The next General Elections will be a battle of democracy versus kleptocracy.
There is speculation that the next general elections would be held early next year. It could also be held in the second half of next year, especially after the 60th National Day celebrations centred on August 31, 2017.
Be that as it may, the voters of Malaysia should be asked to vote for democrats or kleptocrats, as to whether they want Malaysia to become a democracy or a kleptocracy.
What recently happened highlights the stark choice of the people between democracy and kleptocracy in the next general elections.
In the last two days, the international media have been screaming with headlines about the first criminal conviction linked to the 1MDB global financial scandal which took place in Singapore on Friday, viz:
• “Former BSI boss gets jail, fine in 1MDB-linked case” (Straits Times, Singapore);
• “Singapore Court Convicts Ex-BSI Banker in 1MDB Probe” (Wall Street Journal);
• “Former banker convicted in Singapore over 1MDB scandal” (Financial Times, London);
• “Singaporean banker jailed for role in 1MDB scandal” (Taipei Times);
• “Ex-BSI Banker Yak Found Guilty in Singapore 1MDB-Linked Case” (Bloomberg);
• “1MDB probe: Singapore banker Yak Yew Chee gets 18 weeks’ jail, S$24,000 fine” (Channel News Asia).
The common theme if these negative headlines is “1MDB”, a Malaysian state-owned investment fund supposed to attract foreign investment but instead spurred criminal and regulatory investigations around the world – and with Najib as the head of its advisory board exercising veto and final executive powers.
But the Malaysian government authorities and institutions pretend that these foreign criminal and regulatory investigations and actions linked to 1MDB’s international money-laundering forays do not exist. Continue reading “14th General Election will be battle of democracy versus kleptocracy”