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Speaker Pandikar must explain the double standards in allowing questions on Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal in last parliamentary meeting but disallowing them in the current session

The Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia must explain the double standards in allowing questions on Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal in the last parliamentary meeting but disallowing them in the current session.

Members of Parliament and the nation were promised last November by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said that the government would answer all questions on Najib’s RM2.6 billion donation scandal on the last day of the budget meeting on Dec. 3.

Right from the beginning of last year’s budget meeting when it started in October, Azalina had been avoiding and evading questions on Najib’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals, first saying on Oct. 20 that Najib will answer all questions on both scandals at a date to be fixed later.

After the Ministerial winding up of the debate on the Budget on 5th November, when again she avoided questions on the twin mega scandals, she told reporters in Parliament that the answer on the RM2.6 billion donation scandal would be given on the last day of Parliament on Dec. 3. Continue reading “Speaker Pandikar must explain the double standards in allowing questions on Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal in last parliamentary meeting but disallowing them in the current session”

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“Save Malaysia” from mischief makers who lodge false police reports when I said what all law students are taught in universities – that the Royal Address during Parliament’s Opening is the government’s policy speech

The “Save Malaysia” campaign is all the pertinent and relevant when there are mischief makers who lodge false police reports when I said what all law students are taught in universities – that the Royal Address during Parliament’s Opening is the government’s policy speech.

The DAP MP for Segambut, Lim Lip Eng, has lodged a police report against three mischief makers who had lodged a false police report against me for having committed the crime of sedition when I said that the King’s speech at the official opening of Parliament was prepared by the government-of-the-day, and I hope that the police would charge the three for their public mischief.

What really surprise me is that there are UMNO/BN Ministers and Members of Parliament who are so ignorant about basic constitutional and parliamentary principles and practices that their thinking are on the same level of these mischief makers.

I had more than once spoken up in Parliament to belabor this basic constitutional and parliamentary principle, as I had in the past been accused of disloyalty and treason for proposing amendment in Parliament to the motion of thanks to the Yang di Pertuan Agong for the Royal Address.

This is what I said in Parliament in my speech on the Royal Address on 21st March 2007: Continue reading ““Save Malaysia” from mischief makers who lodge false police reports when I said what all law students are taught in universities – that the Royal Address during Parliament’s Opening is the government’s policy speech”

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How pathetic – under Malaysian parliamentary system, Auditor-General is giving directive to PAC rather than the other way round

Most pathetic.

It would appear that under the Malaysian system of parliamentary democracy, it is the Auditor General who is giving directive to Parliament and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) rather than the other way round.

After the PAC’s second meeting yesterday on the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB, the PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin announced that the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB will no longer be classified a state secret under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 once the PAC tables its findings on it in Parliament.

He disclosed that the Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang explained to the PAC that after the PAC report is tabled in Parliament, his final audit report on the 1MDB will no longer be an official secret document under the OSA.

This is most sad, shameful and even pathetic for the PAC Chairman should be telling the Auditor-General and the Executive that the classification of the AG’s final audit report on 1MDB ends when it is presented to the PAC last Friday, and not when the PAC presents its report to Dewan Rakyat in the indefinite future – this Parliament meeting by April 7 or some time at the end of the year?

Instead of the Chairman of a key parliamentary committee jealously safeguarding parliamentary dignity and privileges from intrusion and interference by the Executive, we have a clear example where an occupant of a key parliamentary position is servilely and supinely submitting to Executive trespass with parliamentary dignity and privileges. Continue reading “How pathetic – under Malaysian parliamentary system, Auditor-General is giving directive to PAC rather than the other way round”

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First thing MPs should do tomorrow is to redeem honour, dignity and privileges of MPs by censuring Executive contempt and disrespect of Parliament in imposing humiliating OSA conditions on Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB when presented to PAC

The first thing that Members of Parliament, irrespective of whether from ruling coalition or the Opposition, should do tomorrow is to unite on a common platform to redeem the honour, dignity and privileges of MPs by censuring Executive contempt and disrespect of Parliament in imposing humiliating Official Secrets Act (OSA) conditions on the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB when presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Not only is the Auditor-General’s final audit report of some 300 pages classified under the OSA, interfering with parliamentary privileges as to what Parliament intends to do about reports and documents presented to it which, in the process nullifies the principle of the supremacy of Parliament over the Executive, but even more serious, treat Members of Parliament as naughty school children prone to mischief and law-breaking who cannot be entrusted with state secrets!

