MPs representing the simple majority of the total of 222 Parliamentary seats – a task which had been made exceedingly  difficult because of the unco-operative and dilatory attitude of Election Commission.

Against impossible odds, Malaysia is set to be reborn.

Great challenges and hard work lies ahead of us but we must never forget our Malaysian Dream to achieve a united, harmonious, just, democratic, progressive and prosperous Malaysian nation where every Malaysian, regardless of race, religion, region or political affiliation can feel proud to be a Malaysian – whether inside or outside the country.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 16th May 2018)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 17 May 2018, 1:45 pm and is filed under
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Mahathir’s helming of education ministry does not violate the letter and spirit of Pakatan Harapan manifesto

I was stumped when the press phoned yesterday for comment on MCA/Gerakan criticism that Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s helming of   Education Ministry was a breach of the Pakatan Harapan manifesto.

This was  news to me and I can understand why at the Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting yesterday nobody objected when Mahathir revealed that he would also be the Education Minister as everybody felt it was ok.

How could there be such an election promise when none of the Pakatan Harapan leaders from the four component parties of DAP, PRK, AMANAH and Bersatu had known about it or had made such a public commitment?

What was made very clear at the various Pakatan Harapan ceramahs throughout the country was the institutional reforms on term limit for the Prime Minister  and  to ensure that the Prime Minister cannot hold the Finance Minister portfolio.

The   Pakatan Harapan Manifesto’s “Promise 12: Limit the Prime Minister’s term of office and restructure the Prime Minister’s Department” states:  “The prime minister will not simultaneously hold other ministerial posts, especially the post of minister of finance.”

This is not very happily worded, open to different construction. There is an absolute prohibition on the Prime Minister holding the post of Ministry of Finance, which is not applicable to other Ministries.

For this reason, Mahathir’s helming of education ministry does not violate the letter and spirit of Pakatan Harapan manifesto.

We must thank MCA and Gerakan for their criticism which shows  that they are capable of performing their Opposition role. But their fatal weakness is their lack of credibililty, stemming from their recent role to aid and abet in the  treasonous crimes resulting in Malaysia becoming a “global kleptocracy” and their total silence on the 1MDB scandal.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, May 18, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 18 May 2018, 9:10 am and is filed under
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“Police detain man who insulted Dr M” is Old Malaysia – time for all agencies to develop “New Malaysia” mindset

“Police detain man who insulted Dr M” is Old Malaysia which was voted out by Malaysian voters on May 9, 2018.

The time has come for all public agencies to develop a “New Malaysia” mindset, which is why I had tweeted last night: “Release him Let us not embark on this path”.

Malaysians made history on May 9, 2018 but such a history will only be meaningful and lasting if it  signalled  the dawn of a New Malaysia with structural, institutional and mindset changes to enable the fulfillment of the Malaysian Dream, not just a change of Prime Minister or coalition forming the Malaysian Government in Putrajaya.

Under the Old Malaysia, police reports by Pakatan Harapan leaders and civil society activists against Barisan Nasional leaders are invariably ignored, while police reports by Barisan Nasional agaisnt Pakatan Harapan leader and civil society activists given priority attention.

In the New Malaysia, police response must not depend of “who” lodges police reports, but “what” was in the police report, and actions where civil remedy is available should not be criminalised just because the subject-matter involves the Prime Minister or any Minister for that matter.

It is good that Mahathir has acknowledged this, and he has publicly stated that he disagreed  with the arrest of a man who criticised him and had instructed the police to look into the matter.

Many Malaysians see the 14th General Election as a national watershed where a New Malaysia can be born, and whether Malaysians adopt “New Malaysia” or “Old Malaysia” mindset will be an acid test whether we are building a New Malaysia or just continuing with an Old Malaysia.

On the occasion of the 49th anniversary of the May 13, 1969 racial riots on Sunday, I had called for the dark days of May 13 to be placed firmly behind us, but Malaysians must learn the most lesson of the need for perpetual mutual respect, sensitivity, civility and decency among Malaysians even among political foes in our plural society of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures.

