DAP National Publicity Secretary, MP for PJ Utara and member of Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Tony Pua was hauled up by the police for investigation for naming the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, as the “Malaysian Official 1” figure in the US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuits for forfeiture of US$1 billion assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland as a result of an international conspiracy of theft, embezzlement, misappropriation and money-laundering of US$3.5 billion 1MDB funds.
Three days ago, the Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of EPU, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, told the world in his interview with BBC that “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” is none other than Prime Minister Najib, after saying earlier that “only an idiot doesn’t know who that person was” as there was no secret who is Malaysian Official 1 (MO1) mentioned in the DOJ civil lawsuits as everyone who has read the court documents or familiar with the issues would know who is the person being referred to.
Two questions are in order:
Firstly, had the police hauled up or is proposing to haul up Abdul Rahman for police questioning like Tony Pua, and if not, why not? It is the teeming examples of such double standards in upholding law and administering justice in Malaysia which are the surest signs that Malaysia is heading towards a failed state.
Secondly, are the Inspector-General of Police and the Royal Malaysian Police “idiots” that they do not know who is the person “MO1” referred to in the DOJ lawsuits, when according to Abdul Rahman, “everyone who has read the court documents or familiar with the issues would know who is the person referred to”?
Can IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar give answers to these two questions?
The Prime Minister, the Cabinet and highest levels of the government leadership who head the various important national enforcement and investigative institutions and agencies, like the Police, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Bank Negara and the Auditor-General’s Office had failed Malaysia in the past six weeks when they did not lift even a finger to defend and protect Malaysia’s national sovereignty and international good name and reputation when Malaysia was accused of the dastardly and nefarious deed of becoming an overnight global kleptocracy by being involved in the world’s biggest case of kleptocracy and money-laundering – the 1MDB global financial scandal!
Even Parliament had failed to defend and protect Malaysia’s national sovereignty and international good name and reputation, when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) cowardly and irresponsibly decided not to re-open investigations into 1MDB and to ask the US authorities for information relating to the 136-page DOJ complaint on the multi-billion dollar 1MDB global embezzlement, misappropriation, money-laundering and corruption which had far-reaching impact on the PAC Report on 1MDB.
Parliament should have been summoned to meet in the past six weeks after the nation’s sovereignty, international reputation and good name had never been so sullied and besmirched in the nations’ 59-year-history but the Prime Minister and the Cabinet never considered convening an emergency session of Parliament because the thought of defending and protecting Malaysia’s national sovereignty and international good name and reputation had never entered their mind.
They were completely embroiled in the cat-and-mouse game of pretending that they do not know who is “MO1”!
This must now be immediately remedied, and I call for a special session of Parliament this month to discuss how Malaysia can regain our international reputation and good name by the purging and cleansing of the international indictment of Malaysia as an overnight global democracy as a result of the US DOJ lawsuits on forfeiture of US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets.
Whether Najib is guilty of being involved in an international conspiracy involving tens of billions of ringgit of theft, embezzlement , misappropriation and money-laundering of 1MDB funds can only be answered by Najib and credible investigators but this must be treated as a different and separate issue from Malaysia being classified as a global kleptocracy.
The President of Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M), Akbar Satar, has defined kleptocracy as “rule by thieves”.
Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or party affiliation do not want Malaysia to be known worldwide as a global kleptocracy!
This is the subject that Parliament should debate in a special session this month – to save the honour and reputation of Malaysia as Malaysians cannot be seen to be indifferent or nonchalant to the international indictment of Malaysia as a overnight global kleptocracy.
Najib must be prepared to subordinate his personal interests to national interests; and perform his national duty as Prime Minister to speak at the United Nations General Assembly at the end of this month to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the international indictment of an overnight global kleptocracy. The special session of Parliament should also consider sending an all-party parliamentary delegation to the UN General Assembly session to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the international indictment of an overnight global kleptocracy.
(Speech at the DAP election course for Tanjong Piai, Johor on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016 at 3 pm)