It is the height of contempt of Parliament for the Executive to classify the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB as under the OSA although submitted to the PAC on Friday and later today, and what is even more humiliating, imposing the rule that PAC members cannot take home the Auditor-General’s 300-page final audit report, and PAC members can refer to the AG’s final audit report only in Parliament’s “strong-room”!

Why not lock the “cari makan” PAC Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin together with the 13 other PAC members in the Parliament “strongroom”, requiring to digest, understand and master the Auditor-General’s final audit report before they are allowed to leave the Parliament “strongroom”?
Continue reading “First thing MPs should do tomorrow is to redeem honour, dignity and privileges of MPs by censuring Executive contempt and disrespect of Parliament in imposing humiliating OSA conditions on Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB when presented to PAC”

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My only wish is that the Royal Address by the Yang di Pertuan Agong opening Parliament on Monday will announce the establishment of a credible Royal Commission of Inquiry into Najib’s twin mega scandals

Parliament will be opened by the Yang di Pertuan Agong on Monday to kick off a 20-sitting of the first meeting of the 4th session of the 13th Parliament from 7th March to 7th April 2016.

I will be absent from the five weeks of Parliamentary meeting beginning on Monday as I had been suspended from Parliament for six months, not because I had committed any crime or corruption or anyway involved in the greatest corruption and financial scandal to hit the country in six decades – the 1MDB scandal and the Prime Minister’s multi-billion ringgit “donation” scandal – but because I had been in the forefront demanding full accountability and transparency on these two mega scandals.

In demanding full accountability and transparency for Najib’s twin mega scandals, I am suspended from Parliament for six months and have to sit out the 20-day meeting of Parliament from Monday, but those responsible for the twin mega scandals and for the cover-up of the twin mega scandals which have shaken the Prime Minister’s credibility and plunged Malaysia’s international image and standing to their lowest ebbs in the nation’s history do not suffer any restriction or constraint and are able to walks the Chamber of Parliament with immunity and impunity!

This is indeed the supreme irony of ironies, which illustrate why life in Malaysia, in the recent words of former Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Musa Hitam, is “turning upside down…The end seems to justify the means and anything, anything goes. The dividing line between good and bad, right and wrong, seem blurred”.

Barring the five years from 1999 to 2004 when I was not a Member of Parliament after losing in the Bukit Bendera parliamentary constituency in the 10th General Election, this will be the first time since I was elected Member of Parliament 47 years ago in 1969, that I will be missing the Royal Address at the official opening of Parliament each year. Continue reading “My only wish is that the Royal Address by the Yang di Pertuan Agong opening Parliament on Monday will announce the establishment of a credible Royal Commission of Inquiry into Najib’s twin mega scandals”

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Hasan Arifin should move a motion in name of PAC to censure the Executive for classification of Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB under Official Secrets Act as a contempt of Parliament and breach of parliamentary privilege

The Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Datuk Hasan Arifin should move a motion in the name of PAC in Parliament which reconvenes on Monday to censure the Executive for classification of Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB under the Official Secrets Act as a contempt of Parliament and breach of parliamentary privilege.

The reason which had been given for the classification of the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB is not only unacceptable, it has never been done before as far as the Auditor-General’s reports were concerned.

For instance, the Auditor-General’s interim report on 1MDB which was presented to PAC in July was never classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

Why is it necessary to classify the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB under OSA, a contempt of Parliament which must be challenged by MPs at the first available opportunity, i.e. on Tuesday on March 8. Continue reading “Hasan Arifin should move a motion in name of PAC to censure the Executive for classification of Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB under Official Secrets Act as a contempt of Parliament and breach of parliamentary privilege”

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Cat out of the bag why PAC meeting of Feb. 24/25 postponed – for AG to think of ways to suppress Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB?

