Release Anwar from Sungai Buloh prison; drop all politically-motivated charges against Zunar, Azmi, Maria Chin and others; withdraw NSC Bill; suspend GST and fully account for Najib’s twin mega scandals before anyone talks about “Let bygones by bygones”

Christmas is five days away, and there is already a lot of talk about forgiveness and forget about the past.

I support the philosophy of being prepared to forgive and forget past transgressions to promote greater amity, understanding and tolerance among individuals and groups of people, not just because it is a teaching by all great religions but a good philosophy of life.

However, it is indeed odd to talk about forgiving and forgetting another political party’s past transgressions when the other party had never confessed or owned up to any past transgression or wrongdoing.

It is all very good to adopt the religious teaching or philsophy of “Let bygones be bygones” to construct a new relationship and to build a new future, to forget all the sins and transgressions of the past.

However, this readiness to forgive and forget all the sins and transgressions of the past must be accompanied by the readiness and resolution to right all current wrongs, injustices and transgressions or it is totally premature for any talk about “Let bygones be bygones”.

Is such a possibility on the cards?

Before there can be talk of “Let bygones by bygones” in the Malaysian political arena to forgive and forget the “sins of the past” committed by the government parties, there must be an equal readiness and resolution for the immediate righting of all current wrongs, injustices and transgressions.

Is there such a readiness and resolution to right ongoing wrongs, injustices and transgressions?

If so, let the following wrongs, injustices and transgressions be immediately rectified, righted and resolved without any delay:

• The immediate release of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim from Sungai Buloh prison;

• Drop politically-motivated charges against all accused including cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar (Zunar), blogger Khalid Ismath, academic Azmi Sharom, political dissidents Khairuddin Abu Hassan and Matthias Chang and human rights activists Lena Hendry and Maria Chin Abdullah – as contained in the European Parliament resolution last Thursday condemning human rights violations in Malaysia.

• The withdrawal of the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council Bill which will usurp the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet and the 13 state governmernts;

• Immediate suspension of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for causing great hardships to low-income Malaysians sandwiched between falling incomes and rising cost of living; and

• Immediate, full and satisfactory accountability by the Prime Minister for his twin mega scandals – the RM2.6 billion “donation” in his personal banking accounts before the 13th General Elections and the RM55 billion 1MDB scandals.

Let these five issues be resolved before anyone talk about “Let bygones be bygones”, as otherwise, it is just sheer complicity, aiding and abetting in the commission of wrongs, injustices and transgressions ongoing in our country, which no fair-minded and justice-loving Malaysian can or should agree.

“Mana RM2.6 billion”

Kuala Langat is the 55th parliamentary constituency I am visiting since my six-month suspension from Parliament on Oct. 22 in pursuit of the question “Mana RM2.6 billion?” in Parliament.

I have set out on a nation-wide tour of the parliamentary constituencies in these six months to witness the rising crescendo of the people’s demand for answer to the question “Mana RM2.6 billion?” by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak as well as for answer to another of Najib’s twin mega scandals – the RM55 billion 1MDB scandal.

Although it will not be possible for me to visit all the 222 Parliamentary constituencies in the country during the period of my 180-day six-month suspension from Parliament, I will try to visit more than 150 Parliamentary constituencies in the country by the time I am allowed to return to Parliament – with a strong and unmistakable mandate from Malaysians from all over the country, embracing all races, religions and regions in the country, to demand that Najib must fully account for his twin mega scandals.

Najib and his Ministers went to great lengths both at the 25-day budget meeting of the Dewan Rakyat and the five-day 69th UMNO General Assemblies to suppress all disclosures and discussion about the twin mega scandals, but apart from causing Najib’s credibility to plumb to ever-lower depths, it could not succeed to bury both mega scandals for the simple reason that events and developments are no more within Najib’s full control.

At least seven countries have launched independent investigations into the 1MDB scandal – United Kingdom, Switzerland, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and United States – and Najib himself is targeted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and United States Department of Justice in its probe under the US Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010 to determine whether Najib is a kleptocrat falling within the definition of the US law. This is an investigation which will go beyond Barack Obama’s administration which ends on November 8, 2016 when the 58th United States Presidential elections will be held.

This is why bombshells about Najib’s two mega scandals are now and then exploding in foreign countries which are totally beyond Najib’s control or prior knowledge and why Malaysia’s international reputation has fallen to an unprecedented abyss because the nation’s Prime Minister is being investigated by at least seven countries for corruption, money laundering and other illegal activities.

How can anyone be talking about “Let bygones be bygones” when these scandals and injustices are haunting and hounding Malaysians all over the world – are Malaysians to tell the world we have forgotten and forgiven all these current wrongs, injustices and transgressions and there is no need to rectify or right these wrongs, injustices and trangressions?

(Speech at the Kuala Langat Parti Amanah Negara ceramah in Banting on Sunday, December 20, 2015 at 9.30 pm)