1MDB Stolen Funds Witnesses Are Scared to Talk, FBI Says

By Edvard Pettersson

Bloomberg

September 6, 2017

Possible witnesses to the alleged looting of billions of dollars from 1Malaysia Development Bhd are too scared to talk to U.S. investigators because they fear retaliation, according the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Some people in “certain foreign countries” already assisting the criminal probe are concerned for their safety, while others say it’s too dangerous to cooperate, according to an FBI request to keep the names of its informants secret from the alleged masterminds of the 1MDB conspiracy.

Individuals who would otherwise be willing to provide information have told the government they’re worried about putting “the safety and security of both themselves and their families at serious risk,” the FBI said Tuesday in a federal court filing in Los Angeles.

The Justice Department last month asked a judge to put on hold a dozen-plus civil forfeiture lawsuits seeking more than $1 billion in assets in the U.S., the U.K. and Switzerland while it’s conducting a criminal investigation into funds siphoned from Malaysia’s state development fund. The targeted assets were acquired by Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low; Riza Aziz, a stepson of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak; and Khadem al Qubaisi, the former managing director of Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co.

The trusts holding the assets on behalf of Low, Aziz, al Qubaisi and their families are contesting the forfeiture actions and oppose the request to put the civil cases on hold. The Low trusts have asked the U.S. to supply it with the identities of witnesses, sources of evidence, and thousands of documents that are relevant to the criminal investigation, according to the FBI.

The FBI cited Malaysian news reports of local officials who have been arrested because of their purported role in investigating the 1MDB embezzlement. As recently as Aug. 30, Malaysian media reported that the driver of former Malaysian Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail was shot and wounded as a possible warning to the former prosecutor not to cooperate with the U.S., the FBI said.

Abdul Gani opened the initial 1MDB investigation, according to the FBI’s filing. He was replaced as attorney general in 2015.

The U.S. investigation is part of a global effort to track how much of the $6 billion that 1MDB raised for development projects was embezzled or involved in money laundering. Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg are among the countries also investigating the roles played by banks and individuals.

Najib, who until last year was the chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board, has denied any wrongdoing and was cleared by Malaysia’s attorney general. Low issued a statement in June, in response to a second round of forfeiture lawsuits, saying the U.S. government was continuing “inappropriate efforts to seize assets despite not having proven that any improprieties have occurred.”

In those cases, the Justice Department alleged that a $1.29 million heart-shaped diamond and a $3.8 million diamond pendant Low gave in 2014 to his then-girlfriend, actress Miranda Kerr, were bought with stolen money.

Low allegedly also gave a $3.2 million Picasso painting to actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who played the lead in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a movie the U.S. says was financed Aziz using misappropriated 1MDB funds.

The case is U.S. v. “The Wolf of Wall Street,” 16-cv-05362, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 6 September 2017, 11:58 am and is filed under
Corruption
,
Financial Scandals
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


International drama of “MO1” visits White House and meets US President Trump begins next week  – is it a national  honour or a national shame for Malaysia?

Next week, a new drama will be enacted on the world  stage – “MO1” visits the White House and meets US President Trump.

Will it be a national honour or a national shame for Malaysia?

In fact, the Najib-Trump meeting at the White House next Tuesday on Sept. 12 has  sparked two questions:

First, is it right for Trump to invite Najib to visit him in White House?

Second, is it proper for Najib to accept Trump’s invitation to visit the  White House to meet Trump?

The first question would have to be posed and answered by American political leaders and opinion makers.

Already there is an opinion piece in Washington Post yesterday entitled “Trump’s hosting of Malaysia’s prime minister marks another setback for the rule of law”, pointing to the “striking”: similarities between the two leaders – with both of them “wrapped up in major investigations that involve the US Justice Department”.

But the opinion piece conceded that “Najib’s  authoritarian power grab is worse than anything Trump has done” with the caustic commentary:

“While Trump uses mere rhetoric to undermine the credibility of the free media, Najib uses criminal law to silence them. While Trump may wish for more compliant judicial and legislative branches, in Malaysia all checks and balances on executive power have been essentially stamped out.”

It concluded:

“In the long term, Malaysia’s value as a reliable and stable ally depends on it being an open society that abides by international law and norms and tolerates dissent. Trump’s hosting of Najib represents a setback for that objective.”

But Malaysians themselves must ask and answer the second question: Whether it is proper for Najib to accept Trump’s invitation to visit White House to meet Trump with the United States’s allegation of a kleptocrat and “MO1” hanging over his head for over a year!

Some international relations experts in Malaysia have said that Najib’s visit to the White House and meeting with Trump is  good for the country, especially at a time of close Sino-Malaysia relations.

The news portal, Free Malaysia Today, reported the comments of Roy Anthony Rogers, the head of Universiti Malaya’s Department of Strategic and International Studies,  that Malaysia need to diversity its relations and not rely too much on China.

Roy explained:  “This is part of the strategy, having close ties with Saudi Arabia, India, China and now continuing the strategic partnership with the US which began under the Obama administration.”

I agree with Roy’s analysis if we do not take into account the US DOJ suits branding Najib as a “kleptocrat” and “MO1”.

But Najib, the government  and the nation cannot ignore the US DOJ suits which has resulted in Malaysia being  regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy, as Najib had  done nothing in the last two years to clear or cleanse himself and his administration of the serious and even heinous charges with regard to the international 1MDB money-laundering kleptocracy made against him in “black and white” by the US DOJ.

This was why two days before the 60th Merdeka anniversary last  Monday on 28th August,  I took the unorthodox and unprecedented step of issuing an Open Letter to all Cabinet Ministers asking them to take a patriotic stand at the Cabinet meeting on August 30 to veto  Najib from visiting the White House to meet President Trump on Sept. 12 to spare 30 million Malaysians international  shame and humiliation as the US Government  had virtually branded  the Malaysian Prime Minister as a  kleptocrat, because he is   “MO1” in the US DOJ kleptocratic litigation to forfeit US$1.7 billion 1MDB-assets in the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

Najib cannot deny that he is “MO1” as his Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Economic Planning Unit, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, had told the world in a BBC interview last September that only an idiot would not know that the US DOJ reference of  “MO1” was referring to  none other than Najib.

The corruption problem in Malaysia has come to a stage where even Perak Sultan Nazrin has declared it as one of the four worst problems  of the country sixty years after Merdeka.

Najib Razak said many things in his speeches, statements and messages during the 60th Merdeka Anniversary celebrations, but one word and subject which Najib has conspicuously omitted was corruption, especially grand corruption or the abuse of high-level power that benefits the few at the expense of the many and causes serious and widespread harm to individuals and society.

Next Tuesday, Najib would be visiting White House and meeting US President Trump whose Department of Justice has branded him as a kleptocrat because he is “MO1” in the US DOJ’s largest kleptocratic litigation to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets.

Najib’s Cabinet Ministers, especially the Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak, do not seem to understand that the issue is not about Najib’s visit to the US but his visit to the White House to meet with President Trump, when Najib’s integrity and probity is under a cloud precisely because Trump’s government had branded him as a “kleptocrat” and  “MO1” in the largest US  kleptocratic civil litigation by the DOJ.

The Cabinet failed Malaysians big-time in their  failure on the eve of the 60th Merdeka Anniversary to veto Najib’s visit to the White House and meeting President Trump to send out a clear and unmistakable  message to Malaysians and the world that the Malaysian government and people will not tolerate any culture,  politics or government of corruption.

It is now left to ordinary 30 million Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or politics  to be more patriotic than the Cabinet Ministers  to save Malaysia from kleptocracy and extremism and to revive the Merdeka Dream for Malaysia to be a world-class nation in every field of human endeavor.

(Speech at the DAP Triang General Election Preparatory Dinner held in Triang on Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 6 September 2017, 10:07 am and is filed under
Corruption
,
Financial Scandals
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Najib’s 4 failures

Athena Angel

The Malaysian Insight

Sept. 5, 2017

“THERE go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.” – Alexandre Ledru-Rollin

Most Malaysians are feeling economically worse off today than they were 10 years ago, youth unemployment spiked by 13% last year, Malaysia is less respected around the world, inflation is making it harder for Malaysians to buy the things they need, and a recent Pew survey found that 73% of Malaysians expected the country’s economic situation to worsen or stay the same over the following 12 months.

Najib Razak is feeling nervous about this lack of success. He has four big failures to be ashamed of.

New Economic Model

Let’s admit it: the country is never going to achieve US$15,000 (RM64,009) in gross national income (GNI) per capita by 2020.

Najib frequently blames “the slowdown in global growth” for his government missing or falling short of his own economic targets. But because of Najib’s poor understanding of the Malaysian economy, GNI per capita has decreased on his watch over the last 10 years.

According to the Asia Foundation, Malaysia will most likely not be able to climb out of its middle-income trap, “unable to move on to achieve high levels of economic growth and further economic transformation”.

These disappointments again raise one of the most important questions of the Najib era of Malaysia: can he actually deliver on what he promises?

1Malaysia

It certainly doesn’t feel like “one Malaysia”. Despite Najib’s recent attempt to rebrand the 1Malaysia concept on Merdeka Day, his actions have degraded Malaysia into being one of the world’s most divided societies.

Not only is Najib believed to support extremists like Perkasa and the Red Shirt Malay supremacists (no different than the Charlottesville white supremacists), but he also seems to support a harsh, seventh-century hudud law in Malaysia, which legalises the amputation of limbs for theft, the stoning of adulterers, and other cruel and unusual punishments.

