Can Cabinet answer whether 1MDB debts are now RM42 billion or over RM50 billion as stated by Muhyiddin before he was sacked as DPM?

The 1MDB Cabinet reshuffled by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on July 28 should come clean on the 1MDB scandal, starting by explaining to Malaysians whether 1MDB debts are not just RM42 million, which is an outdated figure, but have mushroomed to be more than RM50 billion as stated by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in his speech at the UMNO Cheras AGM on July 26, two days before he was summarily sacked as Deputy Prime Minister by Najib for “disloyalty” to him.

Is Najib and the Cabinet going to wait for several months before admitting to the truth, as in the case of the RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s personal accounts in AmBank in March 2013 before the 13th General Elections, where for some five weeks, Najib refused to give a simple “Yes” or “No” to the question whether RM2.6 billion had been deposited into his personal accounts.

Now UMNO Ministers and leaders are competing with each other as to who could produce the most outrageous justifications to justify the RM2.6 billion deposit into Najib’s personal accounts!

If what Muhyiddin said before he was sacked as DPM that the 1MBD debts have mushroomed to over RM50 billion is untrue, then there should be a simple and prompt correction from the Ministerial team of “spin doctors” to defend Najib’s integrity and reputation! Just come out and say “No”!

If what Muhyiddin said is true, why can’t the 1MDB Cabinet confirm it?

If Najib’s Cabinet of 37 Minister and 31 Deputy Ministers are incapable to answering such simple questions, it is a powerful case for the sacking of most of the Ministers and Deputy Ministers so that Malaysia has a leaner, more serious and committed Cabinet say of 20 Ministers and 20 Deputy Ministers – which will save Malaysian taxpayers a lot of money!

Malaysians are befuddled by the many contradictions coming out from the Ministers especially on the twin scandals of 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal bank accounts.

I will give just one example.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi told reporters after opening the Tanah Merah UMNO delegates meeting on Saturday that the government and UMNO leadership will give a detailed explanation to UMNO members “soon” on the issues of 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion political fund.

Zahid stressed that this was to ensure that each Umno member would not fall for the lies and incorrect information being circulated in the social media.

Zahid said: “Without the explanation, Umno grassroots members will eventually fall for the waves of information in the social media, which has taken over the function of non-verbal communication.”

But this was immediately contradicted two days later by the UMNO Secretary-General and Minister for Federal Territories, Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor who said that there was no need for Najib to entertain further demands for explanations on 1MDB controversy as he had provided his detractors with sufficient answers.

This is a most astonishing answer as none other than the UMNO Deputy President Muhyiddin Yassin had said when he was still Deputy Prime Minister that apart from Najib, no one in Cabinet really undertstood the 1MDB scandal?

In fact, Muhyiddin even admitted that he had to get information from the media including the suspended business weekly The Edge Financial Daily, on the 1MDB scandal!

Muhyiddin was probably referring to Ministers like Adnan when he said that “even those who talk about 1MDB did not even understand what is the problem faced by the debt ridden company” – and this also fits admirably the second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah and the newly-minted Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

Can the three million UMNO members and the Malaysian public have an answer to the simple question whether there is going to be a detailed explanation about the teeming questions surrounding the two scandals of 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion funds in Najib’s personal accounts – and when will this be done?

Or is this going to join the long catalogue of broken Ministerial promises connected with the twin scandals of 1MDB and RM2.6 billion funds in Najib’s personal accounts?

The 1MDB Cabinet today should choose a date before Merdeka Day for the Emergency Parliament to elect the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and to revamp the Dewan Rakyat Selection Committee which appoints ordinary members to the various Parliamentary Select Committees so that the other three PAC vacancies could be filled.

There has been talk of the appointment of UMNO MP for Ketereh Datuk Seri Annuar Musa as the new PAC Chairman.

There cannot be a more unsuitable choice to be PAC Chairman, for Annuar Musa should in fact be hauled up before the PAC for the various MARA INC property scandals in Melbourne exposed recently by the Australian newspaper The Age, but Annuar Musa was lucky to escape rigorous scrutiny for the MARA INC scandals were completely overshadowed and buried by the larger scandals on 1MDB and RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal accounts.

But Annuar’s luck should not run to his appointment as PAC Chairman!