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Can Cabinet answer whether 1MDB debts are now RM42 billion or over RM50 billion as stated by Muhyiddin before he was sacked as DPM?

The 1MDB Cabinet reshuffled by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on July 28 should come clean on the 1MDB scandal, starting by explaining to Malaysians whether 1MDB debts are not just RM42 million, which is an outdated figure, but have mushroomed to be more than RM50 billion as stated by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in his speech at the UMNO Cheras AGM on July 26, two days before he was summarily sacked as Deputy Prime Minister by Najib for “disloyalty” to him.

Is Najib and the Cabinet going to wait for several months before admitting to the truth, as in the case of the RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s personal accounts in AmBank in March 2013 before the 13th General Elections, where for some five weeks, Najib refused to give a simple “Yes” or “No” to the question whether RM2.6 billion had been deposited into his personal accounts.

Now UMNO Ministers and leaders are competing with each other as to who could produce the most outrageous justifications to justify the RM2.6 billion deposit into Najib’s personal accounts!

If what Muhyiddin said before he was sacked as DPM that the 1MBD debts have mushroomed to over RM50 billion is untrue, then there should be a simple and prompt correction from the Ministerial team of “spin doctors” to defend Najib’s integrity and reputation! Just come out and say “No”!

If what Muhyiddin said is true, why can’t the 1MDB Cabinet confirm it? Continue reading “Can Cabinet answer whether 1MDB debts are now RM42 billion or over RM50 billion as stated by Muhyiddin before he was sacked as DPM?”

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Malaysia’s Stunning Street Art: The Coolest Murals and Where to Find Them

Yahoo Travel Explorers
August 10, 2015
By David Hogan/Malaysia Asia

In recent years, street art in Malaysia has picked up quite a bit, and you’ll now find murals and paintings by both local and international artists.

While this form of art has been alive and well in many other areas of the world for decades, the movement in Malaysia really got rolling in 2012, when Ernest Zacharevic created six murals for Penang’s George Town Culture festival. The paintings were so popular that the BBC even called him the Banksy of Malaysia. Today, there are many cities around the country following in Penang’s footsteps, calling on locals of all ages to add new life to their walls. For visitors, that means it’s easy to find these open-air museums; since they are usually located in high tourist areas, you barely have to look around. But you do need to know which towns and cities to start in. Here are some of my favorites:

Penang

Penang artist Ernest Zacharevic has been called the Banksy of Malaysia. (Photo: Ernest Zacharevic)

Continue reading “Malaysia’s Stunning Street Art: The Coolest Murals and Where to Find Them”

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Cabinet should convene a National “Save Malaysia” Summit before or on Merdeka Day involving all political parties and NGOs to form a national consensus on a blueprint to save Malaysia from becoming a rogue and failed state

Open Letter to Cabinet by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang on Wednesday, August 12, 2015:

To the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers.

I will not beat about the bush and get to the point straightaway for this Open Letter for your Cabinet meeting today.

Never before has Malaysia been faced with such a grave national crisis as today, with a minority Prime Minister helming the most fractured government ever – as evident from the ‘Nine Days of Madness in Putrajaya” when there was a confrontation between the Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), compelling the latter to hold a solat hajat to seek divine intervention to match the force and might of the police – and a full-blown economic crisis illustrated by foreign-exchange reserves dropping below US$100 billion for the first time since 2010, the rapid and unchecked deterioration of the Malaysian ringgit, the plunge in the stock exchange index and the exit of foreign capital.
Malaysia’s ringgit has fallen the most in the past seven weeks, retreating for a fifth day of losses to 3.9605 dollar , the lowest level since August 1998, and is down almost 20 percent in the past 12 months. Continue reading “Cabinet should convene a National “Save Malaysia” Summit before or on Merdeka Day involving all political parties and NGOs to form a national consensus on a blueprint to save Malaysia from becoming a rogue and failed state”

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Why is the newly-minted Director of Strategic Communications breathing panic and fear – is he afraid that the Najib government where he had swiftly ascended in power and influence may suddenly collapse like a house of cards?

The Housing and Local Government Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, said today that Sabah and Sarawak, as the backbone of Barisan Nasional, must be consulted before the Prime Minister is changed.

Nothing exceptional in such a statement, although it had not earlier occurred to the newly-minted Barisan Nasional Director of Strategic Communications who hails from Sabah, or he would have demanded that before Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and removed as the next-in-line to be Prime Minister if Datuk Seri Najib Razak has to step down or before Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi appointed as new Deputy Prime Minister, Sabah and Sarawak should be consulted first.

