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First step to Save Malaysia from global kleptocracy is to end “global pretence” that 1MDB scandal has been resolved and ceased to be an issue

The first step to Save Malaysia from global kleptocracy is to end the “global pretence” that the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal had been resolved and ceased to be an issue.

This was what the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had promised more than a year ago.

In his meeting with some 1,000 UMNO divisional leaders and selected representatives of NGOs on 14th June 2015, Najib gave an assurance that the controversy surrounding the state investment arm 1MDB will be resolved by year-end.

In his 2016 New Year message on 31st December 2015, Najib told Malaysians that his RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals had been resolved and were no more issues.

Najib could not be more wrong, as illustrated by the decision yesterday of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) ordering Coutts & Co., which is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, to surrender 6.5 million francs (RM29.1 million) in illegal profits from transactions linked to 1MDB. Continue reading “First step to Save Malaysia from global kleptocracy is to end “global pretence” that 1MDB scandal has been resolved and ceased to be an issue”

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Coutts ordered to pay back SFr6.5m of profits over 1MDB

Jeevan Vasagar in Singapore
Financial Times
3rd Feb 2017

Swiss financial supervisor sanctions bank over lapses linked to Malaysian fund

Swiss authorities have accused Coutts, the private bank, of repeatedly ignoring internal warnings over its dealings with a businessman who has been linked to a plot to loot billions of dollars from 1MDB, the Malaysian state investment fund.

Numerous “high-risk” transactions were processed through a Coutts account opened by the Malaysian businessman in Zurich, including the use of $35m for visits to casinos and the purchase of luxury services such as chartering yachts, according to the Swiss inquiry.

Finma, the Swiss financial regulator, ordered Coutts to pay back profits of SFr6.5m, which were allegedly generated unlawfully. It is also considering enforcement proceedings against bank employees.

The Swiss action is the latest step in a global regulatory crackdown against banks involved in the 1MDB scandal. Continue reading “Coutts ordered to pay back SFr6.5m of profits over 1MDB”

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Save Malaysia Roundtable on Tunku’s 114th birthday anniversary next week best forum for Najib to start process to free Malaysia from the millstone of global kleptocracy

The Save Malaysia Roundtable of political and civil society leaders to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state on Tunku’s 114th birthday anniversary in Kuala Lumpur next week is the best forum for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Cabinet to start the process to free Malaysia from the millstone of global kleptocracy.

This will make the Save Malaysia Roundtable doubly significant, not only on the occasion of the114th birthday anniversary of Bapa Malaysia, but to send out the clear message that the 2017 Chinese New Year of the Fire Rooster will be the only kleptocratic Chinese New Year in the history of Malaysia and that in the next year, the Chinese New Year and other national festivities would not be celebrated under a cloud of global kleptocracy!

Almost everybody is saying that it is impossible that Najib will attend the Save Malaysia Roundtable.

I agree that it appears to be quite inconceivable that Najib would attend the Save Malaysia Roundtable to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state, as it would involve Najib’s preparedness – not seen up to now – to open up the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal to national and international scrutiny to prove that it is not a scandal at all, although the 1MDB scandal is making international waves and world headlines almost every other day.

The issue is whether Najib and his Cabinet are prepared to start the process to free Malaysia from the millstone of global kleptocracy, or whether they will go down in history as being responsible for Malaysia’s millstone of global kleptocracy and not prepared to do anything to remove such a millstone. Continue reading “Save Malaysia Roundtable on Tunku’s 114th birthday anniversary next week best forum for Najib to start process to free Malaysia from the millstone of global kleptocracy”

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Najib’s Window Dressing Can’t Hide Malaysia’s Woes

By Luke Hunt
The Diplomat
January 31, 2017

The embattled premier’s cosmetic measures cannot conceal economic realities in the country.

The Malaysian economy has been put through the hoops. In spite of reassurances from the country’s beleaguered premier Najib Razak that the current economic turbulence is only a temporary affair caused by offshore factors, the evidence does point to the contrary.

Najib’s government knows this. It has side-stepped long-held promises to win Malaysia recognition as a developed country by 2020. And it has announced a string of statements and measures designed to either distract from these economic realities or aim to address them.