I had called for a  more decent and civil politics, minus the lies, fake news and false information so ubiquitous in recent general elections campaign.

Not everyone can respond positively to such a call but I hope that the majority of those who did not vote for Pakatan Harapan in the recent general election will be able to see the merit of this proposal and join in creating the New Malaysia mindset to bid  farewell to the Old Malaysia of global kleptocracy, abuses of power, injustice and exploition of various forms.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 18th May 2018)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 18 May 2018, 4:31 pm and is filed under
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Last week many KATAK! This week many KOTAK!

The events  of the last 10 days since the watershed 14th General Election of May 9, 2018 when Malaysians inside and outside the country can once again feel proud as Malaysians have caused  a wag to  comment: “Last week many KATAK! This week many KOTAK!”

The change of the Malaysian Government in Putrajaya, the first in 61 years, through a peaceful and democratic process, is a dream that  generations of Malaysians since the achievement of Merdeka in 1957 and the formation of Malaysia in 1963 had not thought possible to see come to fruition in their lifetime.

It is an exhilarating experience for Malaysians to breath the air of freedom on May 9, 2018, giving substance to theme of the 14th General Election (and the title of my 14th General Election booklet”) “Set Malaysia Free”.

But there is a lot of work to do, if the historic events of May 9, 2018 is to herald a New Malaysia – to reset nation building policies and direction to achieve the Malaysian Dream of being a “beacon of light for a disturbed and distracted world” and how a nation of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures could be an united, harmonious, just, democratic, progressive and prosperous Malaysian nation where Malaysians see themselves as Malaysians foremost than that of  their race, religion, region and socio-economic position.

The  14th General Election is a national watershed where a New Malaysia can be born. There must not only be systematic and institutional reforms, but also mind-set changes – to usher in a New Malaysia.

Important national institutions in the country have suffered major loss of public confidence, and it is urgent and imperative to restore public confidence in them – whether the institutions of the Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary, the important organs of the of the state like the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Inspector-General of Police, the Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Election Commission Chairman, etc.

We must never again allow the politics of race, hate, lies and falsehood to dominate Malaysian political life.

The difficult process to rebuild public confidence in the damaged national institutions must start immediately, which involves not only new laws, rules and institutions,  but the re-opening of the invidious and scandalous cases of injustices of the recent past, like the Teo Beng Hock case.

We must do our utmost to ensure that the Malaysian Spring of May 9, 2018 leads to greater freedom, democracy and better life for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or party affiliation and not end up disastrously like the Arab Spring of 2010.

(Speech at the “509” thanksgiving dinner organized by the people of Kangkar Pulai, Johor on Saturday, 19th May 2018 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 20 May 2018, 8:14 am and is filed under
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Netizens advised to  check veracity of messages and video clips before they circulate them on the social media – as the video clip of a “fanatic” making the rounds of social media was definitely not that of Maszlee Malik

Since yesterday, a video clip of a “fanatic”  had been circulated on the social media with the suggestion that receipients should forward it to as many as possible so as “to reach Tun before he became the education minister”.

The “he” was meant to be Maszlee Malik, the Education Minister-designate except that the person in the video clip was not Maszlee at all.

The person in the video clip was definitely making extremist and fanatical attacks on the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia, and about the marginalistion of the Malays in Malaysia – a  theme which was false, divisive and dangerous but so ubiquitous in the last general election campaign, which could only disunite and polarize Malaysia further, when we should all be doing our utmost to put the politics of race, hate and fear behind us to usher in a New Malaysia where all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or political affiliation, are united and can feel proud of be a Malaysian – both inside and outside the country.

We are in the information age, but we should be aware of its promises and perils.

As netizens of the information era, we must develop new disciplines, one of which is to  check the veracity of the messages and video clips before circulating them on the social media.

There have been criticisms of Mazslee as the Education Minister, but let us give the 44-year-old academician the chance to prove his suitability for the important post of Education Minister of a New Malaysia.