The cat seems to be out of the bag as to why the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Feb. 24 and 25 were summarily postponed in the last minute although there were three times the requisite PAC quorum of three available for the two scheduled PAC meetings last month, with the cock-and-bull story about some PAC members out of the country?

The clue is to be found in the Malay Mail Online scoop today that the Auditor-General’s final 1MDB audit report has been classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972, and that PAC members will not be allowed to take home the 300-page report on the controversial state investment fund when it is tabled at the PAC tomorrow.

Was the last-minute postponement of the PAC meeting on Feb. 24 and 25 to give Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s henchmen in the Executive, in particular the new Attorney-General, time to think of ways to suppress the Auditor-General’s final audit report on the 1MDB?

This is downright ridiculous and a clear and gross violation of parliamentary powers and jurisdiction by the Executive branch of government and shows the insufferably arrogant attitude by some members of the Executive who think that they are the only patriots in the country, although they are responsible for the international opprobrium and odium suffered by the country on the world stage as a nation which is increasingly corrupt, repressive and authoritarian! Continue reading “Cat out of the bag why PAC meeting of Feb. 24/25 postponed – for AG to think of ways to suppress Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB?”

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The attitude “case closed” with regard to Najib’s twin mega scandals must be debunked and demolished when Parliament reconvenes next Monday

UMNO leaders and operatives are now adopting the attitude of “case closed” with regard to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s twin mega scandals. This attitude must be debunked and demolished when Parliament reconvenes next Monday.

Najib’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion (or is it RM4.2 billion) “donation” twin mega scandals are not only NOT over and resolved, as Najib happily announced in his 2016 New Year Message, but they have become even bigger and more monstrous scandals with the expose of many new facets and angles, both inside and outside the country, in the past two months.

In fact, with Najib’s twin mega scandals now increasingly intertwined, one question foremost in the minds of concerned and patriotic Malaysians is whether the RM55 billion 1MDB scandal and the RM2.6 billion (now mushroomed to RM4.2 billion) “donation” scandal are actually part of one big monstrous financial scandal. Continue reading “The attitude “case closed” with regard to Najib’s twin mega scandals must be debunked and demolished when Parliament reconvenes next Monday”

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Upshot from Azalina’s bizarre and gibberish statements – will PAC investigate whether Attorney-General Chambers had drafted a charge sheet against Najib for corruption in May last year and whether it will summon leading members of Special Task Force on 1MDB to testify?

I am quite fascinated by the two bizarre and gibberish statements issued by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, viz:

• statement on Saturday, 27th February 2016 in immediate response to Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s Facebook posting that before he was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister in July last year, he was briefed by the then Attorney-General, Tan Sri Gani Patail about the deposits from the state-owned SRC International into Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts and informed that a crime had been committed by Najib; and

• statement yesterday, 1st March 2016, replying to my statement on Sunday, 28th February 2016 commenting on the “two extraodinary statements” by both Muhyiddin and Azalina.

I am not interested in getting into a polemics with Azalina but prefer to deal with the substantive issues thrown up, intentionally or otherwise, by the bizarre and gibberish statements by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department which called for follow-up action at least on two fronts.

Firstly, whether the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigating in to the RM55 billion 1MDB scandal will probe whether the Attorney-General’s Chambers had drafted a charge sheet against Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for corruption in connection with the RM42 million SRC International scandal, whether work on this charge sheet for corruption against Najib went back to May last year and the final outcome of this charge sheet. Continue reading “Upshot from Azalina’s bizarre and gibberish statements – will PAC investigate whether Attorney-General Chambers had drafted a charge sheet against Najib for corruption in May last year and whether it will summon leading members of Special Task Force on 1MDB to testify?”

