Latest victim of 1MDB “monster” (2)
Malaysia’s Eventual Fall From Grace
STRATFOR Global Intelligence
Analysis
OCTOBER 22, 2015
Forecast
- In the near-term, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will survive efforts to oust him over mounting corruption allegations.
- Whether or not Najib holds onto power longer, the years leading up to the next general elections will be turbulent ones.
- Political stability, crucial to Malaysia’s economic rise, will be challenged by demographic changes that stress the country’s delicate ethnic balance.
Analysis
A deepening political crisis in Malaysia is highlighting the country’s longstanding ethnic divides and its uncertain road ahead. Since early this year, Prime Minister Najib Razak has been caught in a scandal surrounding the heavily indebted 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign wealth fund. Among other points of controversy, Najib is struggling to explain the source of nearly $700 million deposited in his personal account.
Continue reading “Malaysia’s Eventual Fall From Grace”
Latest victim of 1MDB “monster”
Azalina’s motion to suspend me from Parliament for six months
First item of business of Parliament today at 11.30 am after Question Time is Minister Azalina’s motion to suspend me from Parliament for 6 months.
Azalina claims that I have brought contempt to Parliament by allegedly insulting the Speaker. Azalina will have the numbers to pass motion.
Malaysia’s Najib caught between politics and the economy
Hafiz Noor Shams
Financial Times
20th Oct 2015
Scandal-stricken premier faces tough choices between pleasing voters and keeping fiscal balance
Najib Razak, Malaysia’s beleaguered prime minister and finance minister, is being pulled in opposite directions by conflicting imperatives.
One is political. Voters, dismayed by a slowing economy and allegations of personal corruption and other irregularities at state fund 1MDB — vigorously denied by Mr Najib and the fund — are piling on the pressure for an increase in public spending.
The economic imperative, however, demands spending cuts, as depressed energy prices and slowing growth threaten to reverse the benefits of fiscal reforms enacted over the past several years. Continue reading “Malaysia’s Najib caught between politics and the economy”
Statement on Speaker’s ruling that I retract and apologise unconditionally to the Speaker for my remarks on PAC investigation into 1MDB
I rise as the Speaker has sent word that “at the next opportune time” for me to come to Parliament, I must unconditionally apologise to him and retract what I said in Parliament on Monday, 19th October.
The country has been under unprecedented haze for weeks, closing schools, disrupting the economy and causing havoc to the livelihood of the people.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday that Malaysia is enshrouded in a “political haze”, referring to the multiple crisis of confidence concerning the economy, politics, governance and nation building.
Now we have a parliamentary haze enveloping Members of Parliament.
I waited for the Hansard of yesterday’s proceeding which was uploaded at about noon today.
According to Hansard, the Speaker alleged that I had said:
Continue reading “Statement on Speaker’s ruling that I retract and apologise unconditionally to the Speaker for my remarks on PAC investigation into 1MDB”
Solving Malaysia’s economic crisis
BY DATUK RAMESH CHANDER & BRIDGET WELSH, GUEST CONTRIBUTORS – 19 OCTOBER 2015
New Mandala
Ahead of the Government’s 2016 budget, Malaysia is staring down fiscal challenges unlike any that it has faced over its history as an independent nation.
In this special in-depth report, Datuk Ramesh Chander and Bridget Welsh examine whether Malaysia can resolve its economic woes, and offer several key reforms to get the nation back on track.
2015 – a year of economic decline
This year has seen tumultuous changes across the entire spectrum of the Malaysian body politic and economy. Unlike in earlier years of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s six-and-a-half year tenure, Malaysia’s economy is now seen to be in trouble, with contracting growth, rising inflation, continued high levels of capital flight, declining consumer and investor confidence, and a depreciating currency.
Continue reading “Solving Malaysia’s economic crisis”
Has Hasan Arifin been appointed PAC Chairman with a pre-fixed agenda to exclude Tony Pua from PAC’s 1MDB investigations?
