Who is to bell the cat?

While Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will get the national thumbs down when he claimed in his 2016 New Year Message that his RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM55 billion 1MDB scandal had been resolved and were no more issues for the new year, the Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz received unanimous national applause and support for her statement that Malaysians wish to see the investigation into 1MDB concluded so that they can move on.

When can Malaysians shake off the adverse political, economic and good governance effects of Najib’s twin mega scandals?

This question had been posed again and again in the past six months since the Wall Street Journal revelation of RM2.6 billion deposits in Najib’s personal bank accounts on July 2, 2015, and Najib’s failure to sue Wall Street Journal despite the American newspaper’s reiteration of the veracity of its allegation.

The Malay Rulers, in a historic and unprecedented joint statement on Oct. 6 last year, expressed their worry that if the issues confronting the nation, especially Najib’s twin mega scandals, were not handled wisely and allowed to drag on, not only Malaysia’s economy and the livelihood of the people could be jeopardized, public order and national security could also be threatened.

Will Malaysia be haunted and hounded by Najib’s twin mega scandals so long as Najib remains as Prime Minister of Malaysia?

If the answer is in the positive, then shouldn’t this be a major factor for the consideration for Najib to relinquish the post of Prime Minister, whether by his own volition, at the behest of his peers or the demand of the nation?

Is there any prospect that Najib can shake off both twin mega scandals so long as he is Prime Minister?

The prognosis are not good at all.

For instance, although Najib had made the forecast in his 2016 New Year Message that his twin mega scandals are no more issues in the new year as they had been resolved, the facts are the reverse as they remain the dominating news in the new year.

Yesterday alone, for instance, Malaysiakini carried nine items where Najib’s twin mega scandals featured prominently, viz:

1. MyKMU: DAP must explain RM1.2b said to be from Israel

2. Najib to table Syariah Index report on March 28

3. Horror tunes on repeat, Rafidah plugs ears over state of nation

4. RM2.6b or RM4b, Kit Siang asks MACC

5. Act fast to save us from decline, royalty, politicians urged

6. Rafizi to campaign against 1MDB’s Bandar M’sia sale to consortium

7. Zeti: M’sians want probe on 1MDB concluded so can move on

8. PAC yet to decide on calling ex-1MDB chairperson to testify

9. Najib, you’re ridiculing rakyat with RM2.6b ‘donation’

Zeti’s plaintive cry that Malaysians wish to see the investigation into 1MDB concluded so that they can move on was matched by former Cabinet Minister, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz’ expression of horror that the country was unable to move beyond the two big “political and national haze” in the country, clearly referring to Najib’s twin mega scandals – and describing the Malaysian situation like the “Mexican Shuffle” – “one step forward, two steps back, and things go back to square one!”

Meanwhile, veteran newsman A Kadir Jasin sounded the alarm of a national and economic decline unless UMNO politicians like Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and the Malay rulers act quickly to save the country – and the negative factors included Najib’s twin mega scandals.

Najib should end his denial syndrone which is becoming world-class.

It is sad and tragic that there is not a single Minister who dare to remind the Prime Minister at Cabinet meetings like the one held today that there is no other option for Najib but to make a full and satisfactory accounting of both the twin mega scandals, in particular, for Najib to answer the five questions about the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal, viz: (i) the actual total of the donations, whether RM2.6 billion, RM4 billion or more; (ii) who were the donors and what were the foreign countries involved; (iii) the motives for such astronomical “donations”; (iv) who had benefited from the donations; and (v) what is left of the donations and where are the monies now.

Who is the bell the cat?