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Will Najib present White Paper to answer two questions thrown up in the public domain in the past two days – was there a charge sheet in the AG’s office last July to indict Najib for corruption and did the then AG brief the DPM at the time about Najib’s “corruption” wrong doing?

Two questions that arose directly from Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement on Saturday and Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department rebuttal the same day await official confirmation or denial.

Firstly, was there a charge sheet in the Attorney-General’s Chambers before the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail was summarily sacked on July 27 which would have indicted the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for corruption in the RM42 million SRC International scandal?

Secondly, whether the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail at the time had briefed the then Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, about Najib’s “corruption” wrongdoing, which precipitated the “purges” by Najib on July 28, involving the sacking of the Deputy Prime Minister, a Senior UMNO Cabinet Minister and the Attorney-General as well as other grave reprecussions undermining the Rule of Law in the country. Continue reading “Will Najib present White Paper to answer two questions thrown up in the public domain in the past two days – was there a charge sheet in the AG’s office last July to indict Najib for corruption and did the then AG brief the DPM at the time about Najib’s “corruption” wrong doing?”

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DAP’s most important and challenging tests are not in the past 50 years but in next 20, 30 years

It was exactly 30 years ago that I moved from Kota Melaka parliamentary seat to Penang to contest in Tanjong constituency – the Battle of Tanjong of 1986 – against the incumbent Dr. Koh Tsu Koon who was to become the Penang Chief Minister for four terms spanning 18 years from 1990 to 2008.

DAP comrades in Penang had in fact suggested in early seventies that I move to Penang to lead the DAP charge to make Penang the “engine head” for political change in Malaysia, and although this suggestion was made at every subsequent general election, I had not agreed to the move from “south to north” until the 1986 general election.

Although the subsequent “Battles of Tanjong 2 and Tanjong 3” in 1990 and 1995 did not succeed in DAP capturing the Penang State Government, this objective was finally achieved in the 2008 and 2013 General Elections, and it is my hope that Penang will not only continue to be the seat of DAP-led Penang State Government, but the base for the achievement of federal change of government in Putrajaya in the next 14th General Election.

Although the DAP is now celebrating our 50th anniversary, I believe that the DAP’s most important and challenging tests are not in the past 50 years, but in the next 20 to 30 years.
We want the DAP message of justice, freedom, good governance and national unity not just to ring loud and clear in Penang but throughout Malaysia, in Peninsula Malaysia as well as in Sarawak and Sabah.
DAP is in the throes of an important transition, and we must be guided by two challenging objectives and principles. Continue reading “DAP’s most important and challenging tests are not in the past 50 years but in next 20, 30 years”

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Had Hasan Arifin told a deliberate lie when he said that “most PAC members are overseas” when the overwhelming majority of PAC members were in fact in the country with more than a comfortable PAC quorum?

Had Datuk Hasan Arifin, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman, told a deliberate lie when he said that “most PAC members are overseas” as reason for the last-minute postponement of the PAC meetings scheduled yesterday and today for the Auditor-General to present his final audit report on the RM55 billion 1MDB scandal, when in actual fact the overwhelming majority of PAC members were in the country with more than a comfortable PAC quorum?

Had Hasan himself scampered and scurried overseas on Tuesday to give some semblance to his “tall tale” that “most PAC members are overseas” to justify the last-minute cancellation of the PAC meetings yesterday and today, which even MCA and Gerakan MPs on PAC had no advance notice?

Can Hasan reveal here where he has run to overseas, and what is he doing abroad when the PAC was scheduled to meet yesterday and today for the important conclusive stage of the PAC investigations into the 1MDB scandal?

Hasan should realise that if he is in the military, he would have been court-martialled and given the supreme penalty if he had absconded and abandoned his station and duties at the most crucial and critical hour! Continue reading “Had Hasan Arifin told a deliberate lie when he said that “most PAC members are overseas” when the overwhelming majority of PAC members were in fact in the country with more than a comfortable PAC quorum?”

