Malaysians feel deeply hurt when the Prime Minister of Malaysia, whatever our political differences with him, is lampooned and made the butt of jokes internationally, as in the case of Sunday’s UMNO-PAS rally on Rohingyas where the Prime Minister called for foreign intervention to stop the “genocide” of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Myanmar media and NGOs are lampooning and accusing Najib of using Rohingya rally to divert attention from the 1MDB scandal which had caused Malaysia infamy and ignominy to be regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy”, attracting Myanmar reminders that “people living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” and that Najib himself had recently told the world with regard to the 1MDB scandal that “the internal affairs of a country should be determined by the people themselves as the formula had been proven successful” and that “Malaysia did not need foreign interference to shape and determine the direction of the country”.
Both Najib and the Myanmese government are wrong, but Najib would not have opened himself as an easy target if Sunday’s Rohingya rally had NOT been organised as a UMNO-PAS rally to win Muslim points but as a humanitarian call by all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or politics.
Unfortunately, the Sunday rally was purely politically motivated, which was why Amanah motion on an urgent, definite, public importance in Parliament moved by the Amanah Kuala Terengganu MP, Raja Kamarul Bahrin on Nov. 24 was rejected by the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, as interfering in the domestic affairs of another country.
Let us end hypocrisy in national and international politics.
Both the Malaysian and Myanmar governments must accept their responsibilities and agree to international inquiries into both ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas in Myamar and the international 1MDB money-laundering scandal resulting in Malaysia being stamped as a “global kleptocracy”.
I am very disappointed that 1MDB scandal, which has stamped Malaysia as a “global kleptocracy”, was not raised and explained at the UMNO General Assembly, but was allowed to be the “elephant in the room” throughout the five days of UMNO, UMNO Youth, UMNO Wanita, UMNO Puteri Assemblies causing the Prime Minister and UMNO to lose all political credibility and moral authority?
Last week, world-wide reverberations of the 1MDB kleptocracy continued apace, with Singapore’s central bank imposing penalties on the local units of U.K.-based Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and private bank Coutts for money-laundering breaches related to Malaysia’s scandal-tainted 1MDB fund.
The penalties – of S$5.2 million ($3.65 million) and S$2.4 million, respectively – were the latest punitive measures taken by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in its crackdown on 1MDB money-laundering, having ordered the closure earlier this year of the local units of Swiss banks BSI and Falcon.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is also in the process of issuing a prohibition order against Tim Leissner, Goldman Sachs’ former Southeast Asia chairman because of the 1MDB scandal.
1MDB is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that two of the five “relevant individuals” named in the US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuits as key players in the 1MDB global money-laundering scandal, Khadem Abdulla Al Qubaisi, managing director of Abu Dhabi government wholly-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) 2007-2015 and Chairman of IPIC subsidiary, Aabar Investments PJS (Aabar) 2012-2013 and Mohamed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny (CEO of Aabar 2010-2015) are now sitting in Abu Dhabi jail under investigation for money-laundering, corruption and other possible offences.
The other three of the five “relevant individuals” named in the US lawsuits, Jho Low, Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz (Najib’s stepson) and Eric Tan Kim Loong are more fortunate than Al-Qubaisi and Al-Husseiny, as the Malaysian authorities do not seem to be looking for them and allow them to be international fugitives.
The anonymous 1MDB booklet circulated at the UMNO General Assembly cast doubt that the person identified as “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” (MO1) mentioned 36 times in the DOJ lawsuits was the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak – although the Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan had admitted in a BBC interview that MOI is none other than Najib.
Is the UMNO/Barisan Nasional Government back-tracking from Abdul Rahman’s admission that MOI is Najib?
Najib should explain whether he is responsible for the 20-page glossy, coloured, expensive but anonymous booklet entitled “1MDB PASCA LAPORAN AUDIT NEGARA DAN PAC – SAMAN DOJ MERAGUKAN” – with 19 Q & A on the largest kleptocratic lawsuit in the United States and the world on the international conspiracy over the multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal.
How much the booklet project cost, whether it came from public funds, and explain why he or the government dare not assume responsibility for the 1MDB booklet and had to distribute it at the UMNO General Assembly as if it is a shitty underground document that cannot stand the scrutiny of light?