But Abdul Rahman would have been the first to dismiss any such suggestion at the time to consult Sabah or Sarawak before the Cabinet reshuffle on July 28 whether for the sacking of Muhyiddin as DPM or the appointment of Zahid as the new DPM, considering his “strategic” role in Najib’s “1MDB war cabinet”.

Why now, then, for the surfacing of the question of consulting Sabah and Sarawak on the appointment of Prime Minister of Malaysia? Continue reading “Why is the newly-minted Director of Strategic Communications breathing panic and fear – is he afraid that the Najib government where he had swiftly ascended in power and influence may suddenly collapse like a house of cards?”

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Penolong pengarang Utusan cabar menteri, pengarah Jasa debat isu derma RM2.6 bilion Najib

The Malaysian Insider
11 August 2015

Menteri Komunikasi dan Multimedia Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak dan Pengarah Jasa Datuk Dr Puad Zarkashi perlu bersedia berdebat dalam isu RM2.6 dimasukkan ke dalam akaun peribadi Datuk Seri Najib Razak bagi membuktikan mereka pembela perdana menteri, kata Ku Seman Ku Hussain.

Penolong pengarang akhbar milik Umno edisi Ahad, Mingguan Malaysia itu berkata Salleh dan Puad memutar belit kenyataannya yang sama sekali tidak mempersoalkan dana RM2.6 bilion itu datang daripada sumber rasuah.

“Kedua-dua panglima ini sama sekali tidak menyentuh isu yang saya bangkitkan iaitu derma RM2.6 bilion itu bukan milik Umno. Hujah saya seluruh kepimpinan tertinggi termasuk bekas timbalan perdana menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin tidak tahu tentang kewujudan derma itu. Continue reading “Penolong pengarang Utusan cabar menteri, pengarah Jasa debat isu derma RM2.6 bilion Najib”

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New Pakatan Rakyat to be formed must not repeat the mistakes of Pakatan Rakyat which died an early death because of the lack of trustworthiness of one of its component parties

Recently, the PAS Deputy President Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man called for the revival of a united opposition amid the twin scandals of 1MDB and RM2.6 billion deposited into Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s oersonal bank accounts in AmBank just before the 13th General Election.

He said this was the “crucial hour for all opposition parties to unite” and sit together to find common ground and minimise their differences.

I admit to great wariness of such a call after the early death of Pakatan Rakyat despite the high hopes and trust placed on it by Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region rooting for the first political change on the national landscape, vesting it with 52% of the popular vote in the 13th General Election. Continue reading “New Pakatan Rakyat to be formed must not repeat the mistakes of Pakatan Rakyat which died an early death because of the lack of trustworthiness of one of its component parties”

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Malaysia suffers today because it didn’t in 1990s

― William Pesek
Malay Mail Online
August 11, 2015

AUGUST 11 ― Malaysia’s ongoing currency crash has many causes: a worsening global outlook, plunging commodity prices and, of course, the political scandal enveloping Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. But the real culprit is the year 1997.

The conventional wisdom is that Malaysia’s then-leader Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad saved the country from the worst ravages of the Asian financial crisis when he imposed capital controls, pegged the ringgit and waged verbal war against speculators. It’s true that Malaysia avoided much of the chaos that toppled economies in Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand. But events today show why, 18 years later, Malaysia may wind up the biggest loser in the region.

Malaysia’s neighbours recovered by improving transparency, strengthening their financial systems, and limiting collusion between public and private sectors. Such urgency never swept Malaysia, where the ruling coalition has held power for almost six decades.

Improvements in Malaysian corporate governance have been slow and uneven. Hopes for an end to 46 years of affirmative action ― which benefits the Malay majority while sapping productivity and repelling foreign investors ― have been for naught. Efforts to weed out corruption and ween the economy off energy exports have been tepid. Continue reading “Malaysia suffers today because it didn’t in 1990s”

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Singapore celebrates 50 years of statehood

Financial Times
August 9, 2015 5:35 am
Jennifer Hughes in Hong Kong and Andrew Whiffin in London

Happy 50th birthday Singapore.

Whatever is said about the Lion City — its nanny state tendencies, a seeming obsession with finicky rules, the challenges it faces sustaining its position — its economic achievements of the past 50 years are substantial.

The death of Lee Kuan Yew in March this year gave an outlet for a raft of reviews of Singapore’s performance.

Here we present a few charts to put the city state in a global context.

Gross domestic product per capita has risen at a 10 per cent compound annual growth rate for the past five decades in one of the world’s best performances, according to economists at Morgan Stanley.
Continue reading “Singapore celebrates 50 years of statehood”

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Mahathir exaggerating when he said “democracy is dead” but there is no doubt that Najib would shed no tears to kill democracy and even launch a bigger “Operation Lalang 2015” than Mahathir’s 1987 Operation to save his political life

Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that democracy in the country is dead.