I want to congratulate the new BN MP for Rompin Datuk Hasan Ariffin on his election as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for he has an unenviable task – as he does not have months, but only weeks, to establish himself as an independent and intrepid PAC Chairman whose remit is the integrity of government finances and who will uphold it against transgressors, whether the Finance Minister or Prime Minister.
When accepting the appointment as PAC Chairman particularly at these trying national times, Hassan must be armed with the maxim “Let justice be done though the heavens fall” in discharging his duties as PAC Chairman, because it will be a test whether he is prepared to lead the PAC to serve the higher national interests if this conflict with his loyalty to the party, the UMNO/BN government coalition and the Prime Minister himself.
Ariffin should be aware that an inquiry into the 1MDB transactions is in fact an inquiry into Najib’s role in 1MDB, Najib’s most controversial brainchild.
He should not accept his appointment as PAC Chairman if he is not prepared to rise above party interests if they conflict with national interests, such as to take a stand against the transgressions if any of the Finance Minister-cum-Prime Minister, especially as he seems to be pivotally involved in all 1MDB’s key and strategic decisions.
Having been blocked for some three months from conducting 1MDB investigations by the simple expedient of the Prime Minister promoting the PAC Chairman and three members as Minister or Deputy Minister in the sudden Cabinet reshuffle on July 28, Malaysians who want the PAC to immediately get on with its 1MDB investigations without any further delay, must have cringed at Ariffin’s comments after his appointment envisaging the possibility that the PAC under him might not even be able to meet at all this year. Continue reading “Has Hasan Arifin been appointed PAC Chairman with a pre-fixed agenda to exclude Tony Pua from PAC’s 1MDB investigations?”
The final countdown, earthquakes and iPhone
Liew Chin Tong
Malaysiakini
19 Oct 2015
MP SPEAKS Much as it sounds like cliché, our time is indeed both the best of times and the worst of times. In such a confusing time, clarity is in short supply.
Three things may help us to describe the state of affairs in Malaysian politics better: that the final countdown is imminent; that there were major political earthquakes, tectonic shifts and realignments in 2015; and that the voting public is waiting for something transformative, a bit like the iPhone when it was first created.
The final countdown
The joint press conference by former rivals Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah surprised some of us. Many of us were even amazed with the unprecedented statement by Majlis Raja-Raja Melayu (the Rulers Council) on 1MDB and the falling ringgit, as the council usually restricts its pronouncements to matters relating to Islam and national unity.
Since the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 and the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim from the government in 1998, Malaysia has been a nation impatiently waiting for change. But change has been meagre, if any.
And we are now entering another crisis – a ‘perfect storm’ crisis that engulfs the nation on multiple fronts – politics, economics, finances, ethnic relations and so on. Continue reading “The final countdown, earthquakes and iPhone”
Malaysia’s 1MDB Gets Bids for Power Assets
By P. R. VENKAT
Wall Street Journal
Oct. 17, 2015
Malaysia’s government investment fund has received three bids from domestic and international companies to buy its power assets, as the embattled state-run firm tries to dig itself out from its US$11 billion debt load.
In a statement late Friday, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, said that it had received “binding and fully funded offers from three strategic investors.” 1MDB didn’t mention the names of the bidders for the assets, which are owned by a unit called Edra Global Energy Bhd.
Only one of the bidders publicly said it made an offer for the power assets. That bidder, another state-run power company called Tenaga Nasional Bhd., which is 30% owned by Malaysia’s sovereign-wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd., said Friday that it had submitted a conditional offer.
Tenaga didn’t say what it bid for the assets, but added that its bid was subject to conditions that included support from its outside shareholders for any potential transaction and more information from 1MDB on the power plants’ operations. It wasn’t clear why Tenaga’s description of its offer as conditional appeared to contradict 1MDB’s characterization of all three offers as binding.