One revenue-raising initiative announced was charging Thai vehicles a fee for simply crossing their land border. That move has angered the Thai transport ministry which is now mulling a reciprocal tax. Continue reading “Najib’s Window Dressing Can’t Hide Malaysia’s Woes”

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There must be no Islamophobia or non-Islamophobia if Malaysia is to succeed as a nation to achieve her full potentials benefiting from her diversity and confluence of the world’s great religions, cultures and civilisations in Malaysia

It is the right of the PAS President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang to talk about his aim for PAS to win at least 40 Parliamentary seats in the next general election, but it is the height of irresponsibility in a plural society for any political leader to pander to either Islamophobia or non-Islamophobia.

This is because there must be no Islamophobia or non-Islamophobia if Malaysia is to succeed as a nation to achieve her full potentials benefitting from the diversity and confluence of the world’s great religions, cultures and civilisations in Malaysia.

Hadi has the right to talk of his expectation that PAS will win 40 parliamentary seats, just as it is the right of others who prognosticate that PAS may even lose the Kelantan state government which PAS had ruled for five consecutive general elections since 1990 under the late Tok Guru Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat, who was both Kelantan Mentri Besar in all the five general election battles and PAS Mursidul Am.

Not only that, there is also the forecast that PAS would possibly face the worst electoral defeat in the next general elections in the 14GE under Hadi’s leadership.

It is regrettable that Hadi seems to be promoting a form of non-Islamophobia when he said in a special address in Kedah that the PAS’ previous political consensus with Pakatan Rakyat allies PKR and DAP had achieved the best result so far for the Opposition, but had resulted in a political imbalance.

He said: “Do you realise how the situation was with the seats? Unknowing, the 89 Opposition seats were 21 seats for PAS, 30 for PKR, and 38 for DAP.”

He asked: “Is it fair for this country, the government is governed by Muslims in 39 seats, with non-Muslims having a larger share? This is not right.” Continue reading “There must be no Islamophobia or non-Islamophobia if Malaysia is to succeed as a nation to achieve her full potentials benefiting from her diversity and confluence of the world’s great religions, cultures and civilisations in Malaysia”

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Najib is consigning his initiative of a Global Movement of Moderates to the grave if he is not prepared to be part of the global outrage at US President Trump’s cruel and inhumane executive order against refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries

It is now more than 58 hours since US President Trump, at 4.42 pm Friday Washington time, with a stroke of a pen signed the cruel and inhumane Executive Order against refugees and immigrants, creating world-wide turmoil and reverberations, with chaos and confusion in US airports and capital cities all over the world.

What is disturbing is that the Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his government are not part of this global outrage at the inhumanity and insensitivity of Trump’s executive order.

It cannot be that Najib and the Malaysian Foreign Ministry had been overtaken by complete surprise by such an executive order, as Trump had in fact been talking about such an inhumane measure since the GOP primary campaign last year, and Trump’s executive order against refugees and immigrants had in fact been leaked to the media several days before Trump signed the executive order.

Najib cannot blame anyone for asking why he acted with such alacrity when he lashed out at Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi on the Rohingya issue but is so tame and tardy when the Muslim world is revolted and outraged by Trump’s executive order against refugees and the 130 million people from seven Muslim-majority countries, viz: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.

As a sign of growing political intimacy and collaboration between Najib and the PAS President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, there is also conspicuous silence from the PAS leadership on Trump’s cruel and inhumane executive, completely out of character of PAS leadership which would have been the first to denounce Trump’s executive order.

Is this a sign of growing maturity and responsibility of the Hadi PAS leadership or just of closer political collaboration with Najib’s UMNO leadership? Continue reading “Najib is consigning his initiative of a Global Movement of Moderates to the grave if he is not prepared to be part of the global outrage at US President Trump’s cruel and inhumane executive order against refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries”

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Indonesia has spoken. Why is Najib still silent more than 38 hours after Trump signed the executive order banning 130 million people from seven countries from United States?

Indonesia has spoken. The Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has said that Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, deeply regrets US President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban more than 130 million people from seven countries from the United States and to deny entry to all refugees.

Why is Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who mooted the proposal for a global movement of moderates, still silent about Trump’s executive order which had caused world-wide reverberations, with chaos and confusion in US airports and capital cities all over the world.

Trump’s seismic ban was enacted with a stroke of a pen at 4.42 pm Friday Washington time. More than 38 hours have elapsed, as it is now past 6.42 a.m. Sunday Washington time. Why is Najib still keep silent?

It is not that Najib and the Foreign Ministry had been overtaken by complete surprise by such an executive order, as Trump had in fact been talking about such an inhumane measure since the GOP primary campaign last year.