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Lets have a headcount of the 14 members of PAC – who are overseas, why they are overseas, when they planned their overseas trip or they should be condemned at the bar of public opinion even if they not referred to parliamentary Committee of Privileges for gross dereliction of duty

The reason given by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin for postponing the PAC meeting today and tomorrow to receive the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB that “most PAC members are overseas” and that “Its important that all PAC members are present to hear the audit report on 1MDB” is neither credible nor acceptable.

In the first place, why must all PAC members be present to hear the Auditor-General’s final report on 1MDB, when all PAC members had been given adequate notice of the meetings and the final audit report would be available in printed form, as it would have to be tabled in Parliament together with the PAC’s report.

Secondly, why are “most PAC members overseas” when the PAC meetings today and tomorrow had been fixed a fortnight ago with their full knowledge and agreement.
Did anyone of the PAC members indicate that he will be overseas and not available for the PAC meetings today and tomorrow when the PAC fixed these two dates as the last PAC meeting on Feb. 11 – and who are they?

If not, why the amazing development of “most PAC members are overseas” – as if everyone among the Barisan Nasional PAC members are scurrying overseas on these two dates? Continue reading “Lets have a headcount of the 14 members of PAC – who are overseas, why they are overseas, when they planned their overseas trip or they should be condemned at the bar of public opinion even if they not referred to parliamentary Committee of Privileges for gross dereliction of duty”

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Are there any bridges left to build?

by S Thayaparan
Malaysiakini
23rd February 2016

“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts… Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.”

― CS Lewis, ‘The Screwtape Letters’

COMMENT Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said some nice things about Lim Kit Siang during the birthday bash of the DAP’s supremo – Kit Siang will always be the supremo in my book no matter the brickbats calling for new blood from the DAP – which is a change of pace. Normally when it comes to Kit Siang, Umno and its affiliates go out of their way to paint the opposition leader as Malaysia’s public enemy number one.

In Ku Li who wants in from the cold, I wrote: “Razaleigh, of course, always nurtured the perception that he was the last honest man in Umno, a prince who reluctantly found himself consorting with thieves. Ku Li, as he is fondly known as, has the remarkable ability to engender goodwill from certain sections of the general public by disassociating himself from the excesses of Umno even though he contributed to the very culture he claims to despise.”

It does seem unpalatable to dismiss Ku Li’s rejoinder of goodwill especially when it was made in a bipartisan manner at a political rival’s birthday celebration but these days words are a plenty and depending on who says them, a sedition charge is waiting in the wings or a disinterested state security apparatus dismisses them as of no consequence.

Therefore, here are a few statements made by Ku Li that I find problematic. Continue reading “Are there any bridges left to build?”

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Greatest gift to Najib on his 40th anniversary celebrations in politics – a second sabotage of the PAC investigations into 1MDB!

There was considerabe fanfare to celebrate the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s “40 years of serving the people” “From Pekan to Putrajaya” especially the pages and pages of “congratulatory” advertisements by various Barisan Nasional Mentri-Mentri Besar and Chief Ministers and GLCS in thick supplements published by the Barisan Nasional controlled owned mainstream media.

(Note to Auditor-General: should check on propriety of UMNO leaders and GLCs using public funds to glorify Najib and whether surcharge should be imposed on the UMNO MBs, CMs and GLC CEOs to pay the advertising costs from their own pockets).

But the greatest gift to Najib on his 40th anniversary celebrations came from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin – the second sabotage of PAC investigations into the RM55 billion 1MDB scandal with the shocking announcement that the tabling of the Auditor-General’s final report on 1MDB had been deferred until next month.

It would appear that the “cari makan” PAC Chairman has finally stamped his personality on the PAC because of the BN majority on the committee, transforming the PAC into his image by becoming a “cari makan” PAC! Continue reading “Greatest gift to Najib on his 40th anniversary celebrations in politics – a second sabotage of the PAC investigations into 1MDB!”

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Hasan Arifin should resign as PAC Chairman if he dare not summon Jho Low to appear before the PAC investigations into 1MDB

One of the greatest sins of omission of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigations into the RM55 billion 1MDB is the rescindment of its earlier decision to summon Jho Low to testify before it.