1MDB’s travails have put Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in the spotlight, while hammering investor confidence in the commodities-exporting Southeast Asian nation at a time when it is suffering from fund outflows and falling oil prices.
Though the proposed sale of 1MDB’s power plants initially attracted several local and international players, the interest petered out. Continue reading “Malaysia’s 1MDB Gets Bids for Power Assets”
The Merdeka Centre poll that Najib for the first time lost the approval of majority of Malay voters must have tilted his decision not to seek a confidence motion in Parliament on Monday
The Merdeka Centre poll that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has for the first time lost the approval of the majority of Malay voters must have tilted his decision not to seek a confidence motion when Parliament reconvenes on Monday.
Members of Parliament were only informed yesterday about the order of business for the 25-day budget Parliament beginning on Monday, which is most unusual as Members of Parliament would normally have been given the order of business a week before the start of a new parliamentary meeting.
This is the first time in my years in Parliament since 1969 that Parliament failed to give about a week’s notice of the parliamentary business to be transacted in a new meeting of Parliament – and this could be because Najib was agonising over whether to seek a confidence motion at the beginning of the parliamentary meeting on Monday instead of allowing the issue of whether there would be a no-confidence motion in him as Prime Minister whether moved by Pakatan Harapan or even by a MP from UMNO/BN hanging over Parliament for the next two months.
However, the latest Merdeka centre poll has changed the whole picture. Continue reading “The Merdeka Centre poll that Najib for the first time lost the approval of majority of Malay voters must have tilted his decision not to seek a confidence motion in Parliament on Monday”
Political myths in Malaysia that must be debunked if Malaysia is to move forward to fulfill our destiny to be a world model of an united, harmonious, moderate and successful plural society
There are several political myths in Malaysia that must be debunked if Malaysia is to move forward to fulfill our destiny to be a world model of an united, harmonious, moderate and successful plural society instead of becoming basket-case of a failed, or even worse, rogue state.
Some of these political myths are:
1. Umno is Malay and Malay is UMNO.
Nothing can be further from the truth as right from the first general election in 1959, UMNO was not the only political party representing the Malays in the country.
Arising from this myth, other myths have been born – the myth that Malay rights and interests are under threat because UMNO is fighting a battle of political survival and that Malay rights and interests will be the first casualty if UMNO is ousted from Putrajaya in the next general election.
Whether Najib is ousted as Prime Minister or UMNO replaced as the leading political party in the government coalition, Malay political power is not threatened as a new Prime Minister will be a Malay and new coalition will be Malay-dominated reflecting Malaysia’s demography. Continue reading “Political myths in Malaysia that must be debunked if Malaysia is to move forward to fulfill our destiny to be a world model of an united, harmonious, moderate and successful plural society”
A Case of Brazil Blight? Scandal-Hit Malaysia Risks Lost Decade
Shamim Adam
Bloomberg
October 16, 2015
Meet Malaysia, the new Brazil.
Nearly felled by the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, the Southeast Asian nation recovered to become a global commodities juggernaut, known for its stable government and investor-friendly policies. Now, with its premier enveloped by a multi million dollar funding scandal, Malaysia risks being infected with the kind of economic malaise that has struck its emerging market counterpart in South America.
Prime Minister Najib Razak, 62, has denied any wrongdoing. But as investigations continue and opponents like previous premier Mahathir Mohamad call for his resignation, the danger is the leadership stays in fire-fighting mode. The economy is already hit by a slowdown in prices for oil and natural gas, and Najib is expected to make bigger handouts to the poor in the budget on Oct. 23. Could Malaysia slide into a “lost decade”?