Worse, only 36% of each Malaysian ethnicity has shared a meal with another. Sixty percent of Malays see themselves as being Muslim first, and only 27% identify as Malaysian first.

Worse, Malaysia has more than six times the rate of Muslim citizens leaving to join the Islamic State compared with Indonesia, and polls show that roughly 11% of Malaysians (nearly three million) support IS and suicide bombings.

Far from a unified citizenry, Najib pays lip service to a “1Malaysia”, but has divided the rakyat like never before.

Pemandu

Half a billion ringgit wasted, Najib’s new Pemandu unit was a vanity project “tasked with facilitating the implementation of the Entry Point Projects and business opportunities that have been identified to ensure that Malaysia is transformed into a high-income nation by 2020”.

This, of course, never occurred. As the economists at Blindspot eventually found, Pemandu achieved “no real results” and habitually distorted data to inaccurately depict improvements.

Forced to cherry-pick economic data that looked good rather than portray an accurate macroeconomic view of Malaysia, Idris Jala and his surrogates were not capable of defending the prime minister’s failure to halt the 36% drop in the value of the ringgit over the last four years, nor the (still) increasing youth unemployment rate, nor other economic shortfalls.

According to a recent Financial Times survey, Malaysians are the most pessimistic in the Asean region about the state of affairs in their country. They were the only ones expecting their domestic political and economic situations to deteriorate over the following six months.

Furthermore, roughly half of Malaysians believe that children today will be worse off financially than their parents, while only 30% believe that the children will be better off.

Najib’s Global Movement of Moderates

Najib’s GMM is also spectacularly unsuccessful. After more than seven years of operation and millions of dollars lost, it is neither global, nor a movement, nor moderate.

Instead, it is a poorly designed, outrageously expensive talking shop that was doomed from the start by design: there are no mission or vision statements, no quantitative or qualitative targets to reach, no quarterly or annual progress reports, and no financial reports to show how the GMM Foundation is spending Malaysian taxpayers’ money.

It is also probably one of Najib’s slush funds.

As Johan Jaafar criticised the foundation yesterday in the New Straits Times: “At the rate things are going, GMM has a long way to go. It has to put its house in order first. It needs a strategic plan to move forward in tandem with the current demands. It needs new approaches to be effective. Intermittent noises emitting from its new headquarters make little difference.”

Despite his weak track record on mega-promises, Najib recently announced additional dreamy, lofty-sounding mega-promises (The River of Life, The Cyberjaya Innovation Fund for the Future, The Blue Pool, The Blue Ocean Entrepreneurs Township, etc).

But based on his track record, it’s time for Malaysians to tell Najib to just slow down with all the new mega-promises, and to instead, focus on the basic but crucial essentials: improving healthcare, education, employment and the economy for all Malaysians – not just a few.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 6 September 2017, 4:40 am and is filed under
1Malaysia
,
Najib Razak
,
nation building
,
NEM
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Please grow up, MACC Chief Commissioner!

Today, the international press reported that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigator conducting criminal investigation into 1MDB-linked funds is encountering problems as several possible witnesses are too scared to speak out.

US media network Bloomberg reported that some people in “certain foreign countries” already assisting the criminal probe, are concerned for their safety, while others say it’s too dangerous to co-operate,  FBI said in a Federal Court filing in Los Angeles yesterday.

The report said FBI has requested to keep the names of its informants secret from the alleged masterminds of the 1MDB conspiracy.

Individuals who were otherwise willing to provide information said they were worried about putting “the safety and security of both themselves and their families at serious risk,” FBI said in its filing.

FBI also cited Malaysian news reports, where local officials arrested due to their role in probing the 1MDB embezzlement and the driver of former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, who was shot at his house in Ampang Perdana late last month.

This latest development in the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal, which had made Malaysia into a global kleptocracy, should be the first item of concern of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) which wants to established itself as a world-class anti-corruption body.

But apparently not, as its first concern was how to “fix” Penang DAP Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng.

The first thing on MACC’s mind after the four-day holidays was not 1MDB scandal or Malaysia as a global kleptocracy, but Lim Guan Eng, announcing that it will initiate legal action against Guan Eng over his refusal to apologise for describing the detention of state exco Phee Boon Poh as “illegal.”

PKR Vice President and MP for Padang Serai, N. Surendran has said that MACC has no legal grounds to take action against Guan Eng over his criticism of the MACC, as it was well within the protection of free speech guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.

Be that as it may, this episode highlights the misplaced sense of priorities of the MACC, and that it is time that MACC Chief Commissioner, Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad should grow up.

Surely there must be someone in the MACC leadership who could rectify the   MACC’s misplaced sense of priorities, and focus instead on the  1MDB scandal and Malaysia’s infamy as a global kleptocracy as a result of the 1MDB scandal, and what the MACC could do about it?

I do not believe that the founding fathers of the nation, like Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman and his deputy, Tun Razak, had ever  expected Malaysia to fall so low as to be regarded worldwide as a global kleptocarcy.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak seems to have sub-contracted the task of fighting corruption to the new MACC  Chief Commissioner provided the MACC respects the “no trespass” boundaries in its anti-corruption campaign –  not to touch the Prime Minister and the top government leaders or the subject of the 1MDB scandal which has resulted in Malaysia getting the international infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy.

Can Dzulkifli  confirm this mandate from the Prime Minister or explain why the MACC is taking a hands-off attitude to the 1MDB scandal and the issue of Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy?

The UMNO Information Chief and former Cabinet Minister, Tan Sri Annuar Musa has  said that Bank Negara’s forex loses a quarter of a century ago were real while 1MDB losses are only on paper.

Does Dzulkifli agree with Annuar and is this the reason why MACC has refused to re-open investigations into the 1MDB scandal or do anything to clear or cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 6 September 2017, 12:50 pm and is filed under
Corruption
,
Financial Scandals
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


MACC Chief Commissioner Dzulkifli should accompany Najib to Washington to meet FBI head so that he could report to Malaysians the basis and status of  US Department of Justice’s multi-billion dollar  kleptocratic investigations into 1MDB scandal

I do not think the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should accept the invitation to visit the White House and meet with US President Trump next Tuesday, as it would put him in an inferior  position as if a supplicant after being branded as a kleptocrat and “MO1” by the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s largest kleptocratic litigation in US history and had done nothing since the DOJ action in July last year to clear or cleanse the Malaysian government of implication in the 1MDB scandal or challenge the appellation of Malaysia as a “global kleptocracy”.

But if the Prime Minister insists on visiting Washington and meeting Trump as scheduled, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad should accompany Najib to Washington to meet with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) head so that he could report back to Malaysians on the basis and  status of the US DOJ’s kleptocratic investigations into the 1MDB scandal.

There are many Malaysians who say that the White House meeting means that Trump will tell the Department of Justice ((DOJ) to call off the investigation into 1MDB and the corruption that surrounds it.

This is the response of the former US Ambassador to Malaysia, John Mallot: “Baloney. Don’t count on it. Trump cannot even call off the DOJ investigation into himself! So forget that idea.”

This is why Dzukifli should accompany Najib on the trip to Washington to meet the FBI chief on the basis and latest status of FBI investigations into the 1MDB scandal.

The FBI/DOJ has produced 251 pages of closely detailed evidence of the multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal for  its forfeiture suits over  US$1.7 billion of  1MDB-linked assets.

Dzulkifli should find out from his counterparts in the  FBI  why DOJ/FBI investigators  had been able to assemble such a mountain of evidence about the international 1MDB money-laundering scandal but which were beyond the prowess and capability of MACC investigators, and to learn the superior FBI/DOJ anti-corruption investigation techniques  for the benefit of Malaysians.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 7 September 2017, 3:53 pm and is filed under
Corruption
,
Financial Scandals
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Saravanan has given the new IGP the first test of his professionalism on Fuzi’s second day as the No. 1 Policeman in the country

I congratulate Datuk Seri Mohamad Fuzi Harun’s appointment as the new Inspector-General of Police and welcome his commitment on assuming the post that he would tackle long-standing police problems like deaths in police custody and corruption in the police force.

I also commend the Malaysian police for its success in thwarting a plan by a member of the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf militant group to attack the closing ceremony of the Southeast Asian Games last week.

Fuzi revealed on Tuesday that the suspected attacker, a 25-year old Philippine national, had been involved in fighting, kidnapping and beheading of foreign hostages in the Philippines.

The new IGP can be assured of the DAP’s full support in police efforts to ensure the safety and security of Malaysians in the their own country, whether in the  homes, streets or public places, and to restore public confidence in the professionalism and non-partisanship of the police to fight and reduce  crime and unlawful activities  in Malaysia.

This is why DAP Members of Parliament are asking the Police for a briefing on the terrorist threat by  Islamic State and other organizations in Malaysia.

What cannot pass notice however is that the MIC Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports M. Saravanan, has given Fuzi  the first test of his professionalism as the new IGP on his second day as the No. 1 Policeman in the country.

I visited Tamil Malar office in Kuala Lumpur yesterday together with DAP National Vice Chairman and MP for Ipoh Barat, M. Kulasegaran, and several other DAP MPs and State Assembly representatives including MP for Bukit Bintang, Fong Kui Lun, MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng; Perak State Assemblyman for Sungkai, A. Sivanesan; Negri Sembilan State Assemblyman for Senawang P. Gunasekaren and Assemblyman for Nilai J. Arul Kumar; Pahang State Assemblywoman for Sabai, Kamache Doray Rajoo and Selangor State Assemblywoman for Teratai, Tiew Way Keng, and my new political secretary Kerk Chee Yee.