The Malaysian public are still waiting for a cogent and reasonable explanation from the new PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin why he rescinded the decision of the earlier PAC Chairman, Datuk Seri Nur Jazlan Mohamad, who announced on July 24 last year that Low Taek Jho would be summoned to appear before the PAC on Sept. 8 to testify on the 1MDB scandal.

But Nur Jazlan was “kicked upstairs” to become Deputy Home Minister in the “purges” launched by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on July 28 last year, which saw the sacking of the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Senior Minister for Rural and Regional Development Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, the dissolution of the high-powered multi-agency Special Task Force to investigate 1MDB and the four-month sabotage of the PAC investigations into 1MDB.

Najib’s world-class RM55 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals have proved to be more intriguing than any long-running television series, having more complicated plots and sub-plots – and we have not seen the end of these plots and sub-plots yet – making the audience wonder who is the Samaritan and who is the real crook.

At times, there is even the “Alice in Wonderland” quality – bordering on the surreal. Continue reading “Hasan Arifin should resign as PAC Chairman if he dare not summon Jho Low to appear before the PAC investigations into 1MDB”

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Hasan Arifin is solely to blame for public doubts about the PAC report on 1MDB as there was no such doubt when Nur Jazlan was the PAC Chairman

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin said yesterday that the public should not doubt the PAC report on 1MDB as the committee members were made up of parliamentarians from both sides of the House, and the public must be confident of the transparency of the report to be tabled in Parliament.

Hasan is solely to blame for public doubts about the independence, transparency and professionalism of the PAC report on 1MDB, as there was no such doubt when Datuk Seri Nur Jazlan Mohamad was Chairman of the PAC.

Hasan should ask himself why the sea-change in the public attitude to the PAC after he was appointed PAC Chairman in October? Continue reading “Hasan Arifin is solely to blame for public doubts about the PAC report on 1MDB as there was no such doubt when Nur Jazlan was the PAC Chairman”

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Hasan Arifin should explain whether he had received any directive to wrap up PAC’s 1MDB investigations and submit a favourable PAC report to the March Parliament after the adverse national and international firestorms to the AG’s exoneration of Najib and announcement to make OSA even more draconian?

Something happened in the 17 days between January 21 and Feb. 7 that transformed the “cari makan” Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Datuk Hasan Arifin, from a laggard dragging his feet on the PAC’s 1MDB investigations and even saying that the PAC cannot keep its deadline to submits its 1MDB report to Parliament next month into to a “speedster” who want the PAC investigations to be wrapped up this month so that the PAC report could be submitted to the March meeting of Parliament.

The only thing that is relevant to the Prime Minister Datuk Najib Raza’s twin mega scandals that happened during this period were the two actions by the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali firstly, his announcement on January 26 exonerating Najib of any criminal wrongdoing and that no charges would be brought against him in both the RM2.6 billion donation and RM42 million SRC International scandals and secondly, his interview with Sin Chew Daily on 6th February where he made the shocking disclosure that the Official Secrets Act (OSA) would be amended to impose heavier penalties on whistleblowers and journalists to deter them from leaks of government information to combat corruption, particularly grand corruption.

In both instances, Apandi ignited two international firestorms within a fortnight and Malaysia’s international image and credibility had never been reached such a low ebb in the nation’s 59-year history.

Hasan Arifin should explain whether he had received any directive to wrap up PAC’s 1MDB investigations and submit a favourable PAC report to the March Parliament after the adverse national and international firestorms to the AG’s exoneration of Najib and announcement to make the OSA even more draconian?

Hasan’s fervor in wanting to wrap up the PAC’s investigations into 1MDB and the comments by the Deputy Foreign Minister and a former PAC member, Reezal Merican Naina Merican, that the release of the PAC report on the 1MDB in Parliament nextmonth would bring closure to the 1MDB issues are not good signs that the PAC Report on 1MDB would be an independent and credible one? Continue reading “Hasan Arifin should explain whether he had received any directive to wrap up PAC’s 1MDB investigations and submit a favourable PAC report to the March Parliament after the adverse national and international firestorms to the AG’s exoneration of Najib and announcement to make OSA even more draconian?”

