A week before the 59th National Day, the issue dominating the warongs, coffee shops and national conversations was “TANGKAPMO1”.
In the past three days, another issue had overtaken “Who is MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” as the hottest topic of the country – the worldwide admission by the Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of EPU, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, in his interview with BBC on Sept. 1 that “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” (MO1) is none other than the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
And the question: Why Abdul Rahman “outed” Najib publicly and internationally as “MO1” when for the past six weeks, the entire government apparatus from the Prime Minister to the Cabinet and the heads of the national enforcement and investigative institutions like the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Police, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Bank Negara, the Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee had engaged in a national “cat-and-mouse” game, putting up a national and international pretence that they do not know who is “MO1”.
Is Abdul Rahman a friend or foe of Najib?
Although Abdul Rahman had contemptuously dismissed as “idiots” those who do not know who is “MO1” (which included the majority of the Cabinet Ministers as well as a gratuitous swipe against top government loyalists like the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police), nobody really believed that Abdul Rahman is Najib’s foe – not even of the “hiding under the mattress” variety!
Although Abdul Rahman’s admission has clearly taken the other Cabinet Ministers and top government loyalists by surprise (a good example being the MCA Deputy President and Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong), nobody really believes that Abdul Rahman would have made such an admission in the BBC interview without Najib’s knowledge, authority or approval.
So what game is Najib up to?
The BBC report on Abdul Rahman’s BBC interview was headlined: “Who is ‘Malaysian Official 1’? Case closed”
This is what Najib, Abdul Rahman and the Najib strategists who decided on the strategy to “out” Najib as “MO1” had hoped, but they cannot be more wrong, as it is not a “Case closed” but “Case Re-opened” and even wider in depth and scope.
Firstly, with the mystery of who is “MO1 solved” by Abdul Rahman’s admission, the immediate question is why the Prime Minister himself is still so coy to step forward and admit that he had been “fingered” by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations into the international conspiracy on global kleptocracy, embezzlement and money-laundering of tens of billions of ringgit of 1MDB funds.
Najib has persistently denied that he had committed any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal.
Without the Malaysian public having to make a judgment on Najib’s rights and wrongs, it is undoubtedly Najib’s Achilles’ heel that despite a multitude of investigations in the country on the 1MDB – the Special Task Force of four Tan Sris on 1MDB, the Auditor-General, the Public Accounts Committee, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Police – and with him having the final say on all 1MDB transactions and decisions from 2009 to 2015, the Prime Minister and Malaysian Government could not put up a credible and convincing case to debunk and demolish the 136-page DOJ complaint against both Najib and the “participants and co-conspirators” of the international conspiracy to defraud 1MDB of billions of US dollars!
With Abdul Rahman openly admitting that “MO1” is Najib, the hands-off, indifferent and nonchalant government stance to await the outcome of the DOJ lawsuits, which can take years, is increasingly untenable and indefensible.
But Abdul Rahman’s admission was one advantage – in clarifying that the DOJ complaint involves two grave issues: firstly, the guilt and culpability of Najib and other “public officials and their associates” in Malaysia in the 1MDB global financial scandal; and secondly, the international indictment that Malaysia has become an overnight global kleptocracy.
Whether it is right, proper or ethical to allow time to elapse before determination of the question of Najib’s culpability in the 1MDB global financial scandal, it is clearly wrong, improper and unethical to allow Malaysia’s good name and reputation to continue to be besmirched and destroyed without immediate national response and redress.
Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or party politics, must be united in not wanting Malaysia to become world-infamous an overnight global kleptocracy.
This is why I suggested yesterday that there should be a special session of Parliament this month to discuss how Malaysia should respond to defend and protect Malaysia’s national sovereignty and international good name and reputation by purging and cleansing Malaysia of the international indictment of an overnight global kleptocracy.
Najib must be prepared to subordinate his personal interests to national interests; and perform his national duty as Prime Minister to speak at the United Nations General Assembly to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the international indictment of an overnight global kleptocracy.
An all-party parliamentary delegation should also be sent to the United Nations Special Assembly session at the end of the month to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the international indictment of an overnight global kleptocracy.
This is the stuff of patriotism and the task and challenge of Malaysian patriots, regardless of race, religion, region or party politics.
For this reason, I call on all Malaysian organisations, whether political, civic, religious , commercial or even communal and clan associations, to take a common patriotic stand in a national and international campaign to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the international indictment of an overnight global kleptocracy.
This must be a campaign to defend the international good name and reputation of Malaysia – which is more important than any individual or political party.
(Speech at the DAP Johor Jaya/Stulang election course in Johor Baru on Sunday, 4th September 2016 at 12.30 pm)