We met and heard the eye-witness account of the gangsterism, thuggism and assault of the Tamil Malar personnel on Tuesday from the Tamil Malar legal advisor K. Sarawathy, who was one of the three victims of the assault on Tuesday.

Another victim of the assault was the Tamil Malar Chairman Oms P. Thiagarajam who was in hospital for a MRI scan as a result of the assault on Tuesday.

The Tamil Malar executive editor S. M. Periasamy also briefed the visitors on the assault and the thuggish incident against Tamil Malar.

If Fuzi as the new IGP cannot act professionally without fear or favour against a MIC Deputy Minister, then how can Malaysians expect him to act professionally against other even more unreasonable Deputy Ministers, not to mention full Ministers, or the Deputy Prime Minister or Prime Minister if they flagrantly take the law into their own hands.

All eyes are watching the new IGP as to whether he would pass his first test as a professional IGP, which Saravanan had created on Fuzi’s second day as IGP.

I have seen the 10-minute long video CCTV footage showing the brawl and assault against Sarawathy, Oms P Thiagarajam and another Tamil Malar staff at Tamil Malar, which tallied with the Sarawathy’s account of the assault.

It is not possible for Saravanan to claim otherwise, unless he welcomes a public inquiry into the Tamil Malar assault.

Saravanan should tender an immediate public apology. The MIC President Datuk Seri Dr.  S.  Subramaniam cannot continue to keep his silence on the third day of the disgraceful incident of assault and thuggish incident by the MIC Deputy Minister at Tamil Malar.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should sack or suspend Saravanan as Deputy Minister before he leaves for the United States to meet with US President Trump to send out a clear message that he  has zero tolerance for gangsterish and thuggish brawls involving his Ministers and Deputy Ministers.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 7 September 2017, 9:01 am and is filed under
Police
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Attorney-General Apandi should be part of Najib’s delegation to Washington to meet up with US Attorney General Jeff Sessions to ascertain what evidence the US Government has to pursue the 1MDB case against 1MDB conspirators including “MO1”

Yesterday, I suggested that Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Dzulkifli Ahmad should accompany the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on the latter’s trip of Washington so that Dzulkifli can meet his counterparts in the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to ascertain the basis and latest status of US Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations into the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering  scandal as well as to learn the FBI investigation techniques which had enabled FBI to amass a mountain of evidence about criminal aspects of 1MDB scandal but which is beyond the present investigatory capabilities and prowess of MACC.

However, Najib’s delegation to the United States would be incomplete without the participation of the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali himself, especially as Malaysia had been tarred with  the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy precisely because of the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s largest kleptocratic litigation in US history to forfeit US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets around the world, particularly in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.

Apandi should meet with US Attorney General Jeff Sessions to ascertain what evidence the US Government has to pursue the 1MDB case against 1MDB conspirators including “MO1”.

What is particularly  disconcerting and troubling is the FBI/DOJ confirmation that the DOJ asset seizures are part of the FBI  criminal investigation into the largest global kleptocracy  in US history – which hails from Malaysia!

A few days ago, in its filings to the US Court in  California, the FBI  depicted the Najib government in very unflattering terms – when explaining why the DOJ had applied to freeze the civil cases of forfeiture until FBI had completed all its other criminal investigations into the 1MDB scandal.

On 5th September, DOJ responded to the opposition of the defence lawyers in the DOJ kleptocratic suits for the forfeiture of  the 1MDB-linked assets for the freezing of the civil cases until completion of criminal investigations.

FBI/DOJ officials made the shocking revelation in court that  information demanded by 1MDB mastermind Jho Low in the civil suits could result in potential witnesses being threatened, intimidated and indeed worse (to conceal, alter or destroy evidence)  – painting a unflattering picture of the suspected criminals behind the 1MDB international money-laundering scandal.

Among the examples cited by the FBI/DOJ in  court in California to justify its motion to freeze the forfeiture civil actions until completion of other criminal investigations into the 1MDB are the following:

*The arrest in August 2015 of three Malaysian law officials including a deputy public prosecutor, an official of the MACC and an official from the Attorney-General’s Chambers all of whom were working on the  Special Task Force investigating the 1MDB scandal because of news reports relating to 1MDB published in the United Kingdom.

*The arrest of Khairuddin Abu Hassan, then an UMNO official, by Malaysian authorities in September 2015 after he announced that he intended to travel to New York to provide information about 1MDB to the FBI.

*The recent report that the driver of former Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, who opened initial investigations into 1MDB, was shot in public by two unidentified men.

*A number of individuals, who have provided information, have also expressed concern for their own safety  or retaliation if the identities of certain witnesses, especially those located in certain foreign countries, were disclosed publicly.

These are very disturbing revelations which do not cast Malaysia and our efforts to combat and corruption in a good light.

Attorney-General Apandi should meet the US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions to try to clear up the contradiction between Apandi’s exoneration of Najib of any wrongdoing in the RM2.6 billlion “donation” in Najib’s personal bank on the ground that  it was donation  from Saudi  Arab royalty  from the ten “killer paragraphs” in the US DOJ’s latest 1MDB kleptocratic suits which debunk the claim that the donations were  from Saudi Arab royalty or that RM620 million had been returned to the Saudi Arabian donor.

I am referring to Paragraph 339 to 348 under the section “$681 MILLION WAS TRANSFERRED FROM THE TANORE ACCOUNT TO AN ACCOUNT BELONGING TO MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1”.

Surely, the clearing of the Prime Minister as “MO1” and the cleansing of Malaysia’s  reputation and good name from the infamy and ignominy of a “global kleptocracy” must be one of the priority tasks of Apandi as Attorney-General of Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 September 2017, 12:55 pm and is filed under
Corruption
,
Financial Scandals
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Aung San Suu Kyi must end her silence and speak up for justice and human rights for the Rohingyas and protect them from ethnic cleansing

During the 15 of the 21 years from 1989 to 2010 when she became one of the world’s most prominent political prisoners, I have issued countless statements espousing her freedom and her cause for democracy and human rights in Myanmar.

It is heart-breaking to watch her silence and failure to speak up and end the violence,  horrors and human rights violations  perpetrated on   the Rohingya minority in Myanmar.

I fully endorse the call by another Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu who have come out of retirement to issue a heart-felt letter to  Aung San  Suu Kyi, calling on her  to end the violence against the Rohingya Muslim  minority in Myanmar.

The 85-year-old anti-apartheid activist said:

“I am now elderly, decrepit and formally retired, but breaking my vow to remain silent on public affairs out of profound sadness.

“For years I had a photograph of you on my desk to remind me of the injustice and sacrifice you endured out of your love and commitment for Myanmar’s people. You symbolised righteousness.

“Your emergence into public life allayed our concerns about violence being perpetrated against members of the Rohingya. But what some have called ‘ethnic cleansing’ and others ‘a slow genocide’ has persisted – and recently accelerated.

“It is incongruous for a symbol of righteousness to lead such a country.

“If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep.”

Aung San Suu Kyi must break her silence, speak up for justice and human rights and end the ethnic cleansing of  the Rohingya community in Myanmar.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 September 2017, 1:40 pm and is filed under
Human Rights
,
International
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


The Real Test for US-Malaysia Relations in the Trump Era

By Prashanth Parameswaran

The Diplomat

September 06, 2017

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s first White House visit is a chance to address broader challenges in bilateral ties.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Predictably, the chatter ahead of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s visit to the White House next week has focused either on specific deliverables, like potential defense deals, or thorny issues like a high-profile corruption scandal implicating the premier. While both sides are expected to make some headline-worthy progress in the heavily scrutinized visit, the true test for U.S.-Malaysia relations lies less in the successful conduct of this interaction and more in the ability of both sides to manage the challenges likely to relations further down the line.

For all the focus on Najib himself, the reality is that the United States and Malaysia have successfully cooperated on a range of issues under six prime ministers since the Southeast Asian state’s independence despite disagreements on matters such as economic policy, human rights, and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East (See: “Getting to Full Bloom in US-Malaysia Relations”). And even though bilateral ties had hit new heights under Barack Obama – with both sides elevating ties to the level of a comprehensive partnership and Malaysia becoming a member of key U.S.-led initiatives, be it the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL – incidents like the 1MDB scandal and issues like human trafficking continued to pose complications for ties (See: “Malaysia in 2015: Crises of Confidence”).

The initial forecast for U.S.-Malaysia relations under Trump seemed to be rather gloomy, with Malaysian policymakers, like their regional counterparts, worrying about the implications of a so-called America First foreign policy with the nixing of TPP, the release of a trade hit-list, the questioning of the One China policy, and the Trump travel ban (See: “Trump’s Real ASEAN Test”).Yet as the Trump administration’s Asia policy began to take shape, convergence, as it often does, became clearer in certain areas like North Korea, eventually paving the way for Najib’s White House visit.

There is no doubt that the visit itself is a feat within the context of the bilateral relationship. The last time Malaysia was granted a White House visit was in 2004 under former premier Abdullah Badawi, and this is Najib’s first-ever White House visit since coming to power nearly a decade ago. And though the fact that he is just the second Southeast Asian leader to visit the Trump White House (after Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc) is partly a consequence of scheduling changes, officials from both sides also had to do a lot of substantive work to get the visit through so early on in the Trump presidency and so quickly as well.