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Najib is notching up a great shame and infamy for Malaysia when we are overtaken by China and even Indonesia in both TI CPI ranking and score within a decade

Durian Tunggal is in the Alor Gajah parliamentary seat, which is the fourth parliamentary constituency I am visiting Malacca today and the 79th parliamentary constituency I am visiting since my six-month suspension from Parliament on Oct. 22. The other parliamentary constituencies I visited today are Masjid Tanah, Tangga Batu and Bukit Katil.

I have been suspended from Parliament not because I had committed any crime or wrongdoing like theft, robbery, murder or corruption, but because I wanted the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to give full and satisfactory accountability for the world-class RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM55 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.

It is because of the refusal of the Najib administration to live up to the principles and precepts of accountability, integrity and good governance that Malaysia had been named third in the world’s “worst corruption scandals in 2015” by the Foreign Policy website and the reason why Malaysia fell four places in the latest Transparency International (TI) 2015 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranking released on Wednesday compared to the previous year – now ranked No. 54 with a CPI score of 50/100.

Malaysia was ranked 50th among 175 countries in 2014 but dropped to 54th among 168 countries in 2015.

Malaysia’s ranking in the TI CPI 2015 could have been lower, as five countries, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Puerto Rico and St Vincent – which had been ranked higher than Malaysia – were excluded due to technical reasons like not meeting three minimum secondary sources for research.

In the TI CPI 2004, Bahamas was ranked No. 24, Barbados No. 17, Dominica No. 39, Puerto Rico No. 31 and St Vincent No. 29.

If these five countries which rank higher than Malaysia had been included, Malaysia’s ranking in 2015 would be between 59 to 60 instead of 54.

Furthermore, if the TI CPI 2015 ranking had taken into consideration the shocking announcement by the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali rejecting the recommendations of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and exonerating Najib from any wrongdoing or crime for the RM2.6 billion donation scandal, Malaysia would have fallen to an even lower ranking in the TI CPI, probably Malaysia’s lowest ranking in TI CPI history since 1995 and be consigned to between No. 65 – 70 in the TI CPI ranking!

This why I had demanded for full accountability in Parliament for Najib’s world-class twin mega scandals, but instead I have been suspended for six months from Parliament. Continue reading “Najib is notching up a great shame and infamy for Malaysia when we are overtaken by China and even Indonesia in both TI CPI ranking and score within a decade”

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Call for Royal Commission of Inquiry into Najib’s world-class twin mega scandals as nobody expects the truth to be revealed if the matters are left solely to normal government investigations or even the PAC

The Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali’s rejection of the investigations and recommendations of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and exoneration of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak of any crime or wrongdoing in the RM2.6 billion donation and RM42 million SRC International scandals have convinced the overwhelming majority of Malaysians that they cannot get to the bottom of the Najib scandals from the ordinary government investigation and enforcement agencies and processes.

After the “purges” at the end of July last year, where Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Senior Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail were sacked; arrest or immediate transfer of key officers in major investigative agencies like the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Bank Negara, the MACC and the Police associated with demands that there should be full and fearless investigation into the twin mega scandals; and the four-month derailment of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigations into 1MDB and the subsequent appointment of a “cari makan” Chairman for the PAC, many entertained doubts that the truths about the Najib twin mega scandals could be uncovered by normal investigative and enforcement agencies and processes.

The last nail in the coffin of those who still harboured “hope against hopes” that the normal investigative and enforcement agencies could produce results in the probes into Najib’s twin mega scandals was the Attorney-General’s decision to reject MACC’s recommendations and to exonerate Najib of any wrongdoing by deciding that no charges would be brought against the Prime Minister. Continue reading “Call for Royal Commission of Inquiry into Najib’s world-class twin mega scandals as nobody expects the truth to be revealed if the matters are left solely to normal government investigations or even the PAC”