There are many reasons why Datuk Seri Najib Razak should step down as Prime Minister.
The first is of course the imposition of Goods and Services Tax (GST) which has caused great hardships to low-income Malaysians sandwiched between falling incomes and rising cost of living.
There are many other reasons why Najib should step down as Prime Minister, including:
• Catapulting Malaysia to the stratosphere and internationally regarded as among the top ten nations in the world infamous for global corruption because of the RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” twin mega scandals.
• Refusal to come full and clean in accordance with the principles of accountability, transparency, democracy and good governance about the twin mega scandals, and even Parliament cannot be a venue to ask questions about Najib’s RM4.2 billion “donation” scandal. After a year of adverse international publicity, Malaysians and the world still do not have answers to basic questions like: Where the RM4.2 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal bank accounts from 2011 to 2014 came from and where the monies have gone to.
• Failure to sue international publications, especially Wall Street Journal and Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the former for the revelation of RM2.6 billion donations in Najib’s personal banking accounts and the latter for the latest revelation that donations deposited into Najib’s personal accounts were not just RM2.6 billion but exceeded RM4.2 billion from 2011 to 2014.
• National and international confidence in the Malaysian government under the Najib premiership at an all-time low, with popularity among Malay voters’ in Najib plummeting to 32% when it never fell below 50 per cent for any UMNO Prime Minister in the nation’s history, while international repute and prestige of Malaysia never descended so low that Malaysians are even ashamed to identify themselves as Malaysians when overseas.
• The first Malaysian Prime Minister to be investigated by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ) under the US Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, first reported by New York Times on Sept. 11, 2015, in connection with the twin mega scandals – which is a great shame, dishonor and humiliation to 30 million Malaysians.
Last November, Malaysians read the news 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”.
Are Malaysians to suffer the intense shame, dishonor and humiliation that the South Koreans suffered when their former President Chun Doo Hwan was subject of US FBI and DOJ investigations under the US Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative?
It is for this patriotic reason that Malaysians are asking for the resignation of Najib, the first minority Prime Minister in the nation’s history, for his disregard of the woes of the common people, regardless of race, religion, region or politics, like the imposition of the GST, and the host of issues running against Malaysia’s commitment to democracy, the doctrine of separation of powers, the rule of law, independence and integrity of national institutions, respect for human rights, good governance, and the protection and promotion of the fundamental features of the Merdeka Constitution 1957 and Malaysia Constitution 1963.
This is the reason why we are committed to three objectives:
• The resignation of Najib as Prime Minister;
• Meaningful democratic and institutional reforms to Save Malaysia from hurtling down the slope of a failed and a rogue state;
• Immediate release of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim from Sungai Buloh Prison and restoration of all his civic rights to participate and even lead in the series of national deliberations ala-Nelson Mandela (who was incarcerated for over 27 years or over 10,000 days) to Save Malaysia and re-set Malaysia on the right path, based on the Merdeka Constitution 1957 and Malaysia Constitution 1963.
In the last few days, we see a strange development – where internally, all efforts are being made by the powers-that-be to sweep Najib’s twin mega scandals under the carpet, culminating with the “note” by the Parliament Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to all Members of Parliament imposing a blanket ban in Parliament from referring to Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal on the ground of sub judice – despite his earlier ruling that he will not impose a “blanket ban” but would decide on a case-by-case basis whether the sub judice rule applies.
Externally however, things are move fast with virtually daily revelations about various aspects of Najib’s twin mega scandals, whether Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Four Corners 44-minute documentary on “State of Fear: Money and Murder in Malaysia” which enumerated that the total donations deposited into Najib’s personal bank accounts from 2011 to 2014 exceeded RM4.2 billion and not the oft-quoted figure of RM2.6 billion; the Wall Street Journal report about Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor’s US$15 million shopping spree on luxury goods during their holidays in United States, Malaysia, Italy and elsewhere in 2014; Luxembourg’s state prosecutor launching a judicial inquiry into allegations of money-laundering, covering payments totaling hundreds of millions of US dollars, against 1MDB; Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s sequestration of a large number of bank accounts as part of an investigation into possible money-laundering linked to 1MDB or the widening investigation by the US Department of Justice into 1MDB by asking Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co to provide details on their dealings with 1MDB.
With the world closing in on the twin mega scandals, the the most likely effect is to provoke greater suppression of information and denial of accountability, transparency and good governance practices by Putrajaya.
This is why there is the sharp contrast between DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Guan Eng is accused by UMNO/BN leaders of corrupt practice in his RM2.8 million bungalow purchase without any proof whatsoever but he is prepared to answer all questions about his bungalow purchase – while Najib is running way from all questions about his twin mega scandals to the extent that the Speaker had to ban all discussion on Najib’s RM2.6 billion donation scandal in Parliament.
Nothing is more eloquent from the contrasting responses and public postures by Guan Eng and Najib, showing clearly and conclusively that Guan Eng is an open book with nothing to hide about the UMNO/BN allegations of corruption about RM2.8 million bungalow purchase while Najib is a closed book with a lot of things to hide about his twin mega scandals.
(Speech at the Pakatan Harapan “Undur Najib, Mansuhkan GST” ceramah held at KL/Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 1st April 2016 at 11 pm)