Mahathir is exaggerating though there is no doubt that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak would shed no tears to kill democracy and even launch a bigger “Operation Lalang 2015” than Mahathir’s 1987 Operation to save his political life.

Mahathir’s Operation Lalang in 1987, which unleashed a multi-faceted assault on democracy, human rights and the independence, impartiality and professionalism of key national institutions involving the Press, Parliament, Judiciary, key agencies like the Police, the anti-corruption agency, the election commission, the universities, entire civil service, brought the fragile plant of Malaysian democracy to the brink of ruin and disaster.

But Malaysian resilience, the spirit and love for freedom, justice and the nation, did not wilt or capitulate to Mahathir’s iron-fisted policies, but sprang back not only to recover lost ground during the Mahathir decades, but to achieve new democratic breakthroughs as in the 13th General Election when 52% of popular vote sought the first change of national government with new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, but the people were denied the fruits of democratic victory because of undemocratic gerrymandering of parliamentary constituencies.

Democracy in Malaysia is facing another crisis, and undoubtedly an even bigger one than under Mahathir’s premiership. Continue reading “Mahathir exaggerating when he said “democracy is dead” but there is no doubt that Najib would shed no tears to kill democracy and even launch a bigger “Operation Lalang 2015” than Mahathir’s 1987 Operation to save his political life”

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From a Shenzhen factory job to world’s richest self-made woman

by David Barboza
New York Times
July 30, 2015

How a Chinese Billionaire Built Her Fortune

Zhou Qunfei started out making watch lenses for $1 a day, but honed her hands-on knowledge into a world-class, multibillion-dollar operation at the vanguard of China’s push into high-end manufacturing.

Zhou Qunfei is the world’s richest self-made woman. Zhou, the founder of Lens Technology, owns a $27 million estate in Hong Kong. She jets off to Silicon Valley and Seoul to court executives at Apple and Samsung, her two biggest customers. She has played host to President Xi Jinping of China, when he visited her company’s headquarters.

But she seems most at home pacing the floor of her state-of-the-art factory, tinkering.

She’ll dip her hands into a tray of water, to determine whether the temperature is just right. She can explain the intricacies of heating glass in an ion potassium salt bath. When she passes a grinding machine, she is apt to ask technicians to step aside so she can take their place for a while.

Zhou knows the drill. For years, she labored in a factory, the best job she could get having grown up in an impoverished village in central China.

“She’ll sometimes sit down and work as an operator to see if there’s anything wrong with the process,” said James Zhao, a general manager at Lens Technology. “That will put me in a very awkward position. If there’s a problem, she’d say, ‘Why didn’t you see that?’ ” Continue reading “From a Shenzhen factory job to world’s richest self-made woman”

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The contrasting fates of Singapore and Malaysia

— Devadas Krishnadas
Malay Mail Online
August 10, 2015

AUGUST 10 — Fifty years ago, Singapore was ejected from the Malaysian Federation. The two countries have since travelled very divergent paths while sharing some common characteristics. Both countries were colonised by the British, both were occupied by the Japanese during the World War II, both are multi-racial and multi-religious, and both have experienced considerable economic improvement since independence.

They also have significant differences. These differences should have been telling in favour of Malaysia. It was the hinterland for the Singapore economy. It had land, a multi-source commodity economy and a sizeable population. Singapore found itself suddenly distinct from its major market, dependent on Malaysia for water and faced with the hurdles of setting up shop as a newly sovereign state.

However, today, Singapore has celebrated its 50th year of independence in the best possible shape — politically stable, economically promising and socially affluent.

Malaysia, in contrast, lags behind Singapore on these counts. Putrajaya’s credibility has been undermined by its handling of the controversy over 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The political landscape is poisoned by suspicion and distrust among the races.

The Malaysian economy is running on fumes. The ringgit is at a 17-year low as investor confidence bleeds away.

Malaysia has for decades suffered a brain drain of its most talented, with Singapore a major beneficiary.

What lessons can be learnt from this dichotomy that seemed so unlikely 50 years ago? Continue reading “The contrasting fates of Singapore and Malaysia”

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DAP calls for Emergency Parliament before Merdeka Day to appoint PAC chairman to allow continued parliamentary investigations into 1MDB and RM2.6 billion scandals

The twin scandals of 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts have led a new round of attacks on the independence, integrity and professionalism of key national institutions, including the Press, Parliament and the four key government agencies comprising Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

In Parliament, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had been sabotaged from continuing with its investigations into 1MDB scandal simply because the PAC Chairman and three BN MPs on the PAC had been promoted Minister or Deputy Minister in the recent Cabinret reshuffle.