Both sides also do intend to make some tangible progress in the relationship during the visit. The official agenda itself will be presented as wide-ranging, in line with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties as well as the realities of the comprehensive partnership itself. But the top agenda items – which include North Korea, counterterrorism, and maritime security – expected defense deals, the timing of the visit (which coincides with September 11), as well as the nature of some of Najib’s more private engagements, will make the visit seem a bit security-heavy, albeit with the 1MDB scandal looming over it as well.

Such progress ought not to be dismissed, particularly at the beginning of a new U.S. administration. But at the same time, it is important to keep in mind that the true test for U.S.-Malaysia relations will lie less in the successful conduct of this interaction and more in the ability of both sides to manage three key challenges likely to relations further down the line.

The first of these relates to reliability of the other, both with respect to the relationship as well as in the stance towards regional and global issues. Beyond the hype of a pivot to China, some in Washington have grown concerned about whether Najib’s personal quest for domestic survival, which had already undermined Malaysia’s economy, polarized its politics, and upset its fragile multi-ethnic fabric, is also subsuming the country’s foreign policy and impairing its ability to balance its alignments with major powers, chiefly the United States and China.

Though there is a tendency to overstate the degree to which this is occurring, the perception of what I have termed the “Najibization” of Malaysian foreign policy has nonetheless persisted among even some well-informed observers, especially as we have seen the Southeast Asian state make some unprecedented moves in its ties with Beijing in recent years  (See: “The Danger of Najibizing Malaysia’s Foreign Policy”).

But even Malaysian policymakers who are sympathetic to Washington’s concerns on this score are quick to point out that reliability cuts both ways. Trump’s withdrawal from TPP – an agreement that was especially significant in the context of bilateral ties since the two countries had failed to negotiate a bilateral free trade pact; and one that the Najib government, to its credit, had worked hard to sell despite domestic opposition – was a huge blow to U.S. credibility.

And, more broadly, with so much still so uncertain about the Trump administration’s overall Asia policy and foreign policy more generally, including its approach to China, there is little incentive thus far for Malaysia to reconsider its long-held hedging tendencies (Malaysia, it is worth recalling, was the first ASEAN member to normalize ties with China following the Nixon-China shock in 1972) (See: “The Ticking Clock on Trump’s Asia Strategy”).

The second is minding the gap with respect to threat perceptions. Framed as a general proposition, it would be difficult to dispute the fact that Malaysia and the United States do have common interests across several issue areas, be it in battling the Islamic State threat or addressing China’s growing assertiveness in the maritime domain. It is also understandable that the Trump administration has begun asking more of individual Southeast Asian states, including Malaysia, on issues such as North Korea given recent developments, even though reality is often much more complex than it is presented (See: “The Myth of a Malaysia-North Korea Special Relationship”).

Yet talk of a convergence of interests also obscures the reality that these threat perceptions are far from completely aligned on these issues, be it with regard to the magnitude of the threat in question or the proper mix of means necessary to deal with it. That explains why, for instance, Malaysia’s stance with respect to North Korea, while noticeably firmer in recent months, still falls short of the harsher approach that the Trump administration has tried to forge among Asian states (See: “Should North Korea Be Kicked Out of the ASEAN Regional Forum?”).

That misalignment can be exacerbated further by misguided policies, with a case in point being the initial stage of the George W. Bush’s war on terrorism, where the war in Iraq diminished the already relatively low popularity ratings that the United States had in Malaysia and made cooperation more difficult for policymakers. As I have noted before, it is not difficult to find Malaysian policymakers both fretting about the complications that arose in that era and being worried that history could repeat itself if Washington gets embroiled in another Middle East quagmire.

The third and final issue is getting the balance right on rights. Though Trump and Najib might well try to ignore the issue of rights altogether while focusing on narrow interests – the former has evinced little interest in the advancement of American ideals, and the latter would be glad to avoid further scrutiny on this score given the withering criticism already heard ahead of the visit – for the two sides not to deal with this openly would be a grave mistake. This is especially because of the inescapable reality that the majority of Malaysians, particularly the youth, voted against the current Najib government that the Trump administration has invited to the White House, an honor that was not given by the Obama administration (and one that was instantly criticized in media circles).

Despite the false dichotomy often presented between not addressing rights at all and doing so in a heavy-handed way – as U.S. Vice President Al Gore notoriously did during his 1998 visit to Malaysia – there is in fact a whole spectrum of options that Washington has to deal with this, as the Obama administration had demonstrated in many cases. But simply leaving this to fester would not only be a lost opportunity to tackle criticism head on, but also potentially open the door to other actors in the within the U.S. foreign policymaking process exerting limits on the development of these relationships, thereby complicating ties between the various branches of government. And as tough as it might be for Washington to deal with this now, it could be even more difficult with Malaysian polls coming up in the next few months that, though they are still Najib’s to lose, could yet see either a contested outcome or even a historic transition.

Of course, addressing these broader challenges will be much more difficult than simply seizing on immediate opportunities. But if the two countries are to seriously expand and deepen their comprehensive partnership, as U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Lakhdhir said in her Independence Day message to Malaysians last month, they must confront hard realities rather than just engineering another soft landing.

Prashanth Parameswaran is Associate Editor at The Diplomat magazine based in Washington, D.C., where he writes mostly on Southeast Asia, Asian security affairs and U.S. foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific. Follow him on Twitter @TheAsianist.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 September 2017, 4:51 am and is filed under
Corruption
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Trump’s Malaysia Swamp

By The Editorial Board

Wall Street Journal

Sept. 6, 2017

Did Tillerson tell his boss he’s repeating an Obama mistake?

A visit to the White House is a diplomatic plum that world leaders covet. So why is President Trump bestowing this honor on Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who jailed an opposition leader and is a suspect in a corruption scandal that spans the globe?

Mr. Najib will visit the White House next week for a presidential photo-op that could help him win the next general election and imperil Malaysia’s democracy. Yet it isn’t clear that Mr. Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are getting anything in return for associating with a leader their own Justice Department is investigating. This could set them up for a repeat of the way Mr. Najib humiliated Barack Obama.

Mr. Najib oversaw the creation of 1MDB, a state-owned fund that was supposed to attract foreign investment. The U.S. Justice Department alleges that the Prime Minister and his associates looted the fund of $4.5 billion. The DOJ has filed civil lawsuits to freeze more than $1.6 billion of assets allegedly stolen from the fund. Five other nations are also investigating, and Singapore has convicted five financiers of money laundering and fraud. Mr. Najib hasn’t been charged and denies wrongdoing, and Malaysia’s Attorney General cleared him.

Under Mr. Najib, Malaysian authorities also conducted a six-year prosecution against opposition leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on dubious charges of sodomy, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. That legal farce helped Mr. Najib’s party win a narrow victory in the 2013 election.

So how should the U.S. engage a troubled Malaysia? Mr. Obama cozied up to Mr. Najib and chose to ignore the prosecution of Mr. Anwar when he made the first visit by a U.S. President in 60 years to Kuala Lumpur in April 2014. Eight months later, he invited Mr. Najib for a showy round of golf in Hawaii.

But that precedent is not consistent with Mr. Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp” of Washington politics. Two months after that golf round Mr. Anwar was jailed again. And shortly after Mr. Obama made nice with Mr. Najib, Frank White Jr. , who served as co-chair of President Obama’s re-election committee before becoming a lobbyist for Malaysia, sold a stake in a 1MDB-linked solar technology firm back to the fund for $69 million.

The benefits of communing with Mr. Najib aren’t obvious. Perhaps Mr. Tillerson thinks Malaysia will help tighten the financial screws on North Korea, which has long used the country as a business hub. But Mr. Najib isn’t likely to stop his strategic drift toward China. Keeping 1MDB afloat will require cash infusions, and China, eager to help fellow authoritarians, can deploy its One Belt, One Road slush fund. Mr. Najib can then buy off the opposition and consolidate power.

If Malaysia slides into dictatorship, it will almost surely fall into Beijing’s orbit. The U.S. relationship depends on Malaysia remaining a viable democracy. That’s why helping Mr. Najib at this critical moment is a mistake.

Mr. Trump will be told that it’s too late to cancel the meeting, but the U.S. can find a diplomatic excuse in Hurricanes Harvey and Irma or congressional battles. Any embarrassment is better than giving a scandal-tainted leader a White House photo-op.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 September 2017, 4:34 am and is filed under
Corruption
,
Financial Scandals
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Which is Which – MCA’s Star Online’s two reports yesterday: “PM’s aide: DAP is ‘Top Dog’ in Pakatan” and “MCA: Dr M controlling Pakatan Harapan”

MCA’s Star Online carried two reports yesterday: “
PM’s aide: DAP is ‘Top Dog’ in Pakatan
” and “
MCA: Dr M controlling Pakatan Harapan
”.

Which is which?

The timeline for the first report was 11.56 pm yesterday while the time-line for the second report was 7.04 pm.

In the “
PM’s aide: DAP is ‘Top Dog’ in Pakatan
”, the press secretary to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad was quoted as saying that I am the “de facto leader cleverly pulling the strings and dictating Pakatan Harapan’s narrative and appearance” while in the report “
MCA: Dr M controlling Pakatan Harapan
”, the MCA publicity spokesman Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker was quoted as saying that former premier Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is controlling Pakatan Haran despite Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia being the “newest” kid on the block and “calling the shots in the Opposition pact”.

The MCA publicity spokesman said the “top dog and the boss” in Pakatan Harapan is Dr. Mahathir. “He is calling all the shots in the Opposition now.”

