2017 New Year Message

In his 2016 New Year message exactly a year ago, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told Malaysians that his RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals had been resolved and were no more issues.

Najib could not be more wrong as Malaysia’s international repute and standing suffered an even worse battering this year with the ferocious pounding of the twin mega scandals in the international marketplace of opinion, to the extent that Malaysians felt embarrassed in admitting that they are Malaysians when abroad.

In the past 12 months, Malaysia went from the third “worst corruption scandal of 2015” by international website foreignpolicy.com in the last week of last year, to second worst example of global corruption by Time magazine in March, second place in the index of crony capitalism by the Economist’s ranking in May, and full-blown “global kleptocracy” when in July, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the largest kleptocratic lawsuits to forfeit US$1 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from US$3.5 billion international 1MDB kleptocratic embezzlement and money-laundering scandal.

These were not the only woes for the country for this year – as the country is going through the worst multiple crisis of confidence as evidenced by the worst plummeting in the value of the Malaysian ringgit, the worst racial and religious polarisation in the nation’s history and the unspeakable shame in being excluded from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)2015 because of data cheating and bungling by the Ministry of Education.

We are ending the 2016 year with news of the downsizing of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) special operations division, which had handled high-profiled cases related to the 1MDB and Felda.

The message is very clear – MACC should arrest and prosecute more “ikan bilis” but it should leave the “ikan yus” alone.

China can catch and imprison “tigers” while Indonesia net the “crocodiles” in their anti-corruption campaigns, but Malaysia cannot go on a spree against “sharks”!In 2017, Malaysia will continue to be haunted and hounded by our international ignominy and infamy of a global kleptocracy and the multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal.

What went wrong and how can we put the country right again, so that Malaysians can hold their heads high, whether at home or abroad?

Malaysia would have been spared the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal and the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy if the Government and government leaders had not abandoned and strayed away from the five Rukunegara principles and objectives.

The first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein would not have stood idly by if Malaysia had been regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy during their time.

The fourth Prime Minister of 22 years, Tun Dr. Mahathir, is taking an uncompromising stand against the 1MDB scandal, Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy as a “global kleptocracy” and “Cash is King” mentality.

Malaysians must return to the basics of nation building – the Malaysian Constitution, Malaysia Agreement 1963, Rukunegara and even Vision 2020 if Malaysia is to have any salvation.

Let all Malaysians recommit ourselves to five national objectives, to achieve a greater Malaysian unity; maintain a democratic way of life; create a just society in which the wealth of the nation shall be equitably shared; ensure a liberal approach to our rich and diverse cultural traditions; and build a progressive society which shall be oriented to modern science and technology.

If Malaysians remain true and faithful to these five objectives and the five Rukunegara principles of Belief in God; Loyalty to King and Country; Upholding the Constitution; Rule of Law and Good Behaviour and Morality, then Malaysia can be saved from the kleptocracy, injustices and inequalities of today for there will be no be no more future 1MDB kleptocratic scandals in Malaysia!

A sober and sombre New Year of 2017 for all Malaysians indeed!