Has Najib’s dilatory response anything to do with US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s largest kleptocratic lawsuit relating to the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal? Continue reading “Indonesia has spoken. Why is Najib still silent more than 38 hours after Trump signed the executive order banning 130 million people from seven countries from United States?”

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A week ago, Google returned 255,000 results in 0.42 seconds on “1MDB” search – today it returned 4.41 million searches in just 0.32 seconds!

I wish to report that in the first 24 hours from 12 noon yesterday till 12 noon today, neither MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai nor the Gerakan President Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong had contacted me in response to my public offer yesterday that I am prepared to meet with them, individually or collectively, any place any time in the ensuing 72 hours to discuss how we can co-operate in the larger national interests to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded world-wide as a global kleptocracy.

I had asked whether Liow and Mah would have to get UMNO approval before responding. We will wait and see what happens in the rest of the 72-hour offer.

Already, there is a strange political phenomenon. In yesterday’s press, I was the target of massive attacks from all the top MCA and Gerakan leaders for offering during my “Jelajah Desa” at Sungai Gelugor in Penang on Sunday to co-operate with PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang to save Malaysia from becoming a global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state.
Continue reading “A week ago, Google returned 255,000 results in 0.42 seconds on “1MDB” search – today it returned 4.41 million searches in just 0.32 seconds!”

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Fund-scandal fallout keeps Malaysia on its toes

By Una Galani | HONG KONG
Reuters
Jan 23, 2017

(Reuters Breakingviews) – Malaysia is still struggling to put its sovereign-fund scandal behind it. Prime Minister Najib Razak was not named in lawsuits filed last year by the U.S. Department of Justice after billions disappeared from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, and he has deftly avoided a legal tangle on his home turf. Nonetheless, the fallout is keeping Malaysia’s leader on his toes.

The scandal at the fund Najib championed has left a dark mark on sentiment around the country. Money from the fund found its way into financing the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” and allegedly into Najib’s personal bank account, something he denies. But mud sticks. One recent survey by FT Confidential Research found 71.5 percent of respondents had a negative view of the prime minister. Malaysia must hold an election by August 2018 at latest, but even with the redistricting of constituencies, it will be a slog to win more votes than in 2013 which saw the worst-ever performance for the Barisan Nasional ruling coalition. Continue reading “Fund-scandal fallout keeps Malaysia on its toes”

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UMNO’ first and second major Goebbellian offensive against DAP have tanked and failed, now we await the third UMNO Goebellian propangada gambit


I want to remind the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak of the Chinese saying “If you don’t want anyone to know, don’t do it”. (若要人不知 除非己莫为)

This is because the pieces are falling into place about Najib’s Goebbellian Syndrome to use me as a guinea pig to test out Goebbels’ Nazi propaganda doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it” as the strategy to control the rural Malay mind.

The whole sorry story started with Najib’s UMNO Presidential speech on Nov. 30, where he notched up another octave in the politics of race, hatred and falsehood when he declared DAP as UMNO’s Enemy No. 1 in the forthcoming 14th General Election, declaring that the Malays will have to decide whether to maintain a government led by UMNO or DAP.

This is of course a political fallacy, as whatever happens in the 14GE, whether Najib is toppled as Prime Minister or UMNO loses the Federal Government, the Malays in Malaysia will continue to exercise political power in the country as there is no way they will lose their political power.

For the past two months, neither Najib nor anybody in UMNO and its propaganda apparatus has been able to give a decent reply to the question recently asked by National Laureate Pak Samad as to how Malays could lose political power if UMNO is defeated in a general election. Continue reading “UMNO’ first and second major Goebbellian offensive against DAP have tanked and failed, now we await the third UMNO Goebellian propangada gambit”

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Najib’s Goebbelian Syndrome – I am made a guinea pig to test the Goebbels’ Nazi doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it” to control the rural Malay mind

This is Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Goebbelian Syndrome – to use me as a guinea pig to test out the Goebbels’ Nazi doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it” to control the rural Malay mind.

