I thank Penang DAP under the chairmanship of Sdr. Chow Kon Yeow for organising this “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Where have RM2.6 billion gone?” ceramah, and the participation of the Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, the head of Pakatan Harapan secretariat, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Parti Amanah Negara Deputy Chairman Mujahid Yusuf Rawa, Nobel Laureate Pak Samad, DAP Members of Parliament Zairil Khir Johari and Ram Karpal Singh.
I am a victim of the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals which have wrought such economic and political devastation in the country.
But I am not the only one. In fact, the 30 million Malaysians, including the three million UMNO members, are also victims of the twin mega scandals of the country, for we are suffer from their damaging consequences, like the fall in the value of the Malaysian ringgit, the collapse of the Malaysian stock market, the plunge in international reserves, the exit of foreign capital and our inability to sell Malaysia to foreign investors as a haven for foreign investment.
Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament sent a powerful message when they stood up in Parliament after the Prime Minister cum Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had presented his 2016 Budget on Oct. 23, displaying the placards “Mana RM2.6 billion?”, for undoubtedly, this is the foremost concern of the country and Malaysians which had been conspicuously ignored by the Prime Minister in his budget presentation.
The RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals have corrupted the Malaysian system of governance, resulting in the sacking of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Rural and Regional Development Minister, the Attorney-General, the dissolution of the multi-agency Special Task Force on 1MDB, the derailment of Public Accounts Committee investigations into 1MDB and the unprecedented fracture and fragmentation of the government illustrated by the inter-departmental warfare with arrests or transfers of key government personnel.
Unfortunately, the majority of the 30 million Malaysians, including the majority of the three million UMNO members have not realised that they have become victims of the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB twin mega scandals.
As I have been suspended from attending Parliament for half a year, I will spend these six months visiting all the states in the country to explain to the 30 million Malaysians, including the three million UMNO members, that everyone in Malaysia, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans or Kadazans, regardless of gender, age, religion or political affiliation, are the real victims of the RM2.6 billion “donation” and 1MDB mega scandals.
It is only when the 30 million Malaysians and the three million UMNO members realise that it is not an esoteric group of Malaysians but they themselves who have become victims of the RM2.6 billion and 1MDB twin mega scandals that sufficient pressure could be brought to bear to compel a full accounting and satisfactory resolution and end to these scandals.
[Speech (2) at the Penang DAP “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Where have RM2.6 billion gone?” ceramah held at Penang Chinese Town Hall, Penang on Thursday, 5th November 2015 at 10 pm]