There are questions and issues galore for the Cabinet meeting tomorrow.
Firstly, will the Cabinet seek clarification from the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak whether he is being probed by the United States Department of Justice under its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative 2010; why despite his special relations with President Obama even playing golf with the American President, he has not been able to get a clear-cut “yes” or “no” from the United States authorities and whether the Prime Minister has sent an unmistakable signal to Obama that it is an intolerable stain on the good name of Malaysia for the Malaysian Prime Minister to be investigated as a kleptocrat by the US DOJ.
Secondly, will the Cabinet ask the Prime Minister why he has not yet instituted legal proceedings against Wall Street Journal for its report on July 2, 2015 about the RM2.6 billion “donation” in his personal banking accounts in AmBank in March 2013, although the Wall Street Journal report had been published for more than three months?
Thirdly, will the Cabinet ask the Prime Minister why, in contrast, he had been so gung-ho threatening the former MCA President, Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik with defamation proceedings within seven days if he had not retracted his allegations yesterday, when he could allow more than three months to elapse without action against the Wall Street Journal?
Fourthly, will the Cabinet ask the Prime Minister whether he would institute legal action against the following four media organisations, whether for defamation against him or his administration: (i) Al Jazeera for its 101 East current affairs programme on Sept. 11 on “Murder in Malaysia” on the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu ; (ii) the New York Times for its report of 21st Sept that a US federal grand jury is examining allegations of corruption and money laundering involving Najib and people close to him under the Department of Justice’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative; (iii) the Economist for its article “Race in Malaysia: Playing with fire” on Sept. 24, 2015 on how “A floundering government risks igniting ethnic tensions”; and (iv) Channel News Asia for its “A Fractured Nation” documentary on 24th Sept portraying a bad image of Malaysia.
Fifthly, whether the Cabinet would ask the Prime Minister to come clean on the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal by answering all the questions and doubts of Ministers and the Malaysian public as well as asking the Prime Minister to present a White Paper to Parliament when it reconvenes on Oct. 19 giving a full, truthful, conclusive and unvarnished account of the 1MDB scandal.
Sixthly, whether the Cabinet would ask the Prime Minister to explain why he approved and subsequently endorsed the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay rally despite the racist slurs and high-octane and provocative images of racial conflict and even a racial “bloodbath” in the publicity material leading up to the rally.
Seventhly, whether the Cabinet would ask the Prime Minister to take action against the Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, Datuk Tajudin Abdul Rahman for his divisive, insulting and provocative utterances directed against the Malaysian Chinese in the country.
Eighthly, whether the Cabinet would ask the Prime Minister to make a clear stand whether the Global Movement of Moderates is still an important policy plank of the Najib administration, and if so, why the Prime Minister failed to uphold moderation by embracing the 34-hour Bersih 4 rally and instead supported the Sept. 16 Red Shirts rally, a manifestation of extremism, intolerance and bigotry which should have been marginalised?
Ninthly, whether the Cabinet would ask the Prime Minister the real reason for the sacking of Tan Sri Gani Patail as Attorney General some two months ago, and whether there was any basis in the account by the former deputy director of Special Branch, Abdul Hamid Bador linking it to 1MDB investigations and action that Gani was going to take as Attorney-General?
Tenthly, would any Cabinet Minister raise the haze catastrophe in the country, why Malaysia failed to upgrade Malaysia’s Air Pollutant Index (API) stations to match Singapore’s capability, whether the government would make claims to Indonesia of economic losses resulting from the haze and compensate Malaysians for economic losses they suffer as a result of the haze.
There is a very long list of questions and issues which Malaysians would want the Ministers to put on the Cabinet agenda tomorrow, but I shall stop here with these ten questions and issues.