Is there a better example to illustrate the schizophrenia in Barisan Nasional, with UMNO and MCA declaring the very opposite in public?

It would be fun and most  amusing if this schizophrenia highlights a very harmless split personality in the Barisan Nasional coalition, but it is positively harmful and dangerous to Malaysian nation-building when it reflects rank racism and unprincipled opportunism of UMNO and MCA in the nation-building process in plural Malaysia.

UMNO leaders and propagandists are trying to incite Malay communalism and hatred by disseminating the lie that Mahathir and other Malay leaders like Tan Sri Muhyhiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Datuk Seri Mohd Azmin Ali, Nural Izzah, Rafizi Ramli and Mohamad Sabu are just my stooges and puppets; while MCA is trying to stir up Chinese racialism and chauvinism by accusing me as a stooge and puppet of Mahathir – or the  former stooge and puppet of Anwar.

Are UMNO and MCA leaders committed to build a Malaysian nation where all citizens share in the ownership of the country regardless of race, religion or region or are they trying to isolate the difference races into their separate communal compartments?

Where is Bangsa Malaysia concept of Vision 2020 or the 1Malaysia concept when Datuk Seri Najib Razak became Prime Minister in 2009?

I went to detention under the Internal Security Act, was hauled to court for defending the best interests of Malaysians and future generations; my son Lim Guan Eng was detained under the ISA, imprisoned and disqualified as a Member of Parliament for defending the honour and dignity of an underaged Malay girl – and we stood our ground without compromise even in the 22 years when Mahathir was the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Why should I be Mahathir’s puppet or stooge now?

Similarly, at the advanced age of 92 and after 22 years as Prime Minister of Malaysia, why should Mahathir be my stooge and puppet?

People with the minimum of grey matter  will know that this is not possible – Mahathir as my stooge or I becoming Mahahtir’s puppet.

Despite our great differences in the past, we have come together with the common objective, to save Malaysia from hurtling towards the trajectory of a failed and a rogue state.

Within a few years under Najib’s premiership, Malaysia has already become a global kleptocracy – something which the first five Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah would have thought totally impossible in the first five decades of the nation.

We have been overtaken by South Korea and Taiwan and in danger of losing out to Vietnam,  Thailand and even Indonesia if Malaysians do not unite and save Malaysia and reset nation building directions and policies.

Malaysian patriots have abandoned UMNO and Barisan Nasional. They are only to be found in Pakatan Harapan.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 September 2017, 10:13 pm and is filed under
MCA
,
Media
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


By clumsy and Luddite block of Steam because  of “Fight of Gods” computer game, Salleh has caused greater  global embarrassment to Malaysia than all the five Prime Ministers put together in 60 years

By his clumsy and Luddite block of Steam because of “Fight of Gods” computer game, the Minister for Multimedia and Communications Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak has caused greater  embarrassment to Malaysia than all the five Prime Ministers put together in 60 years.

Yesterday, Salleh ordered that the popular gaming provider, Steam, be blocked over its failure to prevent Malaysians from downloading the controversial new computer game “Fight of Gods”.

The block order to Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) was rescinded by Salleh this morning.

In this period of blockade of Steam, Malaysia came into the radar of consciousness of hundreds of millions of youth in the world, who otherwise have never thought of Malaysia, but unfortunately in the most embarrassing and worst possible light – with  Malaysia the butt of global outrage and frustration by tens even hundreds of millions of computer gamers, reinforcing the impression that Malaysia is very intolerant and  has a closed mentality, totally contradictory to an open, inclusive and tolerant approach.

Isn’t it possible for Salleh and the MCMC to carry out their duties under the Communications and Multimedia Act without causing such colossal damage to Malaysia’s international standing and reputation – as if the country’s infamy and ignominy in the last two years as a global kleptocracy as a result of the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal is not bad enough!

Malaysia needs a Minister and IT experts to man the MCMC who are savvy enough to know the far-reaching implications of every move to ban or block Internet communications, and not to have a Minister for Multimedia Communications or those who helm the MCMC to  behave like  bulls  in  China shops.

Are  Salleh and the MCMC chiefs aware that pc computer games are a universal phenomenon, that a year ago, it had been estimated to reach 1.2 billion gamers playing on the pc, and that some of the popular computer games have millions upon millions of players like:

1. The League of Legends,
 which has dominated the online market since at least 2012. Four years ago, the massively popular game had about 12 million people a day, and about 32 million unique players every month. The game has now grown to an impressive 100 million players a month who play the game for more than one billion hours.

2. Hearthstone,
 which has more than 50 million players who log in last month.  Despite coming in second, Hearthstone is actually the most popular game to watch in the world of eSports, and since it has that distinction, Hearthstone competitors get paid the most amount of money to play in eSports tournaments (sometimes millions of US dollars).

3. Overwatch,
 which has managed to secure 20 million unique registered players since its release earlier this year.

4. Dota 2,
 the most played game on Steam. Dota 2 has has about 15 million unique players, with roughly one million players signing in each day.

5. World of Warcraft
 lost more than 40% of its subscribers last year but still remains a force to be reckoned with.

6. Counter Strike: Global Offensive
 – the second most played game on Steam. Nearly 3 million players join the game every month, though with more than 250 million hours of game play, those players spend quite a lot of time in the game.

It is agreed that action should be taken to ensure that the “Fight of Gods” computer game does not run afoul of the country’s priority to ensure solidarity, harmony and the well-being of the multiracial and multi-religious people in the country, but great savviness and sensitivities are needed to ensure that the Minister for Communication and Multimedia and the MCMC chiefs ti do not act like “bulls in China shops”.

The publisher of the controversial game “Fight of Gods” has said that “no direct communication has been received by us” on the Malaysian Government’s plan to forcibly remove from sale the computer game in Malaysia but reiterate that it “respect any rules and censorship imposed in any given territory”.

The question remains: Whether the same result could be achieved without the enormous harm world-wide to Malaysia’s image and good reputation as an inclusive, tolerant and accommodating plural society.

(Speech at the Kopitiam Dialogue in Malim, Malacca on Saturday, 9th September 2017 at 8 am)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 9 September 2017, 1:01 pm and is filed under
IT
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


My three personal objectives in the 14th GE: for Pakatan Harapan to capture power in (I) Putrajaya (ii) Johore and (iii) Malacca

When I left Malacca in 1986 to contest in Tanjong parliamentary seat in Penang, the objective was to make a bid to capture the Penang State Government.

That was the highest political ambition of the DAP three decades ago.

But we did not succeed in the two serious bids to capture the Penang State Government in the 1990 and 1995 general elections, although we laid the basis for the DAP’s eventual win of the DAP-led Penang State Government in the 2008 and 2013 general elections.

If ten years ago, in 2007, anyone had asked whether it was possible to topple the UMNO/BN coalition government in Malaysia, the answer would a categorical “No” and the questioner would even be viewed as to whether he is a bit crazy to ask such a question.

But there has been a sea-change in the political landscape in Malaysia, and we are aiming not only for a change of Federal Government in Putrajaya, but even talking about a change of government in several states.

I have said that if in the 14GE as compared to the 13th General Election in 2013, there is a swing of 10% of Malay voters and a 5% of non-Malay voters from UMNO/BN to Pakatan Harapan, out of the 165 parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia, Pakatan Harapan would win 113 seats, UMNO/BN 50 seats and PAS 2 seats.

Together with support from the voters of Sabah and Sarawak, Pakatan Harapan would he on the way to form the new Federal Government of Malaysia.

In such a scenario, Pakatan Harapan would not only be able to maintain power in Penang and Selangor, we will be able to win power to form new state governments in Perak, Negri Sembilan and Johore.

More efforts will be needed if Pakatan Harapan is to topple UMNO/BN State Government in Malacca – a swing of 15% of Malay votes from UMNO/BN in the 13GE to the Pakatan Harapan in the 14GE.

I have three personal objectives in the 14th GE: for Pakatan Harapan to capture power in (I) Putrajaya (ii) Johore and (iii) Malacca.

(Speech at the kopitiam ceramah at Jalan Kesidang, Malacca on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017 at 10 am)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 9 September 2017, 10:54 pm and is filed under
Elections
,
Pakatan Harapan
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Malaysian Leader, Under Corruption Cloud, Will Meet With Trump

By RICHARD C. PADDOCK

New York Times

SEPT. 9, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — For more than a year, Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia has been under the cloud of a corruption investigation by the United States Department of Justice. On Tuesday, his scheduled visit to see President Trump at the White House may give him a chance to offset the political damage.

The Justice Department had concentrated for more than a year on seizing $1.7 billion in assets, including jewelry, real estate and Hollywood movie rights, that it says Mr. Najib’s family members and associates acquired with money diverted from a Malaysian government fund that he headed.

But in August, the department indicated it would shift its focus to a criminal investigation into the missing money, which is estimated to total more than $3.5 billion. Officials say much of it was laundered through United States financial institutions.

Now, Mr. Trump’s invitation to visit the White House comes at a perfect time for Mr. Najib and could give him a much-needed dose of legitimacy at home as a general election nears.

“It’s a big gift for him to have the White House invite him,” said Cynthia Gabriel, executive director of the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism in Kuala Lumpur, adding that she was “really flabbergasted” by the visit.

The two leaders played golf together a few years ago at Mr. Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J. Mr. Trump signed a photo of the two of them together, “To my favorite prime minister.”