(Speech at the DAP Iskandar Puteri thanksgiving lunch for the Pakatan Harapan Iskandar Puteri PACA (polling agents/counting agents) at Mido Restaurant, Skudai on Sunday, 20th May 2018 at noon)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 20 May 2018, 12:13 pm and is filed under
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Malaysians are entitled to know what happened in the Week of Long Knives in the last week of July 2015 involving the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister,  Attorney-General among others on the 1MDB scandal

Former Prime Minister Datuk Najib Razak is suffering a global case of denial syndrome when he claimed that the reason for Barisan Nasional’s defeat in the 14th general election was due to slander by the coalition’s opponents.

Does that mean that recent news reports that  police search of locations in the past few days linked to Najib which  netted more than 100 kg of gold (costing over RM16 million) and excess of RM1 billion in cash, including 72 bags of money and jewellery as well as some 300 boxes of handbags (making Malaysians the most literate people in the world on Hermes Birkin bags, the “holy grail” of handbags in  six to seven-figure price range) are all slander, and if so, why the former Prime Minister had not taken any action to vindicate himself?

In actual fact, it is Najib and the Barisan Nasional leaders who are most guilty of slander in the last general election, for instance his TV3 interview on the night of 7th May where he made the bizarre and astounding claim that  there were no Malays attending Pakiatan Harapan ceramahs and that most of them were DAP supporters bussed in from outside the areas and therefore no likelihood of any “Malay tsunami” in the 14GE.

What is most shocking is that more than ten days after the watershed 14th General Election, Najib is still living in his own hallucination.

Isn’t it time for Najib to wake up?

Investigations into the 1MDB scandal, which had stained Malaysia’s international reputation in acquiring the epithet of a global kleptocracy, are now revealing murky depths of the criminality of the Najib administration which had lost all moral moorings to be involved in what the US Attorney-Genereal Jeff Sessions had described in an international conference as “kleptocracy at its worst”.

Malaysians are entitled to know what happened in the Week of Long Knives in the last week of July 2015  involving the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister,   Attorney-General  among others on the 1MDB scandal, when the country was awash with rumours that the Attorney-General would charge the Prime Minister, Najib for corrupt practices in connection with 1MDB scandal but suddenly on July. 28, 2015, Najib went on to the offensive and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail was sacked, Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali resigned from the Federal Court and was sworn in as Attorney-General, the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was sacked, and the national institutions like the AG’s Chambers, the Police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and Bank Negara were defanged and tamed with the dissolution of the high-powered Special Task Force of four Tan Sris on 1MDB.

Let the whole story of the Week of Long Knives of July 2015 be revealed and be told to the Malaysian public.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 21st May 2018)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 21 May 2018, 4:16 pm and is filed under
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Completion of three international challenges for the nation to be ready again to achieve our Malaysian Dream to be “a beacon of light for a disturbed and distracted world”

Malaysia must complete three international challenges for the nation to be ready again to achieve our Malaysian Dream to be “a beacon of light for a disturbed and distracted world”.

The first challenge was accomplished on May 9, 2018 when we surprised the world that Malaysians can undergo a peaceful and democratic transition of power, putting the country firmly on the path of a normal democracy.

The second challenge is to prove to the world that we can transform Malaysia from a global kleptocracy into a leading nation of integrity acknowledged and lauded by the international community.

The third challenge is to prove that the Malaysian Spring ushered by the 14th General Election does not end up disastrouksly  like Arab Spring of 2010, but is a successful one resulting in greater freedom, more democacy, good governance and a better life for all Malaysians  –  an inspiration to other  struggling democracies and democrats all over the world.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, May 22, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 22 May 2018, 2:12 pm and is filed under
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Hadi’s PAS leadership  appears to be Najib’s  last line of  defence in the unraveling of Najib’s kleptocratic premiership  when even UMNO leaders are beginning to distance themselves  from the former Prime Minister

Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s PAS leadership appears to be former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s last line of defence in the unravelling of Najib’s kleptocratic premiership when even UMNO leaders are beginning to distance themselves from the former Prime Minister.

