Double felicitations are in order today.

Firstly, to UMNO for its 71st anniversary and its “superlative achievement” in its 71-year history – turning Malaysia into a “global kleptocracy” which no UMNO member or leader, past or present, including the previous six UMNO Presidents, Datuk Onn Jaafar, Tengku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir or Tun Abdullah would have imagined possible in their wildest dreams or would have given their endorsement or approval.

In fact, I believe that the overwhelming majority of the current 3.5 million UMNO members would not have approved or tolerated Malaysia being known world-wide as a “global kleptocracy” if they fully understand the meaning of the term.

Secondly, to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for an unprecedented congratulatory message by the country’s anti-corruption agency to a political party, asking UMNO leaders to serve as role models to the public in the fight against corruption.

But the MACC message is noteworthy, not for what it said but what it did not mention – the elephant in the room, viz. the 1MDB scandal which has given Malaysia the epithet of a “global kleptocracy”! Read the rest of this entry »