“Malaysia risks not just being left behind, but falling off the radar all together, especially with foreign investors,” said Jim Walker, managing director at Hong Kong-based Asianomics Ltd. and former chief economist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. “People are definitely shying away from Malaysia,” he said, and the politics of Malaysia is “by far the biggest threat”. Continue reading “A Case of Brazil Blight? Scandal-Hit Malaysia Risks Lost Decade”
BNP Paribas Holds Nerve in Shorting Malaysia as Ringgit Surges
Lilian Karunungan
Bloomberg
October 16, 2015
A rebound in Malaysia’s ringgit will prove short-lived as the factors that made it Asia’s worst performer this year show few signs of going away, according to an investment arm of France’s largest bank.
“We’re in a situation where nothing’s changed, so therefore the only conclusion we have is that Malaysia remains a market to be short,” said Mark Capstick, a London-based fund manager at BNP Paribas Investment Partners, which oversees 532 billion euros ($605 billion). “We’re short right across the board,” he said, adding that assets being bet against include the ringgit as well as the nation’s local-currency and global bonds.
While the ringgit has appreciated more than 6 percent in October to rank among the top five in emerging markets, it’s been dogged by a persistent drop in oil prices, slowing Chinese growth and a probe of fund transfers into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bank accounts. Malaysia’s currency is rebounding from a 17-year low reached in September as the receding prospect of a U.S. interest-rate increase in 2015 revives demand for higher-yielding assets worldwide.
Like BNP Paribas, Pacific Investment Management Co. is also sticking to its guns and maintaining bets that the ringgit’s slide will resume. Pimco, which oversees $1.52 trillion, reported Oct. 1 it had short positions on emerging-market currencies including the ringgit, Thai baht and South Korea’s won. Continue reading “BNP Paribas Holds Nerve in Shorting Malaysia as Ringgit Surges”
Malaysia’s Najib Razak Played Key Role at Troubled 1MDB Investment Fund
By Tom Wright And Bradley Hope
Wall Street Journal
Oct. 15, 2015
Prime minister ordered removal of auditors, authorized controversial investment, Malaysian investigation shows
In early 2013 at the glitzy World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Malaysia’s prime minister approached the country’s longtime financial adviser Goldman Sachs with an urgent assignment.
A government investment fund the prime minister oversaw wanted Goldman to help it raise $3 billion quickly and quietly, according to people close to the bank.
The fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, was Prime Minister Najib Razak’s signature initiative, envisioned as helping transform Malaysia into a modern Muslim democracy fueled by new industries. It burnished his credentials as a new type of liberal, Western-friendly leader, embraced by the U.S. as a counterbalance to China.
Its projects also stood to polish Mr. Najib’s standing with Malaysians who would soon be voting in an election. Goldman was told the fund wanted the money quickly so it could hold a public unveiling of a major investment in a planned high-profile financial center in Kuala Lumpur.
That development stalled, though the money was raised. Today, 1MDB has come to represent a different side of Malaysia—and of Mr. Najib. Even as he was courting Goldman officials in the Alps, opposition politicians were raising questions about 1MDB and how the billions it was raising were being used. Continue reading “Malaysia’s Najib Razak Played Key Role at Troubled 1MDB Investment Fund”
Revelation of Najib’s involvement in 1MDB scandal “doesn’t rain, it pours” – false claim that it is “no longer under investigation” when it is most investigated company, both at home and internationally
Despite denials by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his cohort of Ministers and publicity minions, revelations about Najib’s involvement in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal continues unabated.
In fact, it would be appropriate to say that as far as revelation about Najib’s involvement in the 1MDB scandal – it doesn’t rain, it pours.
Reuters have reported that it has been informed by a FBI spokesperson that the U.S. Government is reviewing Goldman Sachs’ business relationship with Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund as part of a broader, wide-ranging investigation into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), an FBI spokesperson told Reuters yesterday.
Reuters reported that US law enforcement sources are “aware of Goldman’s possible involvement” in investments with 1MDB, but the bureau has “yet to determine if the matter will become the focus of any investigation into the 1MDB scandal.”
Reuters said the review into Goldman’s ties with 1MDB marks the latest development in a wide-ranging global investigation across three continents into possible corruption and money-laundering.
