Last Saturday, when asked how the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s updated kleptocratic suits to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, UK and Switzerland, would affect Barisan Nasional in the next general election, the Defence Minister, Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein replied that “the people would decide”.

I cannot agree more with Hishammuddin, now that all avenues under the institutional system of checks-and-balance in a parliamentary democracy to prevent abuses of power and uphold the principles of good governance and public integrity, are closed with the total breakdown of such checks-and-balances.

The Cabinet meeting yesterday was the last straw. Imagine at this stage and time when Malaysians are being shamed and humiliated as Malaysia is regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy, the Cabinet can still embark on a frolic into the past and set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the Bank Negara forex losses scandal a quarter of a century ago but has neither the time nor interest to set up a RCI into the biggest financial scandal in the nation’s history – the 1MDB scandal!

Parliament is another lost cause unless the 14th General Election can usher in a new government with a new Parliament, where what happened at the end of 2015 would not recur – my six-month suspension from Parliament, not because I had stolen, robbed, murdered or guilty of corruption, but because I had wanted the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to answer two simple questions about the 1MDB global financial scandal – Where the RM2.6 billion and more in his personal banking accounts came from and where the money had gone to.

I agree with Hishammuddin that the only remedy left to restore Malaysia’s moral standing with regard to the 1MDB global scandal are in the hands of the Malaysian voters in the 14th General Election.

However, if the 1MDB scandal and the DOJ suits are to be major issues in the next general elections, the major facts of the scandal must be laid before the voters – and not as of now, where there is a virtual censorship and blackout of the 1MDB scandal, with facts of the case limited and available only online or in the international press.

I challenge Najib to nominate the UMNO/BN spokesman or spokesmen who will be responsible for all issues about the 1MDB scandal and DOJ suits on forfeiture of 1MDB-linked assets so that Malaysian voters have the facts to decide on the issues in the 14GE.

The Government should table a White Paper in the next meeting of Parliament scheduled for three weeks from July 24 to August 10 giving the government and 1MDB rebuttals to the updated 251-page DOJ kleptocratic suits to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets.

If the UMNO/BN Government is not prepared to issue a White Paper to provide voters with the facts on the 1MDB scandal and the DOJ suits, then Pakatan Harapan should consider issuing a summary of both sides of the argument in connection with the 1MDB scandal and DOJ suits so that voters have the facts to decide on the issues in the next general election.

(Media Conference Statement after presenting Hari Raya gifts to needy families in Gelang Patah on Thursday, June 22, 2017 at 12 noon)