Lim Kit Siang

I have visited 130 parliamentary constituencies during my six-month suspension from Parliament and all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region want Najib to answer two simple questions about Najib’s global financial scandal – where the money came from and where the money had gone to!

This morning, I want to report to the voters of Gelang Patah that I have visited 130 parliamentary constituencies in the country during my six-month suspension from Parliament and I will return to Parliament tomorrow.

Only two days ago, I visited Kuala Terengganu, Marang, Setiu and Besut in Terengganu and Pasir Puteh in Kelantan.

Wherever I went in the 130 Parliamentary constituencies in the past six months, Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region want Najib to answer the two simple questions about his global financial scandal – where the money came from and where the money had gone to!

I apologise to the people of Gelang Patah for being suspended for six months from Parliament, not because I had stolen, robbed, murdered or guilty of corruption, but because I had wanted the Prime Minister to answer two simple questions about his global financial scandals – Where the money came from and where the money have gone to.

Six months later, Najib has not been able to answer these two simple questions, but his twin mega scandals have continue to mushroom to become ever more monstrous, with Malaysia topping the global charts as among the most corrupt nations in the world like the third place in international website, foreignpolicy.com’s ranking of the world’s “worst corruption scandal in 2015” at the end of last year, TIME magazine’s second ranking of “global corruption” in March or the Economist’s second placing in its second index of crony capitalism early this month.

Six months ago, we were talking about Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal and the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal – today, we are talking about Najib’s RM4.2 billion “donation” scandal and the RM50-55 billion 1MDB scandal!

The last few days probably saw a “game changer” in the international expose of Najib’s twin mega scandals in the past year, with the media in the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore and other countries zeroing in on them, when the various pieces of the monstrous 1MDB jig-saw puzzle seem to be falling into place, with the following revelations:

*that Najib’s twin 1MDB and “donation” scandals are in fact one big mega financial scandal!

*The SRC International linked to the 1MDB scandal.

*Najib’s RM4.2 billion “donations” linked to 1MDB, especially 1MDB’s multibillion USD payments to the mysterious British Virgin Island-registered firm Aabar Investment PJS Limited (as distinct from the Abu Dhabi firm Aabar Investment PJS) to Najib beneficiaries.

Najib can suppress all reporting about the 1MDB and his “donation” scandals inside the country, and even try to ban the scandal from being raised in Parliament but there is no way to stop the international media from endlessly exposing the various aspects of the nation’s first global financial scandal, as the 1MDB scandal is being investigated by at least eight other countries, in particular the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States.

If there is no basis or truth in the mountain of international media reports about Najib’s twin mega scandals in the past year, Najib would have sued the various international publications, like Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Financial Times of UK, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age of Australia, TIME, Economist as well as CNN and the American and Australian television channels, for defamation till kingdom come – and it speaks volumes that Najib had not dared to sue anyone of the foreign media which have continued to publish new exposes about Najib’s role in the 1MDB global scandal.

It is a matter of national shame that despite the fantastic leg-up and tip-offs given by the international media in the past year based on the national investigations by foreign countries, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the various investigative and enforcement agencies like the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Bank Negara and the Police have been such abject failures in upholding the law to combat financial and corrupt malpractices in the 1MDB scandal.

Najib as the Prime Minister should be in Parliament to answer the two simple questions which had I pursued six months ago – Where have the money come from and where have the money gone to – but he had scooted off to United Kingdom on very weak excuses to avoid parliamentary responsibility and accountability.

DAP and Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament will continue to demand full and satisfactory accountability for the 1MDB and “donation” scandal, which is why I had suggested four proposals in Parliament beginning tomorrow:

1. Tabling of the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB (both interim and final) to Parliament on first day of Parliament tomorrow.

2. A White Paper by Najib to give a comprehensive account on the latest on the 1MDB scandal;

3. Three days set aside for a wide-ranging debate in Parliament on 1MDB; and

4. Directive to the PAC to re-open investigation into the 1MDB scandal.

(Speech at the final kopitiam ceramah in the six-month “Pantang Undur – Berani kerana Benar” nation-wide tour in Gelang Patah on Sunday, 15th May 2016 at 9 am)