I am glad to see that the Chairman of the Barisan Nasional BackBenchers Club, Tan Sri Shahrir Samad has expressed support for a one-day special sitting of Parliament so that there would be no undue delay in continuing investigations into 1MDB.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammudin Hussein has also publicly expressed support for a one-day special Parliament to fill the post of PAC Chairman.

However, they are thinking of a special one-day sitting of Parliament some time next month – which would cause inordinate and unjustifiable delay in allowing the new PAC Chairman to be appointed, and PAC to resume its investigations into 1MDB. Continue reading “DAP calls for Emergency Parliament before Merdeka Day to appoint PAC chairman to allow continued parliamentary investigations into 1MDB and RM2.6 billion scandals”

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Long overdue for Najib to give detailed explanation about 1MDB and RM2.6 billion bank deposits scandals – stop his “lieutenants” concocting imaginary enemies like “Jewish and Christian agenda” and “international conspiracy to topple elected PM”

The new Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Zahid Hamidi said in Tanah Merah on Saturday that UMNO members will be given a detailed explanation on the issues 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and the RM2.6 billion political fund soon.

This is a cop-out and completely unacceptable for two reasons:

Firstly, why only to the three million UMNO members? What about the 27 million non-Umno Malaysians – or does Zahid think they are not entitled to a “detailed explanation” on these two issues, which are making their rounds not only in Malaysia but world-wide as examples of how a show-case to the world of a successful, modern, democratic plural society can almost overnight virtually become an object of international scorn and mockery of a nation with great promise which has taken a wrong turn to become a rogue and failed state.

Secondly, why the government had failed to give proper and satisfactory explanation about the 1MDB scandal in the past five years since questions were asked by the DAP MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua and the PKR MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli; or for the past five weeks since the Wall Street Journal shocked Malaysians and the world that government investigators had found US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) deposited into Najib’s personal accounts in AmBank in March 2013, just before the 13th General Elections.

Those who had advised Najib to avoid giving a full and detailed explanation about the 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion deposits into Najib’s private bank accounts had not only committed major strategic errors but done a grave disservice to Najib, but most unfortunately, those have ascended to new influence to deal with these two issues are people of such inclination – most notably the newly-minted Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director!

What Najib should do, instead of going on a national road show to elicit sympathy and support at UMNO divisional meetings, is to start giving detailed explanations about the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion deposit scandals. Continue reading “Long overdue for Najib to give detailed explanation about 1MDB and RM2.6 billion bank deposits scandals – stop his “lieutenants” concocting imaginary enemies like “Jewish and Christian agenda” and “international conspiracy to topple elected PM””

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The True Measure Of A Culture

M. Bakri Musa
(www.bakrimusa.com)

The true measure of a culture is how well it prepares its members to sudden changes and challenges, especially when those are unanticipated or imposed from the outside. That different societies react very differently is obvious.

Consider the March 2011 tsunami that demolished the coastal areas of Northern Japan. Thousands were killed and billions worth of properties damaged, with whole villages and families wiped out. Compare the reactions of the Japanese to that tragedy of August 2005 when Katrina hurricane devastated the southern coast of United States.

The differences in reactions could not be more profound. Today only a few years after the tragedy, Northern Japan is almost fully recovered. In Louisiana they are still entangled in massive lawsuits, and the finger pointing has not yet stopped. Both Japan and America are developed societies, so we cannot account the difference to socioeconomic status, only to culture. Continue reading “The True Measure Of A Culture”

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Malaysia will not be in throes of a bumper political, economic and leadership confidence crisis if Anwar is Prime Minister of Malaysia today

Malaysia will not be in the throes of a bumper political, economic and leadership confidence crisis if Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is the Prime Minister of Malaysia today.

Firstly, there will not be a 1MDB crisis, which for the past five years, had sapped national and international confidence in the economic and investment climate in Malaysia.

Secondly, there will not be the scandal of RM2.6 billion deposited into the personal banking accounts of the Prime Minister, whether from 1MDB or any other source, as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 has made it very clear that the definition of gratification in the Act included donations and that any form of gratification was presumed to have been corruptly received, unless proven otherwise.

Thirdly, there will not be the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which has caused great economic hardships to the people, small businesses and traders, causing Hari Raya sales this year to drop by some 50% and even the closure of shops and businesses. Continue reading “Malaysia will not be in throes of a bumper political, economic and leadership confidence crisis if Anwar is Prime Minister of Malaysia today”

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How a missing plane and graft scandal are testing Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak

South China Morning Post
09 August, 2015

Would a government manipulate news of a devastating plane crash in an attempt to save its political skin?