Acting Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that all quarters should respect the ongoing Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probe against Najib, as long as it is conducted appropriately “within the appropriate hours”.

If this rule had been strictly observed, Teoh Beng Hock would not have died at the Selangor MACC premises in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009, and still awaiting for justice for nearly nine years  – the reason why the Teoh Beng Hock case, like many other  cases of injustices resulting in death, should be re-opened for justice to be finally done.

But apart from Zahid, there is thunderous silence from the other UMNO leaders like UMNO Vice President Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin on the 1MDB scandal and Najib’s “global kleptocracy”.

In sharp contrast, Hadi’s PAS leadership has rushed to Najib’s defence with its lawyer criticizing newly-appointed MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull’s decision to reveal details related to the 1MDB investigation in 2015 on the ground that it was very prejudiced against the former premier and would create the perception that there was political interference in the case before this.

This is a most shocking position to come from Hadi’s PAS leadership, as if there had been no political interference in the case in the past four years, causing Malaysia to suffer the  international infamy and ignominy of a “global kleptocracy” and making Malaysians to be ashamed to acknowledge that they are Malaysians when abroad.

The reasons why Hadi’s PAS leadership is so enamoured by Najib’s kleptocratic premiership have yet to be revealed, but Malaysians will not forget that Hadi was hoping that his PAS leadership would be the “kingmaker” to prop up Najib’s kleptocratic regime, if the 14th General Election had resulted in a hung Parliament with PAS winning some 40 parliamentary seats!

Shukri’s tell-all press conference was quite unorthodox,  but in the extraordinary circumstances of the scale of the criminality and moral turpitude of the  1MDB scandal, suborning national institutions and destroying public confidence in them, and staining and disgracing the international reputation of the nation, I fully support Shukri’s unorthodox action.

What has Najib got  to hide – and Hadi, what has the PAS President got  to hide?

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 23rd May 2018)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 23 May 2018, 11:04 am and is filed under
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Two-week stalling by Apandi from resigning as Attorney-General is petty and long enough – he should immediately resign without further ado if he does not want to become the greatest obstacle to  legal reforms in Malaysian history

The two-week stalling by Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali from resigning as Attorney-General  is petty and long enough – he should immediately resign without further ado if he does not want to be the greatest obstacle to legal reforms in Malaysian history.

Apandi cannot pretend that his appointment as Attorney-General is not akin to a political appointment, whether in the form of a contract or otherwise,  and with the earthquake development on 9th May 2018 bringing about the historic change of the Federal Government in Putranjaya in the 14th General Election, it is  completely untenable and undignified for Apandi  to contine a single day as Attorney-General especially as he does not enjoy any confidence whatsoever from the new Malaysian Government.

Leaving aside for the moment the most suspicious and even inauspicious circumstances in which his appointment as Attorney-General was made in July 2015, Apandi, who had been a Federal Court judge,  should not  to subject the high office of Attorney-General to further indignity of being asked to go on leave and other forms of public humiliation!

Let Apandi demonstrate to Malaysians that he can act with dignity and honour to face the fact that his time as Attorney-General was up when Malaysians shocked the world with the historic decision on May 9 to have a peaceful and democratic transition of power – the first in the nation’s history; and that the vote of May 9, 2018 was not only to throw out Datuk Seri Najib Razak as  Prime Minister and the Barisan Nasional government in Putrajaya, but also a personal vote of no confidence in him as Attorney-General.

In fact, all political appointees, whether Senators or appointment to GLCs and public bodies, should have submitted their resignation in the last two weeks after the results of the 14th General Election for new appointments to be made.

Recently, the Prime Minister  Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad revealed that there are some 17,000 political appointees in the country, but the state of civic and political  consciousness among these former wielders of power and influence in the country is so low and primitive  that until now only the  former Johor Baru MP Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad had acted honourably in resigning as Felda Chairman after the general election.

What are these 17,000 political appointees waiting for instead of submitting their resignations without any further ado?

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday May 23, 2018)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 23 May 2018, 4:14 pm and is filed under
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