When they meet at the White House, they are expected to discuss the nuclear threat posed by North Korea’s ruler, Kim Jong-un, as well as China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia. Mr. Trump sorely needs an Asian ally who can help on both fronts.

For Mr. Najib, a White House handshake will show voters back home that he can set foot on American soil without being jailed, analysts and opposition members said.

“He can say, ‘I am not wanted in the United States and I can go there without being arrested,’” said Tony Pua, a member of Parliament and a critic of Mr. Najib.

Simply avoiding arrest on a United States visit might seem a low bar for a world leader.

But in Malaysia, the Justice Department investigation has undermined Mr. Najib’s assertions that nearly $681 million deposited in his personal bank accounts was a gift from an unnamed Saudi donor.

The Justice Department said last year that the source of $731 million in Mr. Najib’s accounts was actually the Malaysian government fund.

Mr. Najib has said that he committed no wrongdoing. His office declined to comment for this article.

“From a pure public relations point of view, it’s a meeting the White House should avoid,” said Donald Greenlees, an authority on Southeast Asia with Australian National University. “Even a photo op with Kim Jong-un would be better.”

Among those highlighted in the assets seizure cases are Mr. Najib, who is identified in court documents as “Malaysian Official 1”; his wife, Rosmah Mansor, who is renowned for her foreign shopping excursions; and his stepson, Riza Aziz, whose company, Red Granite Pictures, produced “The Wolf of Wall Street” and other films.

In the United States, Ms. Mansor may find it best not to wear jewelry that the Justice Department wants to seize, including her $27.3 million necklace with a 22-carat, pink diamond pendant, or the 27 gold necklaces and bracelets that she acquired in Los Angeles for $1.3 million.

Also caught up in the scandal are the actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who received more than $12 million in artwork, and the model Miranda Kerr, who received more than $8 million in diamond jewelry. They received the items as gifts from Jho Low, a friend of Mr. Aziz who played a key role in establishing the Malaysian fund.

The department says the money used to acquire the property and luxury goods was diverted from One Malaysia Development Berhad, the investment fund that Mr. Najib headed.

Last month, the Justice Department filed a motion to stay the forfeiture cases so that they would not have “an adverse effect on the government’s ability to conduct the related criminal investigation.” A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 18 in Los Angeles.

While Mr. Najib might wish for Mr. Trump to halt the Justice Department investigation, that would seem unlikely given the department’s independence. After all, Mr. Trump has been unable to stop an investigation into Russian election meddling that is headed by Robert S. Mueller III.

“This is a meeting of two leaders who both have legal problems, so it is bound to raise eyebrows,” said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, chief executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs in Kuala Lumpur. “If they have a one-on-one meeting, no one really knows what transpires in that session.”

Mr. Najib is the latest in a growing line of world leaders to receive invitations from Mr. Trump, including President Abel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, who exert harsh authoritarian control over their countries.

Both the Malaysian leader and Mr. Trump have removed top officials from their roles, but Mr. Najib has also taken much more aggressive steps to protect his hold on power.

In 2015, Mr. Najib fired Malaysia’s attorney general to stop an investigation into the theft of government funds, and named a new one who quickly cleared Mr. Najib of any wrongdoing.

The opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, is serving a five-year sentence for sodomy in what critics and rights advocates say is a politically motivated case.

When members of his own party criticized Mr. Najib, he removed them from their posts.

His government has blocked unfriendly news outlets and charged a political cartoonist, Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, with nine counts of sedition. Mr. Zulkiflee, known as Zunar, often depicts Mr. Najib as the “Man of Steal” and his wife, Rosmah, with a giant diamond ring. He faces up to 43 years in prison.

Mr. Pua, the member of Parliament, was sued by Mr. Najib for defamation and is now under a court injunction limiting what he can say about the prime minister.

Mahathir Mohamad, 92, who served for 22 years as prime minister and is now a leader of the opposition, said Malaysia has turned into a “dictatorship” under Mr. Najib where the rule of law is no longer enforced.

Mr. Najib controls the media and nearly every aspect of government, he said, and critics are arrested and detained without due process.

But Mr. Najib’s visit to the White House will not give him the legitimacy he seeks because of Mr. Trump’s own standing, said Mr. Mahathir, who was seen as authoritarian when he was in power.

“I would be very worried if he was making a visit to a very highly respected president of the United States,” he said. “But Trump is not a highly respected president, even in the United States. He himself is under investigation and he has been very erratic.”

Mr. Mahathir added: “Whether he supports Najib or not, he is not going to make much of an impact. If he says Najib is a great leader, people will say, ‘Well, that’s Trump. We don’t take him seriously.’”

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 September 2017, 12:12 pm and is filed under
Mahathir
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Najib should compete with Pakatan Harapan to raise the bar higher for Malaysia to achieve and excel and not to plunge the country into an unprecedented low as reducing Malaysia into a global kleptocracy

I fully support the sentiment expressed by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his congratulatory speech in conjunction with the birthday of Yang di Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhamad V at Istana Negara in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The Prime Minister said Malaysia must always raise the bar higher to enable the country to stay ahead and create more success stories and developments.

He said in the government’s effort to make the Malaysia Digital Policy a success and to prepare the nation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution era, Malaysia had no choice but to dare and convince itself that the country was able to leap further than usual.

“Meaning to say, from now on, our achievements should be able to go beyond the usual or (in other words) we must always raise the bar high and continue to keep it that way for Malaysia.

“With that, Malaysia will eventually be known not only as a role model to Muslim countries but also as a reference to others as a highly respected High Income Advanced Economy country.”

Amanah President Mohamad Sabu asked a very pertinent question when opening the Selangor Amanah convention in Ampang this morning.

He asked why is the DAP at the forefront fighting graft instead of Muslims, referring to religious leaders who supported Barisan Nasional and legitimised corruption like the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal and Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy!

Is this the way for Malaysia to become “a role model to Muslim countries” as well as the “High Income Advanced Economy country”?

Can Najib cite a single “High Income Advanced Economy country” which is regarded worldwide as on the level of Malaysia in terms of corruption, at there is no need to even mention the infamy and ignominy of a “global kleptocracy”?

Is Najib prepared to admit that Malaysia as a “global kleptocracy” is no “success story” for Malaysia but a tale of shame, infamy and ignominy?

I challenge Najib to compete with Pakatan Harapan to raise the bar higher for Malaysia to achieve and excel and not to plunge Malaysia into an unprecedented low as reducing Malaysia into a global kleptocracy.

Yesterday, at the first anniversary of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) in Muar, the PPBM President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin called for institutional reforms including term limits for the office of Prime Minister to limit the Prime Minister to two terms to ensure that the Prime Minister cannot abuse his powers for personal gain.

This would mean that there cannot be another Prime Minister who could be Prime Minister for 22 years like the fourth Malaysian Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who was Prime Minister from 1981 to 2003.

The very fact that Mahathir has supported term limits for the post of Prime Minister as well as other institutional reforms shows that the former Prime Minister has learnt from the mistakes and faults of the past, and that Malaysia must constantly raise the bar higher to make Malaysia a role model of democracy, justice, the rule of law and harmony in a plural society to the world.

I believe it is not just DAP, but all right-thinking Malaysians, who will support institutional and systemic reforms like term-limits for the office of Prime Minister, limitations on the Prime Minister’s powers to appoint heads of various institutions like the Chief Justice, Attorney-General, the Inspector-General of Police, the Chief Commissioner of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Election Commission Chairman.

Is Najib prepared to compete with Pakatan Harapan to raise the bar higher for Malaysia to become a role model for the world as a functioning and meaningful democracy, the rule of law, the separation of powers among the Exectuive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, where the Prime Minister’s powers are subject to meaningful checks and balances?

I fully endorse Muhyiddin’s speech yesterday that the 1MDB scandal has shown how the Prime Minister’s influence and powers stifle the independence of public institutions like the MACC, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the MACC, the Police and even Parliament and the Judiciary.

Is Najib prepared to compete with Pakatan Harapan to ever raise the bar higher for Malaysian democracy and rule of law by convening a special one-week session of Parliament to specifically debate the 1MDB scandal and Malaysia being reduced to a global kleptocracy?

[
Speech at the DAP ceramah in Pantai Remis on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017 at 9 pm
]

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 September 2017, 10:19 pm and is filed under
Corruption
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Pakatan Harapan Selangor must be all-systems-go to ensure that the four component PH parties win the majority of the Selangor state assembly seats to continue to govern the state even in a three-cornered contest with PAS as spoiler

Pakatan Harapan Selangor must be all-systems-go to ensure that the four component PH parties win the majority of the Selangor state assembly seats to continue to govern the state even in a three-cornered contest with PAS as spoiler

I welcome the formation of Selangor Pakatan Harapan by the Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.

Pakatan Harapan (PH) Selangor must be all-systems-go to ensure that the four component (PH) parties, DAP, PKR, Amanah and Pribumi  Bersatu, win the majority of state assembly seats in Selangor in the 14GE to continue to govern the state, even in three-cornered contests with PAS as the spoiler.

Selangor is one of the five states which PAS under the leadership of Datuk Seri Hadi Awang had announced as the target of PAS  to form state governments in the next general election – the others being Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Kedah.

I do not see PAS has having the remotest possibility of winning the Selangor State Government on its own steam.  In fact, PAS in Selangor will be struggling just to win one State Assembly seat in the next general election.

If we look back at the PAS electoral history for Selangor since the 1959 general election, we will find that PAS in Selangor achieved its best results when it co-operated with DAP and PKR in the 1999, 2008 and 2013 General Elections when it won four, eight and fifteen state assembly seats in Selangor respectively.