In his UMNO Presidential Speech on Nov. 30, Najib set in motion this Goebbelian power play, telling three Nazi-style “Big Lies” about the DAP, viz:

1. That the 14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP;

2. That the DAP is anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

3. The “nightmares” Malay will suffer if UMNO loses power in the next general elections.

These three “Big Lies” fit the Goebbels/Nazi definition that “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Najib and the UMNO propagandists have not been able to reply to my rebuttal of Najib’s “Three Nazi Big Lies” against the DAP or the challenge to Najib to list out DAP’s Three Big Lies against him or the UMNO leadership – but the Goebbelian attack of “Nazi Big Lies” on the DAP and me have continued. Continue reading “Najib’s Goebbelian Syndrome – I am made a guinea pig to test the Goebbels’ Nazi doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it” to control the rural Malay mind”

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Najib is repudiating his father Tun Razak’s legacy in violating the fifth Rukunegara principle of “Good Behaviour and Morality” by leading the UMNO charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies against the DAP

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is repudiating his father Tun Razak’s legacy in violating the fifth Rukunegara principle of “Good Behaviour and Morality” by leading the UMNO charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies against the DAP.

Today, through UMNO “mainstream media”, Najib continued the campaign of fear, hatred and lies against the DAP claiming that Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad had admitted that the DAP would be given the Deputy Prime Minister’s post if the Opposition wins federal power, and lambasted Mahathir for having spent 22 years attacking me and suddenly, Mahathir wanted to give me the position of Deputy Prime Minister.

Anybody who follows public affairs closely would know that Najib was concocting a tissue of lies, as DAP had never asked for the post of DPM, whether under Pakatan Rakyat, Pakatan Harapan or the present Pakatan Harapan Plus Pribumi Bersatu – and I myself am not aware that Mahathir wanted me to be Deputy Prime Minister if the Opposition wins federal power.

I should be flattered that in the past few days, the UMNO/Barisan Nasional “mainstream media” had gone to town about the fairy tale of my being Deputy Prime Minister, hoping to create fear and hatred in certain sectors of the population through dissemination of such lies and falsehoods. Continue reading “Najib is repudiating his father Tun Razak’s legacy in violating the fifth Rukunegara principle of “Good Behaviour and Morality” by leading the UMNO charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies against the DAP”

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Najib has achieved what all the five previous Prime Ministers have failed to do in getting Malaysia into the world’s top 20 nations – joining the club of global kleptocracy in short span of 5-6 years!

It should be a great start for the launching of the National Transformation 2050 (TN50) journey with the first town hall dialogue of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak with 500 youths at the Tunku Chancellor in University of Malaya and telecast live to the nation.

But anybody following the TN50 launch-off live from their homes and offices would have realized that there is something missing in the air of the Prime Minister’s dialogue – detracting from the event’s authenticity, bona fides and relevance.

What was wrong and missing about the TN dialogue was brought to the fore when the Prime Minister in his ending remarks called on the youths to ensure that Malaysia get into the world’s top 20 nations.

But Najib had achieved what all the five previous Prime Ministers – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah – have failed to do in getting Malaysia into the world’s top 20 nations. Joining the club of global kleptocracy in a short span of five to six years! Continue reading “Najib has achieved what all the five previous Prime Ministers have failed to do in getting Malaysia into the world’s top 20 nations – joining the club of global kleptocracy in short span of 5-6 years!”

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Why is Najib leading the UMNO/BN charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies in the run-up to the 14GE unless he feels that this is the only formula to save himself in the next general election?

I am surprised by the speech by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Kedah on Tuesday night that regardless of whether DAP has the top government post, the party will still “call the shots” and run the show if UMNO/BN is defeated in the 14th General Election.

Najib said: “Democracy and politics are a game of numbers. Who has the most seats, wins. Even if the top post of the government is not given to it, the party with the most seats will effectively rule.”

My surprise at Najib personally leading the charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies in the run-up to the 14th General Election is for two reasons:

Firstly, has Najib such poor strategists among his election and propaganda advisers that he is personally leading the UMNO/BN charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies in the run-up to the 14th General Election instead of leaving such “dirty work” to his subordinates, which will give him leeway for deniability of personal approval or even knowledge as Prime Minister and UMNO/BN President for such “gutter politics”, which are most unworthy of the Prime Minister of the nation?

Secondly, has Najib become so desperate that he might lose the 14th General Election requiring him to move out of Putrajaya to the Opposition benches in Parliament, that he has now thrown scruples to the winds by leading the charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies in a last-ditch effort to save his political office in Putrajaya so as to pack the maximum amount of explosives into such wild and baseless charges?

The ordinary laymen and women in Malaysia can see through Najib’s gambit as evident from the following typical reactions to the Prime Minister’s speech in Kedah: Continue reading “Why is Najib leading the UMNO/BN charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies in the run-up to the 14GE unless he feels that this is the only formula to save himself in the next general election?”

