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I would have advised Najib to refund the RM2.6 billion “donation” to the Treasury as one way to resolve the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal during the debate on 2016 budget if I had not been suspended from Parliament for six months

The 1MDB “Monster” is claiming more and more victims, and I am only the latest one – suspended from Parliament for six months because I had said what is in the heart of all thinking and patriotic Malaysians, viz:

*firstly, that the Public Accounts Committee investigations into the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal should not have been suspended for three months as national interests demand that 1MDB investigations should be conducted as a matter of greatest urgency and priority; and

*secondly, there has been too much avoidance and evasion of responsibility by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his government in giving full accountability for the twin mega scandals in the country, the 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts resulting in an unprecedented crisis of confidence in the Malaysian government.

This is why the Malay Rulers on October 6 had come out with an extraordinary statement calling for 1MDB investigations to be completed “as soon as possible” and for the “appropriate stern action” to be taken against all found to be implicated. Continue reading “I would have advised Najib to refund the RM2.6 billion “donation” to the Treasury as one way to resolve the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal during the debate on 2016 budget if I had not been suspended from Parliament for six months”

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Battle between Najib’s 300 UMNO chieftains and the three million UMNO members will be a major factor to determine the fate of Malaysia

The reservations and opposition by UMNO leaders, like the UMNO Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Vice President Datuk Shafie Apdal and former UMNO Deputy President Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad about the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s role in the two mega scandals in the country – the RM50 billion 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion ‘donation’ in Najib’s personal banking accounts – and by the 14 UMNO Branches in Telok Kemang calling for Najib’s resignation must be given serious consideration.

In fact, the battle between Najib’s 300 UMNO chieftains and the three million UMNO members will be a major factor to determine the fate of Malaysia, whether Malaysia will hurtle headlong to become a rogue and failed state because of breakdown of rule of law, rampant corruption and abuses of power, and the collapse of good governance or whether Malaysia can pick herself up, re-strategise and reunite to strike forward to fulfill our national potential when we were on verge of becoming one of the Asian tigers before the 1997 financial crisis.

I agree with former International Trade Minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz that Malaysia can rise from its current state again as the country has all the factors for success. Continue reading “Battle between Najib’s 300 UMNO chieftains and the three million UMNO members will be a major factor to determine the fate of Malaysia”

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Najib’s 2016 Budget made history as a budget which could not generate any budget euphoria as it was snuffed out within seconds of delivery by phalanx of Opposition MPs standing up and displaying “Mana RM2.6 billion” placard

Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 2016 Budget made history as the first Malaysian budget which could not generate any budget euphoria as it was snuffed out within seconds of delivery by the phalanx of Opposition MPs standing up and displaying the “Mana RM2.6 billion” placard.

Normally, the budget presented by a Finance Minister in Parliament on a Friday would be able to generate a budget euphoria for weeks, or at least for the immediate weekend, with glowing economic reports and superlative accounts of the government’s budgetary plans, but Najib’s 2016 Budget failed dismally on this account, with the country overcast with hazy sky and noxious air which for weeks had closed schools, disrupted the economy and created havoc in the life of Malaysians.

In fact, events in the 24 hours after Najib’s delivery of the 2016 Budget had continued to be relentless in stamping out any ember for any post-budget euphoria, for instance:

1. the report by The Australian yesterday that a sixth foreign government, Australia, has joined five other countries, namely Switzerland, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore and United States in the ever-widening international inquiry into Malaysia’s biggest scandal in history, the RM50 billion 1MDB (well exceeding the RM42 billion normally associated with the scandal, according to Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in his last speech as Deputy Prime Minister to the UMNO Cheras Division on July 26); Continue reading “Najib’s 2016 Budget made history as a budget which could not generate any budget euphoria as it was snuffed out within seconds of delivery by phalanx of Opposition MPs standing up and displaying “Mana RM2.6 billion” placard”

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Budget 2016: Subsidy cuts and other things Najib didn’t tell you

Nigel Aw
Malaysiakini
Oct. 24, 2015

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak offered a list of good news under Budget 2016 which included a hike in civil servants’ pay, increase in BR1M cash handouts, and Goods and Services Tax rebate for mobile phone purchase.