In all the other nine general elections from 1959 to 2004, PAS in Selangor was a total washout as it did not win a single seat (breaking the egg in the 1974 General Election when it joined the Barisan Nasional and was conceded a seat by UMNO).

What is worth noting is that after the 1999 general election, when PAS was part of Barisan Alternative and won four out of 48 State Assembly seats in Selangor; it was thoroughly trounced in the 2004 General Election when it contested on its own and  did not win a single seat out of the total of 56 State Assembly seats in Selangor.

Hadi had boasted that PAS would win five state governments in the 14 GE, namely Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Pahang and Selangor. There is no possibility whatsoever of PAS winning Terengganu, Kedah, Pahang and Selangor although the question is open as to whether PAS would lose power in Kelantan which PAS had won for six consecutive general elections since 1999.

If Datuk Seri Nik Aziz Nik Mat is still alive, PAS can still retain power in Kelantan State Government – but if Nik Aziz is still alive, Pakatan Rakyat would not have disintegrated because of PAS’ refusal to honour the PR Common Policy Framework and the PAS President would not have become the greatest apologist and defender for the Prime Minister’s “global kleptocracy” and 1MDB scandal.

For the first time in its history, PAS under Hadi will be playing a spoiler’s role in the 14th General Election, splitting votes to help UMNO/BN to win in difficult seats.

This is a role no other PAS President would have wanted PAS to play, but this is a measure of how much PAS under Hadi had deviated – to the extent of falsely accusing the DAP of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam when PAS had co-operated with DAP for three years  under Barisan Alternative and for seven years under Pakatan Rakyat from 2008 to 2015.

Would Hadi’s PAS be rewarded by Najib for PAS’ spoiler role in the 14GE?

Would Najib agree to allow PAS to run five state governments in Kelantan, Terenggtanu, Kedah, Pahang and Selangor while Najib concentrate on winning UMNO parliamentary seats – even to the extent of winning back two-thirds parliamentary majority for UMNO/BN in Parliament?

This sounds very far-fetched, but be that as it may, the four Pakatan Harapan parties in Selangor must be all-systems go and hunker down to win every possible seat in Selangor so that Selangor will be governed by a 100% Pakatan Harapan coalition after the 14GE.

(Media Statement at a DAP kopitiam ceramah in Sri Kembangan, Selangor on Sunday, 10th Sept. 2017 at 10 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 September 2017, 1:42 pm and is filed under
General
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


UMNO/BN  should stop insulting intelligence of Malaysians thinking Malays can be deceived  into believing that Mahathir has become my puppet while the Chinese will believe that I have become Mahathir’s stooge

UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers  should stop insulting the  intelligence of Malaysians thinking Malays can be deceived  into believing that Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has become my puppet while the Chinese will believe that I have become Mahathir’s stooge.

Any primary school student will know that it is not possible Mahathir has become my stooge and I have become Mahathir’s puppet, one at the same time.

Furtheremore, both allegations are lies and falsehoods of the most heinous variety.

Mahathir is not my puppet and I am not Mahathir’s stooge.

In my political life, I had undergone  detention under the Internal Security Act twice, was hauled to court under the Official Secrets Act and other repressive laws for defending the best interests of Malaysians and future generations; my son Lim Guan Eng was detained under the ISA, imprisoned and disqualified as a Member of Parliament for defending the honour and dignity of an underaged Malay girl – and I  stood my  ground all these decades  without compromising my political principles and beliefs  even in the 22 years when Mahathir was the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Why should I be Mahathir’s puppet or stooge now?

Similarly, at the advanced age of 92 and after 22 years as Prime Minister of Malaysia, why should Mahathir be my stooge and puppet?

Such notions are unthinkable even to people  with the minimum of grey matter.

Despite our great differences in the past, Mahathir and I have come together with the common objective, to save Malaysia from hurtling towards the trajectory of a failed and a rogue state.

Within a few years under Najib’s premiership, Malaysia has already become a global kleptocracy – something which the first five Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah would have thought totally impossible in the first five decades of the nation.

We have been overtaken by South Korea and Taiwan and in danger of losing out to Vietnam,  Thailand and even Indonesia if Malaysians do not unite and save Malaysia,  reset nation building directions and policies to achieve our Merdeka Dream to an example to the world of  an united, harmonious, successful, progressive and prosperous multi-racial, multi-religious and  multi-cultural nation.

Or do we want to become a backward, repressive and basket-case African nation?

UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers are  living in a world of their own, completely unaware that this is the age of information, where information travels at the speed of light and what happens in any part of the world is instantly known by people everywhere.

Futhermore, the democratisation of education has enabled every Malaysian to have the opportunity to go to school and able to think for themselves.

It is precisely because MCA and Gerakan leaders are telling such atrocious lies about DAP leaders that there is no way MCA and Gerakan can improve on their general election peformance in the 14th general election.

If UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers persist in disseminating such lies about Mahathir and me, their credibility will plunge to the bottom – paving the way for the defeat of UMNO/BN coalition in the next general election and  the establishment of a Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya as well as a new Pakatan Harapan Johore State Government.

(Speech at a DAP dialogue at Parit Tengah, Muar on Saturday, 9th September 2017 at 5 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 September 2017, 7:53 am and is filed under
DAP
,
Elections
,
Johore
,
Mahathir
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Challenge to Najib to prove he is true democrat: declare he would peacefully and democratically transfer power to Pakatan Harapan if voters in  Malaysian voters in 14GE decide on change of government in Putrajaya and that there  won’t be riots or any declaration of emergency

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has written a most extraordinary and unprecedented article on his blog entitled “Malaysia’s Record of Democracy and Free Speech is Strong” clearly with two objectives:

Firstly, on the eve of his visit to the White House and meeting with US President Trump, to burnish his credentials as a true democrat and advocate of free speech. Najib’s strategic advisers regard Trump’s invitation to Najib as a  “coup” and a great national honour for Najib and Malaysia, especially in the run-up to the 14GE. This however is not universally shared by Malaysians who regard Najib’s White House visit as a “national humiliation and shame” as Najib would be visiting the White House under the cloud of the  infamy of a kleptocrat and “MO1” – both branded by the US government through its Department of Justice (DOJ).

Secondly, to take the opportunity to demonise and  launch a bitter attack against Pakatan Harapan and its leaders, as well as critics of the Najib administration, for the American audience, to paint the picture of the Najib administration unfairly under attack and even “siege” by undemocratic opponents.

Najib is riled by the bad publicity in the US media over his visit to the White House, but who is responsible for such press in the American media?

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) came out with an editorial which asked why President Trump is “bestowing this honour on Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who jailed an opposition leader and is a suspect in a corruption scandal that spans the globe”.

It even called for the cancellation of the White House invitation to Najib, declalring: “Any embarrassment is better than giving a scandal-tainted leader a White House photo-op.”

In an opinion piece, the Washington Post said that Trump’s hosting of Najib marks another setback for the rule of law.

It hit the nail on the head when it said: “Engulfed by allegations he pilfered billions from his own country’s sovereign wealth fund, he craves international legitimacy.”

New York Times in a piece entitled “Malaysian Leader, Under Corruption Cloud, Will Meet with Trump” said Trump’s invitation to visit the White House “comes at a perfect time for Mr. Najib and could give him a much-needed dose of legitimacy at home as a general election nears”.

I cannot think of any instance  in Malaysia’s 60 years as an independent nation under six Prime Ministers where the Malaysian Prime Minister is written about with such contempt and derision by the American media.

Why is this so?

From Najib’s article, he blamed and accused the Pakatan Harapan leaders for trying to “blacken” the country’s image.

What is even more interesting and revealing, Najib has shown that the lies, fake news and false information in the black UMNO/BN propaganda campaign accusing Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as my puppet among Malay voters while among non-Malay voters I am charged of being Mahathir’s stooge, emanated from the highest power centre in UMNO/BN, when Najib in his article openly described me as “Opposition’s real mastermind”.

Najib is indulging in the ridiculous and utterly nonsensical when he alleged that Pakatan Harapan leaders, including Mahathir, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, Mohamad Sabu were mere puppets responding to  the strings that I am pulling from behind the stage as I am the “Opposition’s real mastermind”.

I had not met a single reporter whether from Wall Street Journal, Washington Post or New York Times for more than four years after the May 2013 General Election.

It would appear that I possess omnipotent powers to “blacken” Malaysia’s reputation  through the American media and society, powers that I myself am not aware that I possess!

Was the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal my idea, which I had somehow convinced Najib to carry out?

Was Malaysia being regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy” all my doings, manipulating and masterminding Najib in his various kleptocratic actions?

I call on Najib to raise the bar and rise to a higher level of democratic politics.

For a start, I challenge Najib to prove his claim to  be a true democrat by declaring that he would  peacefully and democratically transfer power to Pakatan Harapan if Malaysian voters in 14GE decide on change of government in Putrajaya and that there won’t be riots or any declaration of emergency as some had suggested.

Let him make this declaration in his visit to the White House to prove that he is indeed a true democrat!

(Speech at the DAP kopitiam dialogue at Changkat Keruing, Perak on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017 at 9 am)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 11 September 2017, 4:54 pm and is filed under
Corruption
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


Nation grieves at the passing of Sultan of Kedah, who was twice Yang di Pertuan Agong

The nation grieves at the passing of the Sultan of Kedah, who made history for being twice the Yang di Pertuan Agong of the country.

