I congratulate the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, for getting Datuk Seri Hadi Awang to be his chief defender on the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal as the PAS President himself is worth more than the phalanx of overly-paid local and foreign media consultants and propagandists.

On the eve of Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Hadi issued an extraordinary Open Letter to all Political Parties asking all political leaders to ease up on their attacks on Najib on the 1MDB scandal, introducing the ridiculous notion that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) kleptocratic lawsuits to forfeit US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets which had been acquired through stolen 1MDB funds money-laundered through American banks as “foreign interference” in Malaysian domestic affairs.

Yesterday, Hadi came out with another novel defence of Najib and the 1MDB scandal, claiming that the 1MDB scandal is a consequence of Barisan Nasional’s motto of “leadership by example” over the years, as good as arguing that just because there had been scandals in the past, Malaysians should not object to another scandal – even though the 1MDB scandal is the greatest financial scandal in the nation’s history and given Malaysia the infamous and ignominous appellation of a “global kleptocracy”!

On this basis, Hadi will be able to defend and justify all the abuses and corruption of power by the Najib government.

Is this the basis on which Hadi wants PAS to defend and even save Najib and UMNO?

Even Hadi’s argument on “foreign intervention” is most odd and bizarre.

If the United States government or any of its agencies had donated and deposited RM2.6 billion into the private banking accounts of any Pakatan Harapan leader, Hadi would undoubtedly railed against it as proof of unacceptable foreign intervention undermining national sovereignty.

But why is Hadi so mute when Najib claimed that the RM2.6 billion in his personal banking accounts in Ambank were donation from Saudi royalty for the 13th General Election?

Why should it be wrong and grave foreign intervention to undermine Malaysia’s national sovereignty if the donation had been from US sources but acceptable and enhancement of national sovereignty when they were from Saudi sources?

But what is worse is that the RM2.4 billion (or US$681 million) deposit were not either “681 American pies” nor “681 Saudi pies” but “681 stolen 1MDB pies”, as fully disclosed in the money trail of the stolen 1MDB funds disclosed in the US DOJ actions to forfeit US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets arising from US$4.5 billion 1MDB money-laundering through American banks and financial institutions.

Why has Hadi got double standards in his interpretation of “foreign interference” – that it is wrong if from Western countries but acceptable if from Saudi Arabia?

Hadi’s recent repeated defence of Najb and 1MDB scandal is quite a surprise, considering his prolonged silence at the denunciation of Yusuf al-Qaradawi the President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (Hadi is the Vice President) as a terrorist by Saudi Arabia a month ago and the arrest of Qaradawi’s daughter, Ola al-Qaradawi and son-in-law, Hossam el-Din Khalaf by the Egyptian government.

Why is Hadi so silent on Saudi Arabia and Egypt’s action against al-Qaradawi and his family, while so solicitous in coming to the repeated defence of Najib, 1MDB and Malaysia’s shame and infamy as a global kleptocracy?

Hadi even had no time to defend his Deputy President, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man who was attacked by an UMNO operative using Hadi’s arguments on the 1MDB scandal!

DAP does not support any foreign intervention into Malaysia’s domestic affairs whether from the United States or Saudi Arabia but we cannot and will not justify Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy – let alone defend and prop up Najib over the 1MDB scandal.

DAP is fortified in this stand because there can be no religion which supports corruption or a kleptocracy and Hadi is misleading PAS members and the Malaysian public into believing that Islam supports Malaysia becoming a “global kleptocracy”!