No one is directly accusing Malaysia of doing that. But Prime Minister Najib Razak’s crisis-plagued government’s controversial statements about the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crash investigation make some wonder.

Three days after Razak’s middle-of-the-night announcement that a wing flap that washed ashore in the southern Indian Ocean was definitely part of the missing plane, investigators from France, the U.S., Australia and other countries have not backed up his assertion.

Things got stranger after Razak’s transport minister said Malaysian searchers found a window, seat cushions and other plane debris on the French island of Reunion and gave them to French investigators. But French officials told news agencies Friday they had not received the parts.

During the worst financial scandal in Malaysian history, the confusion surrounding the multinational flight investigation seemed, for some, to thicken the gloom enveloping this country, long a bulwark of stability and wealth in Southeast Asia. Continue reading “How a missing plane and graft scandal are testing Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak”

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Malaysia can learn from Singapore’s governance

Financial Times
August 9, 2015

UMNO should lance scandal and overhaul the nation’s rotten system

Fifty years ago, Malaysia expelled Singapore from the federation and the two entities went their separate ways. So distraught was Lee Kuan Yew, then Singapore’s chief minister, that he shed tears in public for the first and last time in his long and extraordinary career. Half a century later, it should be Malaysians who are crying.

Undoubtedly, Singapore has its problems. Its brand of authoritarian guided development has delivered prosperity and produced the world’s slickest city state. But many Singaporeans feel something is missing in their controlled society, a hole that cannot be filled by economic growth. Yet whatever difficulties Singapore faces, these pale in comparison with those of Malaysia. Not only is Malaysia going through its worst political crisis in years after hundreds of millions of dollars found their way into the bank account of Najib Razak, the prime minister. More critically, Malaysia has been undergoing a long-term meltdown in which the political, religious and ethnic compact that has underpinned the country since independence groans under its own rotten contradictions. Continue reading “Malaysia can learn from Singapore’s governance”

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Has Malaysia become a police state?

By John R Malott
Malaysiakini
Aug 9, 2015

COMMENT How ironic it is that many Malaysians are now being threatened for taking actions that are “detrimental to parliamentary democracy.” Actually, they are the very people who are struggling for democracy and political freedom.

As someone who follows developments in Malaysia closely, I believe that the greatest threat to parliamentary democracy in Malaysia today is Prime Minister Najib Razak, and the head of the national police force that he controls, Khalid Abu Bakar.

It is Najib and Khalid who actually should be investigated for violating Section 124B of the Penal Code.

Najib wants to stay in power, no matter what. For any politician, that is understandable.

For whatever reason, Khalid has chosen to be Najib’s lackey. He is ready to do Najib’s bidding and deploy his police force in wilful violation of the law and the fundamental guarantees of Malaysia’s constitution. Continue reading “Has Malaysia become a police state?”

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Reading the tea leaves of 1MDB

– Meredith Weiss
The Malaysian Insider
9 August 2015

The 1MDB scandal shows that Malaysia is in desperate need of political finance reform. But can the country clean up its messy “money politics”?

By the time this piece comes out, even if it’s only a few hours from the writing, the array of known facts about Malaysia’s bewilderingly complex 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal will almost certainly have changed.

There may well be another conspiracy theory or two making the rounds by then, and some creative new threat/spin/bombast from one or another of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s currently trusted spokesmen. Continue reading “Reading the tea leaves of 1MDB”

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Malaysia’s Prime Minister: A Dead Man Walking?

Greg Lopez
Forbes
8.8.2015

Malaysia’s Prime Minister broke a cardinal rule in politics. He inadvertently admitted ‘guilt’ when the Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission cleared him of any wrong doing in accepting a political donation. His position – vulnerable since his ascent to premiership – is no longer tenable as Malaysians question his sincerity and trustworthiness.

On 2 July 2015, the Wall Street Journal alleged that $700 million had gone into a personal bank account of Malaysia’s Prime Minister. The Prime Minister offered a non-denial denial :

Let me be very clear: I have never taken funds for personal gain as alleged by my political opponents – whether from 1MDB, SRC International or other entities, as these companies have confirmed.

The Prime Minister also labelled the report a political sabotage and threatened to sue the Wall Street Journal (more than a month after the allegation was made, at time of publishing this article, the Prime Minister has yet to sue).

As the noose tightened around his neck, the Prime Minister went for broke. Continue reading “Malaysia’s Prime Minister: A Dead Man Walking?”