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Jet, mansions figure in $232 million foreign trust case to be heard in Auckland court

Matt Nippert, business investigations journalist.
New Zealand Herald
Jan 18, 2017

An Auckland courtroom will on Friday become a battleground over Manhattan penthouses and a private jet amid allegations that they are the proceeds of a globe-spanning mega-fraud.

The High Court at Auckland is set down to hear a request from relatives of controversial Malaysian financier Jho Low who oppose the seizure of assets worth $230 million alleged by the United States Department of Justice to be the proceeds of crime.

US court filings said the relatives are beneficiaries of a number of New Zealand trusts that are claimed to directly own a number assets caught up the probe of a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund known as 1MDB.

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in July when the DoJ first filed its seizure claims that $5 billion had been misappropriated from the Malaysian state with payments by 1MDB diverted into private Swiss bank accounts and then laundered into artwork, Hollywood films and real estate.

“We are seeking to forfeit and recover funds that were intended to grow the Malaysian economy and support the Malaysian people. Instead, they were stolen, laundered through American financial institutions and used to enrich a few officials and their associates,” she said.

Financier Low is one of three individuals named in the DoJ action as receiving the proceeds of the alleged fraud. The others are a Hollywood producer and step-son of Malaysia’s current Prime Minister, and a former government official from the United Arab Emirates. Continue reading “Jet, mansions figure in $232 million foreign trust case to be heard in Auckland court”

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Mustapha not speaking the truth or in his true self when he said Malaysia must “move on” from 1MDB scandal when the law in Malaysia is neither taking its course nor the authorities in Malaysia allowed to go after those responsible for creating the international money-laundering scandal

The Minister for International Trade and Industry, Datuk Mustapha Mohamad had discovered that wherever he went, even at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he would be pursued, hounded and haunted by the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal which would not leave him in peace.

Mustapha is as wrong as the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who declared in his 2016 New Year Message on Dec. 31, 2015 that his RM55 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals had been resolved and were no more issues when the International Trade and Industry Minister said Malaysia must “move on” from the 1MDB scandal.

AFP quoted Mustapha saying “We’ve learned many lessons and we are moving forward” from the scandal, and said:

“Essentially we have to move on and we have confidence that a number of issues that came to limelight as a result of 1MDB will at some point, be behind us.

“We have the authorities to go after those responsible for creating the mess. The law is taking its course.”

Mustapha is not speaking his true self as he should know more than anybody else that it is not true that the Najib government had “learnt many lessons” from the 1MDB scandal and that “the law is taking its course” and that the “authorities” are going after “those responsible for creating the mess”.

Mustapha’s statement in Davos needs an important qualification as the law in Malaysia is not taking its course, and the authorities in Malaysia are not going after “those creating the mess”. Continue reading “Mustapha not speaking the truth or in his true self when he said Malaysia must “move on” from 1MDB scandal when the law in Malaysia is neither taking its course nor the authorities in Malaysia allowed to go after those responsible for creating the international money-laundering scandal”

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Generation of “false news” and “big lies” about DAP by UMNO leaders and cybertroopers an index of their growing desperation about loss of credibility and public support because of rampant corruption, economic crisis and worsening racial and religious polarisation

It is ironic but true – the generation of “false news” and “big lies” about the DAP by UMNO leaders and cybertroopers are not a reflection of confidence and hope, but the contrary, an index of their growing desperation about loss of credibility and public support because of rampant corruption, economic crisis and worsening racial and religious polarization – particularly among the Malays in the country.

Just before I came to this dialogue, I was reading about the latest UMNO cybertrooper attack on me – ridiculing the statement by the Deputy Amanah Youth Leader Faiz Fadzil “yang berkata DAP yang hanya bertanding di 51 daripada 222 kerusi Parlimen tidak mampu menerajui kepimpinan negara jika pembangkang menang dalam pilihan raya umum ke 14” by twisting what I said on 31st December that “I expect DAP to double the number of Parliamentary and State Assembly constituencies to be contested in the 14GE as compared to 13GE”.

Yes I did say about expecting the DAP to “double” the number of parliamentary and state assembly seats to be contested in the 14GE, but I was not talking about Malaysia as a whole but specifically about Sabah state, where DAP contested in four parliamentary and eight state assembly seats in the 13GE.