But where is all the money coming from when the country is facing falling revenue from a slump in commodity prices?

Malaysiakini uncovers the ‘bad news’, by breaking down Budget 2016 for you based on ministries which have suffered the worst cuts.

What the premier failed to mention in his budget speech include the likelihood of pricier cooking oil, more expensive train and flight tickets on ‘uneconomical’ routes, the poor having to pay for their electricity bills, and other subsidy cuts. Continue reading “Budget 2016: Subsidy cuts and other things Najib didn’t tell you”

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Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal: Australian connection in Malaysia scandal

Ben Butler
The Australian
October 24, 2015

Sitting on the canals behind the glitzy towers that line Broadbeach, on Queensland’s Gold Coast, the low-rise Icon Corporate Park doesn’t look much like the kind of place you’d find a funds management company looking after billions of dollars caught up in a financial scandal that is rocking Malaysia.

But this modest address, at a modern low-rise located at 2 Miami Key, has emerged as host to Australian key players, some with colourful histories, caught up in the controversy engulfing Malaysia’s debt-ridden sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB.

In Malaysia, the scandal involving hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly paid into the bank account of the country’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak, has left behind a trail of arrests, accusations and alleged murder.

In August, police arrested three senior officials at the ­Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission, which has been investigating 1MDB, over alleged leaks to London-based website Sarawak Report.

The controversy has also touched Australia’s ANZ Bank: it owns a quarter of Malaysia’s AmBank, which loaned 2 billion ringgit ($660 million) to 1MDB and where Mr Najib kept the account in question. Continue reading “Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal: Australian connection in Malaysia scandal”

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Najib had turned Parliament into a circus with a 90-minute 2016 budget without a single reference to the two mega-scandals in the country’s history – the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts

Communications and Multimedia Minister Senator Salleh Said Keruak hit the nail on the head when he said yesterday that Parliament should not be turned into a circus.

However, Salleh would not have the guts and gumption to tell it to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who is most guilty of turning Parliament into a circus when he delivered a 90-minute 2016 budget without a single reference to the two mega-scandals in the country’s history – the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib personal banking accounts in March 2013.

Salleh would not have the guts and gumption to tell Najib not to turn Parliament into a circus or he would have lost his passport of backdoor entry into Parliament!

The placard “Mana RM2.6 billion” (Where is the RM2.6 billion) which opposition MPs displayed in Dewan Rakyat after Najib’s budget speech resonates in the hearts and minds of 30 million Malaysians, even the three million UMNO members, and a few UMNO/BN Members of Parliament as this the topmost question they want answer from Najib’s 2016 Budget speech.

This was the huge elephant in the Dewan Rakyat Chamber which the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, his Cabinet and most of the UMNO/Barisan Nasional MPs refused to see or acknowledge, although the Opposition MPs, the 30 million Malaysians (including the three million UMNO members), and a few UMNO/BN MPs could see clearly before their eyes. Continue reading “Najib had turned Parliament into a circus with a 90-minute 2016 budget without a single reference to the two mega-scandals in the country’s history – the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts”

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Malaysia’s Mahathir: strongman turns activist to unseat former protégé

Oliver Holmes and David Munk in Kuala Lumpur
Guardian
23 October 2015

‘Father of modern Malaysia’ brought down two former allies groomed to succeed him. Can he topple prime minister Najib Razak, his most stubborn heir?

He makes a most unlikely blogger. And, for many, an even more unlikely full-throated advocate of freedom of speech.

But that is the role Mahathir Mohamad has carved out for himself in Malaysia, the nation he is credited with transforming into a regional economic powerhouse.

As he enters his 91st year, he has become the country’s most prominent and undoubtedly most effective activist.

He has come out of retirement to throw allegations of arbitrary arrest, throttling of the press and corruption against current prime minister Najib Razak – similar to accusations that were lobbed against him during his own premiership from 1981 to 2003.