Continue reading “Revelation of Najib’s involvement in 1MDB scandal “doesn’t rain, it pours” – false claim that it is “no longer under investigation” when it is most investigated company, both at home and internationally”
Parliament should form an all-party Parliamentary Committee on tragedy of the seven missing Orang Asli children of SK Tohoi in Gua Musang if Government is not prepared to have high-powered commission of inquiry
Parliament should begin its 25-day budget session on Monday with a minute of silence in memory of the five of the seven Orang Asli children of SK Tohoi in Gua Musang who perished after missing from the school hostel 54 days ago on August 23.
The nation and government failed the Orang Asli children when they should be cared and nurtured to be future leaders of the nation, and the least Parliament can do is to start its new parliamentary meeting with a minute of silence for Members of Parliament, the government and the nation to remember the wasted lives of the five children ranging from seven to eleven years because of government failure, negligence and incompetence.
It is scandalous that the Ministers and ministries concerned for the socio-economic and educational upliftment of the Orang Asli community to bring them into the mainstream of national development are not taking the SK Tohoi scandal and tragedy in sufficient seriousness – as up to now, the Education Minister Datuk Mahdzir Khalid has still to visit SK Tohoi or even to utter a single word of concern!
Would Madhzir be so indifferent, irresponsible and even callous if the five kids who perished and the two kids who were found as “bags of bones” were Malay kids?
Malaysia wants an Education Minister who would show equal care, concern and compassion for all school children, regardless of their race, religion or region. Continue reading “Parliament should form an all-party Parliamentary Committee on tragedy of the seven missing Orang Asli children of SK Tohoi in Gua Musang if Government is not prepared to have high-powered commission of inquiry”
In just a week, the Malay Rulers’ concern about 1MDB has proved to be valid, legitimate and prescient, with all Najib Ministers competing in political “tai chi” and 1MDB CEO even claiming it is “no longer under investigation”
In just a week, the Malay Rulers’ concern about the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal has proved to be valid, legitimate and prescient, with the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Ministers competing in political “tai chi” and the 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda even claiming that 1MDB is “no longer under investigation”.
On Oct. 6, the Malay Rulers called on the government to complete the 1MDB investigations as soon as possible and to take “the appropriate stern action” against all found to be implicated.
The 1MDB CEO has shown utter disrespect and even contempt for the Malay Rulers when 1MDB came out with a statement yesterday saying that the Attorney-General’s explanation of why the firm was not charged emphasised the fact that it is no longer being investigated.
1MDB added that Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali’s press conference absolving 1MDB of breaching exchange laws compounds that of another enforcement agency that said it was not scrutinising the state-owned investment firm.
“This confirmation by the AGC reinforces the statement by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on 22 September 2015 that 1MDB is not under investigation,” it said. Continue reading “In just a week, the Malay Rulers’ concern about 1MDB has proved to be valid, legitimate and prescient, with all Najib Ministers competing in political “tai chi” and 1MDB CEO even claiming it is “no longer under investigation””
One way to avoid three-cornered fights in 14 GE is for PAS to concentrate in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis while AMANAH focuses on all the other states, subject to adjustments to the arrangement by two parties
The various combinations and permutations in the Malaysian political arena, not only in the ruling coalition of UMNO/BN parties but in the Opposition, seem to be the hot topic of the day.
Yesterday, there was the grand announcement of new political alignment and co-operation between PAS and Perkasa, but such a development would not forestall the holding of three-cornered fights in the 14th General Election which must be held in 2018.
May be one way to avoid three-cornered fights in 14th General Election is for PAS to concentrate in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis while Parti AMANAH Negara focuses on all the other states, subject to adjustments to the arrangement by two political parties.
This may or may not be a workable proposition as I have not discussed it with any other political party or personality. Continue reading “One way to avoid three-cornered fights in 14 GE is for PAS to concentrate in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis while AMANAH focuses on all the other states, subject to adjustments to the arrangement by two parties”