A person who is honest, sincere, pious and God-fearing would not have twisted what I said, for it was very clear that I was referring to doubling the seats contested in Sabah and not Malaysia-wide, unless the UMNP cybertrooper has a very low IQ – but this is the quality of UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers attacking the DAP who have to be liars to tell downright lies and falsehoods about DAP leaders which cannot stand scrutiny or challenge at all! Continue reading “Generation of “false news” and “big lies” about DAP by UMNO leaders and cybertroopers an index of their growing desperation about loss of credibility and public support because of rampant corruption, economic crisis and worsening racial and religious polarisation”

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WHY PRESIDENT TRUMP IS BAD FOR FREEDOM … IN MALAYSIA

BY SHERIDAN MAHAVERA
South China Morning Post
15 JAN 2017

Civil activists in the country enjoyed US support under Obama, but the incoming president’s anti-China stance may require him to turn a blind eye to Najib’s domestic agenda

After eight years with an influential friend in the White House, Malaysian civil society groups are bracing for the worst when Donald Trump takes over on January 20.

During outgoing President Barack Obama’s two terms, human rights advocates, democracy groups and anti-corruption activists had cultivated warm relations with US officials in Kuala Lumpur, even meeting the 44th US president on his visit to the capital last year – the first by any sitting US president.

In that time, Washington’s tacit support for their causes had been a crucial morale booster during a period of regular clampdowns by the administration of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who himself was eager to curry favour with the US leader.

But now they fear a shift in US priorities by a Trump administration that is likely to view Malaysian civil liberties as of relatively low diplomatic priority. Or even worse, that a US, which no longer champions democracy and human rights, might provide moral cover for Najib to further suppress freedoms. Continue reading “WHY PRESIDENT TRUMP IS BAD FOR FREEDOM … IN MALAYSIA”

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One of the first things a new Federal Government in Putrajaya replacing the UMNO/BN will do after the 14GE will be to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to “chase down every penny from 1MDB”

At the official launch of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) in Shah Alam last night, PPBM Chairman Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad said PPBM would “chase down every penny from 1MDB”.

I have no doubt that one of the first things a new Federal Government in Putrajaya replacing the UMNO/BN will do after the 14th General Election will be to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to “chase down every penny from 1MDB”.

In fact, if we have a Cabinet which is patriotic and protective of the good name of Malaysia, the top priority of the agenda of the next Cabinet meeting on Wednesday should be on how to purge and clear the country of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy”.

I said in Parliament that a kleptocracy is a government of 3Ps – Pencuri, Perompak and Penyamun.

I do not believe that any patriotic and proud Malaysian would stand idly by and do nothing when the country is defamed worldwide as a “global kleptocracy”!

I also do not believe that the first four Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein and Tun Mahathir would have stood idly by and done nothing if Malaysia had been defamed and regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy during their premiership.

Even the fifth Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah would also have acted to defend the honour and reputation of Malaysia if the country is defamed world-wide as a global kleptocracy!

Why then has the Cabinet done nothing in the past three years to put the ghost of 1MDB scandal to rest, instead allowing the country to be battered, haunted and hounded by the issue, which has aggravated the host of political, economic and nation-building crisis of confidence confronting the country? Continue reading “One of the first things a new Federal Government in Putrajaya replacing the UMNO/BN will do after the 14GE will be to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to “chase down every penny from 1MDB””

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The entire mega Cabinet of 36 Ministers should resign collectively on Wednesday if it is not prepared to come to grips with the roiling international 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal and appoint a Royal Commission of Inquiry on 1MDB scandal

In his 2016 New Year message more than a year ago on 31st December 2015, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told Malaysians that his RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals had been resolved and were no more issues.

Najib could not be more wrong as the Malaysian government and people continue to be haunted and hounded by the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal.

In the past 12 months, Malaysia went from the third “worst corruption scandal of 2015” by international website foreignpolicy.com in the last week of 2015, to second worst example of global corruption by Time magazine in March last year, second place in the index of crony capitalism by the Economist’s ranking in May, and full-blown “global kleptocracy” when in July, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the largest kleptocratic lawsuits to forfeit US$1 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from US$3.5 billion international 1MDB kleptocratic embezzlement and money-laundering scandal.

There has been no let-up of the incessant international battery and assault of Malaysia’s credibility and reputation in the new year of 2017. Continue reading “The entire mega Cabinet of 36 Ministers should resign collectively on Wednesday if it is not prepared to come to grips with the roiling international 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal and appoint a Royal Commission of Inquiry on 1MDB scandal”