Together with DAP National Political Director and MP for Kluang, Liew Chin Tong and DAP MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng, we have just arrived in Sandakan, whih is the last place of the three-day six-stop launch in Sabah of the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Mana RM2.6 billion?” campaign as part of the nation-wide movement to make 30 million Malaysians realise that they are all victims of the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB mega twin scandals.
Malaysians all over the country, regardless of race, religion, region or political affiliation, are increasingly asking two questions about the RM2.6 billion “donation” deposited in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal banking accounts for the 13th General Election, where the RM2.6 billion came from and to whom the monies went to.
Najib should realise that these two questions are not going to go away, and the longer he procrastinates in giving a full and satisfactory explanation as to where the R2.6 billion came from and to whom they had been given to, the worse it is for Najib in terms of his credibility and legitimacy as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Najib should take the bull by its horn and on Monday, when Parliament reconvenes, be frank and truthful to Members of Parliament from both sides of the House as well as to Malaysians by giving full and satisfactory accounting of the twin mega scandals under his premiership.
In the flight from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan, I read the Borneo Post report “US returns US$1 million stolen by former South Korean President Chun”, on the return by the United States of more than a million US dollars to South Korea that were embezzled by South Korea’s former president Chun Doo Hwan which were hidden abroad.
US officials said the return of the funds, US$1.13 million in today’s dollars, demonstrated Washington’s commitment to rooting out the profits of theft by foreign leaders.
The US Department of Justice said FBI investigators had traced US$726,951 to a California account linked to the sale of Orange County real estate by Chun’s son while a second US$500,000 was traced to a Pennsylvania company found to be linked to Chun’s “corruption scheme”.
I am struck by this report because I dread that one day in the future, Malaysians may be reading about the outcome of US Department of Justice investigations into Malaysian political officials under its Kleptocrary Assets Recovery Initiative 2010.
It is the height of national shame that New York Times reported on Sept 11 that the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the US Department of Justice probe under the DOJ’s Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010 but neither Najib nor anyone in Putrajaya had been able to deny or clarify the report after a passage of more than two months.
Never before in Malaysia’s 58-year nation-building history under five previous Prime Ministers from 1957 to 2009 had the country’s Prime Minister had to suffer the dishonour and humiliation of being investigated by a foreign country as to whether he is a kleptocrat or not.
This is a question which must be specifically posed to US President Barack Obama when he visits Malaysia in conjunction with the ASEAN Summit conferences on Nov. 21-22, whether FBI and US Department of Justice are investigating Najib under the DOJ’s Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010 in connection with the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.
Malaysians cannot and should not suffer the shame and dishonour of their Prime Minister being subject to the humiliating investigation by FBI as to whether he is a kleptocrat like former South Korean President Choo Doo Hwan.
In fact, Najib should ask Obama to make a special statement on this issue during the US President’s visit to Malaysia.
(Arrival Statement at the Sandakan Airport on Thursday, November 12, 2016 at 4pm)