When I first entered Parliament in February 1971 when Parliament was reconvened after being suspended for 21 months after the 1969 general election, Sultan Abdul Halim was the Yang di Pertuan Agong from 1970 to 1975.  He served his second term as Yang di Pertuan Agong  more than three decades later from 2011 to 2016.

Sultan Abdul Halim  endeared himself to the nation as the  people’s King.

The nation and people are in deep  bereavement over Sultan Abdul Halim’s passing.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 11th September 2017)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 11 September 2017, 5:21 pm and is filed under
Constitution
,
General
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


It makes no difference, as  after Najib’s White House visit and photo-op with Trump, Najib’s infamy as “kleptocrat” and “MO1” and Malaysia’s shame for being  regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy” remain

Never before has a Prime Minister of Malaysia invested so much on publicity and propaganda (not to mention funds)  for his visit to the United States to visit the White House and meet with US President Trump in Washington Tuesday or several hours from now.

On his departure for the US on Sept. 10, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak wrote a special article in his blog entitled  “Malaysia’s Record of Democracy and Free Speech is Strong” extolling his own democratic virtues and commitments and human rights record, which are  quite dismal indeed.

But this  was not enough. On Sept. 11, the Prime Minister’s Office ensured that Najib’s special message appeared in the top  American political website, the Hill, entitled: “Malaysian prime minister: Trump, we have your back in fighting ISIS”.

But all these PR exercises to generate positive vibes for Najib’s visit to the White House and meeting with President Trump were drowned in an ocean of bad press, not only in the United States but in the world as well.

This is  illustrated by the catalogue of bad press in the US and world media about Najib’s US visit, such as:

•	Scandal-hit Malaysian leader Najib to visit White House (Japan Times).

•	Trump to meet scandal-hit Malaysian leader in September (Reuters).

•	With Trump meeting, Malaysia’s PM seeks to p0ut 1MDB scandal behind him (Reuters).

•	Malaysian Leader in Billion-Dollar Scandal Is Invited to White House (New York Times).

•	Trump’s hosting of Malaysia’s prime minister marks another setback for the rule of law (Washington Post).

•	Trump’s Malaysia Swamp – Editorial (Wall Street Journal).

•	1MDB Stolen Funds Witnesses Are Scared To Talk, FBI Says (Bloomberg)

•	Najib Set to Meet Trump as 1MDB Probe Deepens (Bloomberg)

•	Najib to visit Trump to play down 1MDB graft probe (The Australian)

•	Malaysia PM Najib Razak, under cloud of 1MDB corruption scandal, to be invited to White House (Sydney Morning Herald).

•	Meeting World’s Biggest Crook Najib – Trump Should Stop Trying To Prove He’s The U.S. Biggest Moron (Finance Twitter)

•	Donald Trump meets politician embroiled in a corruption scandal (London Express).

No Prime Minister of Malaysia in the past 60 years had to face such phalanx of international media hostility or avalanche of  adverse press publicity both in the United States and the world, and it is inconceivable that Najib would have the credibility to salvage his own as well as the nation’s reputation with his visit to the United States, although Najib’s propagandists would  have all the publicity material ready and lined up for the coming days, weeks and months to present Najib’s trip to the White House and meeting with US President Trump to the Malaysian voters in the most positive light, though it is likely to have  the least impact on Malaysian voters from all races, religions and regions.

There are those  who say that at  the White House meeting Trump will tell Najib that the Department of Justice ((DOJ) will  call off the investigation into 1MDB and the corruption that surrounds it.

As the former US Ambassador to Malaysia, John Mallot, has said, this is “baloney” –  “Don’t count on it. Trump cannot even call off the DOJ investigation into himself! So forget that idea.”

This  has now been confirmed by the White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders who said yesterday that the US DOJ’s investigation into the 1MDB scandal is independent of the upcoming discussion between Najib and Trump later today in the White House.

It makes no difference, as after Najib’s White House visit and photo-op with Trump, Najib’s infamy as “kleptocrat” and “MO1” and Malaysia’s shame for being  regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy” remain.

Sanders said that Najib and Trump will discuss regional and security issues like counter-terrorism, ISIS, North Korea and maritime security in

South China Sea.

Malaysians are disappointed that Najib cannot free Malaysia from the ignominy and infamy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocrat, with him tarred as “kleptocrat” as “MO1” as there is no issue more important to Malaysia than to free Malaysia from the trap and curse of an global kleptocracy – which is more important than any issue which is to be discussed between Najib and Trump in the White House later today.

(Media Statement in Gelang Patah on Tuesday, 11th September 2017)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 12 September 2017, 1:14 pm and is filed under
Corruption
,
Financial Scandals
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.


From Trump hotel lobby to White House, Malaysian prime minister gets VIP treatment

By Jonathan O’Connell

Washington Post

September 12, 2017

Malaysian prime minister’s visit to Trump International Hotel could be violation of Constitution’s emoluments clause

Before arriving at the White House late Tuesday morning to meet with President Trump, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak strode through the golden doors of an elevator at the Trump International Hotel and past the lounge to his waiting motorcade.

The prime minister’s official White House visit also brought at least 24 hours of activity and sales to the glamorous 263-room hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue that Trump owns through a trust. And it is likely to escalate debate over whether the president is benefiting from a luxury property that has become Washington’s new power center — and, its critics say, a staging area for those seeking White House access.

Hotel staffers and Malaysian officials declined to say whether Najib and the other officials stayed overnight at the hotel, among the most expensive in Washington, or if they did stay, for how long.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed a question about the delegation’s stay. “We certainly don’t book their hotel accommodations,” she told reporters Tuesday.

But signs of the Malaysia delegation’s presence were obvious at the property. At lunchtime Monday, more than a dozen members of Najib’s entourage relaxed in a lounge area reserved for hotel guests. That evening, they came and went from the hotel, sometimes returning to the valet stand with shopping bags.

Najib departed just before 8 p.m. Monday in his motorcade. He had a scheduled dinner with a business group. He returned to the hotel and rode up the escalator at nearly 10:30 p.m.

On Tuesday morning, dozens of delegation members convened in meeting rooms with name cards bearing the Malaysian coat of arms. Some attended a white-tablecloth breakfast in the hotel’s Lincoln Library meeting room.

Events of this scale would probably mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for the Trump Organization, based on confirmed spending totals of other groups that have set up camp there. The company declined to comment.

Trump has come under fire for declining to divest of his interest in the hotel, which is now managed by his sons, creating opportunities for foreign governments and special interests to enrich the president while also seeking changes to U.S. policy, in Najib’s case within a few minutes’ time.

Lawsuits from government watchdog groups and inquiries from Democratic leaders and governments agencies, including the Government Accountability Office, are targeting the hotel, which operates in a building leased to his company by the federal government, which Trump oversees.

Ethics experts, citing the Constitution’s emoluments clause, consider foreign government bookings at the hotel unacceptable. Though it has hosted hotel events for many foreign entities, as well as lobbying-group events and Republican fundraisers, the Trump Organization says it does not seek foreign governments as clients, keeps a separate log of their payments and plans to donate profits it receives from them to the U.S. treasury at the end of the year.

Najib was scheduled to return to Malaysia on Wednesday evening.

Trump’s invitation to Najib also has drawn scathing criticism because the United States is conducting a probe — its largest kleptocracy investigation ever — into whether the prime minister diverted more than $1 billion from a Malaysian-government investment fund to his own bank accounts.

The Justice Department is aggressively investigating potential fraud surrounding the fund, known as 1MDB, and announced in June that prosecutors had filed forfeiture complaints seeking $540 million in assets.

U.S. prosecutors a year earlier had filed similar complaints seeking more than $1 billion in assets that they alleged were ill-gotten gains from an effort by Malaysian officials and their associates to misappropriate money from the government-owned fund. That means the total value of assets sought stands at nearly $1.7 billion, the Justice Department has said.

Among the things U.S. officials have sought to seize are New York City penthouses, Hollywood and Beverly Hills mansions, a private jet and even some future proceeds from the movies “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Dumb and Dumber To.” The 2016 complaint alleged that more than $730 million of what seemed to be 1MDB money was ultimately routed to the personal bank account of “Malaysian Official 1,” a thinly veiled reference to Najib.

Najib has said on social media that “no crime was committed,” and an investigation by the Malaysian attorney general determined that the money in Najib’s account was a personal donation from the Saudi royal family. In 2015, President Barack Obama visited Najib in Malaysia to curry support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The Malaysian delegation visiting this week included six other high-ranking officials, according to the Malaysian Embassy, among them the minister of foreign affairs, the minister of trade, the chief secretary, the ambassador to the United States and the director of the nation’s security council.

Members of Najib’s entourage repeatedly waved off a reporter’s questions Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Inquiries to the Malaysian Embassy and the White House were not immediately returned.

Once at the White House, Najib was greeted by Trump, Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

“It’s great to have the prime minister of Malaysia and his very distinguished delegation with us today,” Trump said, sitting across a conference table from Najib. Trump praised the prime minister for his stance on terrorism and for investing in U.S. businesses.

“Mr. Prime Minister, it’s a great honor to have you in the United States and in the White House,” he said.

Najib responded by saying he wanted to help “strengthen the U.S. economy” by purchasing Boeing airplanes and engines from General Electric, among other initiatives.

Matt Zapotosky and Drew Harwell contributed to this report.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 13 September 2017, 6:40 am and is filed under
Corruption
,
Najib Razak
. You can follow any responses to this entry through
RSS 2.0
.