I thank the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for its quick response to my speech at the “Mana RM2.6 billion?” kopitiam ceramah in Kulai on Sunday, explaining that only those who are convicted of corruption are placed on the MACC’s “name and shame list” on its website and not those being investigated.

This is exactly the point I was making, that the MACC’s “name and shame” data base does not make any significant contribution to the battle against corruption, especially against grand corruption, when the person responsible for Malaysia to be ranked third in the world’s “worst corruption scandal in 2015” is not even mentioned.

Can MACC point out any “shark” in its “name and shame” database of over 700 names or explain how it could claim to have any successful anti-corruption campaign when it had not been able to nab, prosecute and convict any “shark” apart from “ikan bilis” with the MACC entering its eighth year of operation after taking over from its predecessor, the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) with more powers, funds and personnel than ACA?

Three months have passed since the Malay Rulers made their unprecedented Oct. 4 statement expressing concern about three national issues causing the grave crisis of confidence battering Malaysia for several months – the 1MDB scandal, the rule of law and national unity in the country.

Not a single one of these trinity of the Malay Rulers’ concerns had been attended to, as the country is entering the new year with a more intractable crisis of confidence arising from these triple issues:

• Najib’s 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals causing Malaysia to be ranked third among the world’s “worst corruption scandals in 2015” without any light at the end of the tunnel that resolution of both twin mega scandals are in sight, at any time soon;

• Rule of Law facing unprecedented challenge with the “thief in the night” passage of the pernicious National Security Council Bill by the Dewan Rakyat on Dec. 3, which paves the way for a Prime Ministerial dictatorship usurping the constitutional powers of the Yang di Petuan Agong, the Cabinet, the Sawarak, Sabah and the 11 State Governments in Peninsular Malaysia;

• Worsening racial and religious polarization in the three months since the Malay Rulers’ Statement on Oct. 4.

Although Najib claimed in his 2016 New Year Message that his RM2.6 billion donation and RM55 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals have been resolved and are no more issues in the country, the Prime Minister cannot be more wrong.

This is because in my continued tour of parliamentary constituencies after my six-month suspension from Parliament – Kluang was the 56th and Pulai the 57th Parliamentary constituencies over the weekend – I have found that Najib’s twin mega scandals remain the foremost bugbears of the people.

Najib has failed in his attempt to bury “once and for all” his twin mega scandals in his New Year message, for there are even more questions about them than last year.

Let me mention three:

1. What were the total debts of 1MDB before the “rationalization programme” starting with the sale of Edra to China General Nuclear Power Corp Ltd. (CGN) at the end of November and ending with the sale of 60 per cent equity in Bandar Malaysia to a joint local and international consortium – composed of Iskandar Waterfront Holdings at 60 per cent and China Railway Engineering Corporation at 40 per cent on Dec. 31. It could not be RM42 billion, which were 1MDB’s total debts as at the end of March 2014 – 1MDB”s last audited accounts. Had the total debts of 1MDB before the rationalization exercise reached RM55 billion?

2. Why with 1MDB’s massive debt hole of some RM55 billion, no one had been sacked or charged for gross mismanagement or corruption.

3. Why the RM2.13 billion discrepancy from China Railway Group Limited’s filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that the Sino-Malaysian venture paid RM5.28 billion for the 60% stake in Bandar Malaysia as compared to 1MDB’s announcement that that deal was priced at RM7.41 billion.

MACC’s “name and shame” website should probably be closed down as it only shames Malaysia when the person responsible for Malaysia to be ranked third in world’s “worst corruption scandal in 2015” is not mentioned.

Furthermore, it is also a sad reminder that the MACC seems to be a complete outsider in the nation’s worst financial scandal in history, with more questions than answers with the passage of time – with MACC either in the dark or just impotent to check corrupt practices.