Sitting in his cavernous office and surrounded by gifts from world leaders, the man whose two decades in power are described by rights groups as autocratic has slipped seemingly with ease into his new role. Continue reading “Malaysia’s Mahathir: strongman turns activist to unseat former protégé”

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Malaysian PM Najib used state funds for ‘bribery’, says former leader Mahathir

Oliver Holmes and David Munk in Kuala Lumpur
Guardian
23 October 2015

Mahathir Mohamad launches fresh attack on scandal-hit former ally in interview with the Guardian

Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has accused his protégé and current premier Najib Razak of driving a debt-ridden state fund into the ground by using it for bribery.

In an interview with the Guardian at his office in the administrative capital Putrajaya, Mahathir said Najib had confided to him months ago that “cash is king”, during a terse meeting in which Mahathir told the man he once groomed for the country’s top post that he had lost his support.

“What he is telling me is that bribery is OK. If you bribe with a few dollars, I suppose it doesn’t work, but if you give [money] to a person who has never seen a million ringgit he will turn around,” he said, referring to the local currency.

Najib is battling for his political life after media reports said investigators had found that nearly $700m (£456m) linked to the troubled 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) state fund was transferred into the prime minister’s private bank accounts. Continue reading “Malaysian PM Najib used state funds for ‘bribery’, says former leader Mahathir”

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Malaysia’s 1MDB Scandal: Political Intrigue, Billions Missing and International Scrutiny

By TOM WRIGHT And KEN BROWN
Wall Street Journal
Oct. 23, 2015

Investment fund is under investigation in five countries

HONG KONG — A scandal involving a government investment fund in Malaysia is drawing world-wide attention and has led to calls at home for the ouster of the country’s prime minister. It is also affecting U.S. diplomacy in a strategically important part of Asia. The fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, is under investigation in five countries.

It is a story of political intrigue, backroom politics and billions of dollars in missing money. At the center of it all is Prime Minister Najib Razak, who founded 1MDB. A Malaysian government probe found that nearly $700 million moved through banks, agencies and companies linked to 1MDB before being deposited into Mr. Najib’s alleged private bank accounts ahead of a close election. The source of the money is unclear, though in August, Malaysia’s anticorruption body said the funds were a donation from the Middle East. The donor wasn’t specified.

Here’s a primer on Malaysia, 1MDB and the scandal that has drawn the interest of investigators from around the world. Continue reading “Malaysia’s 1MDB Scandal: Political Intrigue, Billions Missing and International Scrutiny”

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Mahathir probably the next victim of the 1MDB Monster stalking the land devouring critics

I said in Parliament yesterday that I was the latest victim of the 1MDB “Monster” stalking the land devouring critics.

Parliamentary conventions, practice and procedures have been shoved aside to achieve the objective to suspend me from Parliament for six months, although the proper parliamentary procedure and practice would be to refer me to the Committee of Privileges to ascertain whether what I said in Parliament when seeking clarification from the AMANAH MP for Sepang, Mohamed Hanipa bin Maidin was a “contempt” of the Speaker and Parliament, or whether the Speaker was misguided when he alleged that I had accused him of “deliberately” abusing his powers and sabotaging the Public Accounts Committee investigations into the 1MDB scandal.

On Wednesday, I had submitted to Parliament the following motion under Standing Order 43 to review the Speaker’s decision in August to stop the PAC from continuing its 1MDB investigations:

“Under Standing Orders 43 and 99, this House resolves that the ruling of the Speaker in August 2015 prohibiting the Public Accounts Committee under its Deputy Chairman, MP for Kepong, from continuing its proceedings to investigate the 1MDB scandal until the Chairman of the PAC has been appointed is wrong, an abuse of power and incompatible with the objective in having a Public Accounts Committee which enjoys credibility and respect of Malaysians for its commitment and conscientiousness to ensure that all government and public finances uphold the highest standards of integrity.”

Although my notice of this motion has become academic with my suspension from Parliament yesterday, had I also committed contempt of Speaker and Parliament in submitting such a motion to the Speaker on Wednesday, in total contravention of parliamentary convention, and practice and procedure? Continue reading “Mahathir probably the next victim of the 1MDB Monster stalking the land devouring critics”

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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”

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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”

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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?”

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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”

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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”

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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”

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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”