Yesterday was a double whammy for the long, difficult and windy mission to establish accountability and transparency for the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega-scandals afflicting the country.
There was firstly the morning episode where Parliament was reduced to a theatre of the absurd – with Parliament Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia ruling that DAP PJ Utara Member of Parliament Tony Pua should either resign from the Public Accounts Committee or abstain from the committee’s probe on 1MDB if he wants to debate with 1MDB CEO, Arul Kanda and that Arul can no longer be a witness in the PAC probe if the debate goes on.
The Speaker’s ruling was quickly followed up with the announcement by the PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin’s ruling that Pua must cease and desist from making any statements on 1MDB, whether in Parliament or outside!
It is no surprise that the following comment was one of the public reactions to all these parliamentary calisthenics over the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega-scandals:
“I was wondering why Arul was so quick to drop his condition. Now I know. He has someone else to impose the condition for him.”
Then last night, the twin mega-scandal “spectacular” grounded on with the first public appearance of Tan Sri Gani Patail since his sudden removal as Attorney-General for over 13 years, two months before his compulsory retirement, purportedly on “health” grounds.
Gani’s appearance, and his cheeky statement that his health was “okay”, was the first instance Gani confounded the official statement that he had been removed for “health reasons” – reinforcing the question posed by former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir recently asking where was Gani’s medical certificate as Gani had denied that he was sick.
There was a second instance last night where Gani’s appearance at the Bar Council forum on Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) was significant, as his silence on his controversial removal, particularly whether it was related to the allegation made by whistleblower site Sarawak Report that he was on the verge of charging Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak with corruption, or an alternative charge of criminal breach of trust, speaks louder than words!
Instead of getting to the bottom of the twin mega-scandals as clearly urged by the Malay Rulers in their unprecedented statement of concern on Oct. 6 and the strange goings-on in the past few months, including the sacking of Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Cabinet Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, the dissolution of the multi-agency Special Task Force on 1MDB and internal convulsions like arrests or instant transfers in key enforcement agencies, the derailment of Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee on 1MDB investigations for three months, Parliament is bogged down with the frivolous question on whether the Pua-Arul debate on 1MDB should be held.
Parliament has clearly lost its bearings.
If Arul Kanda cannot testify before the PAC investigations on 1MDB, will Najib himself appear before PAC to testify on 1MDB’s behalf, as it is very clear that an investigation into 1MDB is in fact an investigation into Najib himself!
At the rate Parliament has become a theatre of the absurd, it appears to be just a matter of time before “1MDB” joins the select group of subjects where mere criticism will be criminalized and construed as an act of sedition!
Should Public Accounts Committee just shut down its investigations into the twin mega-scandals to end the rigmarole?
While its important for have both Arul and Najib be grilled for accuracy, the fact is Gani Patail has confirmed Najib is a criminal and those who defend him are accessory to the crime.
The real frustration is that Hadi’s PAS and Adenan Satem are the top stumbling blog to the injustice, enabling the criminal and associates to get away..
LKS, move on now, it’s a waste of time to flog a dead horse and the Arul-Pua debate is off.
Focus on something more essential, putting a dent in the budget 2016 by voting against it. Focus on the malay DAP members, get them known well to everyone and they will get the fullest support.
In his GTF2015 speech, its clear Najib has been prepping to distance himself from wrong doing of 1MDB.. ITS CLEAR HE CAN’T HIDE SOME OF THE MESSES IN 1MDB BUT HE IS CLEARLY PLAYING TO WASH HIMSELF OF THE BLAME or merely taking TOKEN RESPONSIBILTY ARGUING HE HAS DONE A GOOD JOB OVERALL.
The strategy is akin to feeding the rabid dog so that he can run away. Eventually saying “sudahlah” or “asked and answer”…
Ghani and “Mayuddin” (that’s how N pronounced it), seem to be perfectly happy to keep quiet. Shouldn’t we, too, do the same? Everyone in UMNO Baru is waiting for every other one to bell the cat. Only the toothless old tiger is bravely making a stand: is he making up for his past offences against Parliamentary Democracy?