The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has said many things in his speeches, statements and messages during the 60th Merdeka Anniversary celebrations, but one word and subject which Najib has conspicuously omitted is corruption, especially grand corruption or the abuse of high-level power that benefits the few at the expense of the many and causes serious and widespread harm to individuals and society.
This was a most conspicuous omission as corruption has become one of the four apocalypses of Malaysia, giving the country the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy in the last two years under his premiership and Najib.
Najib was the only head of government who backed out in the last-minute from delivering a key-note opening address at the 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) Conference in Putrajaya in September 2015 on the theme: “Ending Impunity: People. Integrity. Action.” because Najib was fully aware that Malaysia had become a kleptocracy.
In ten days’ time, Najib would have the dubious honour of being the first government leader in the world who have been branded as a “kleptocrat” by the US Government through the US Department of Justice (DOJ) under the US Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative to pay homage to the US President Donald Trump.
Should Malaysians regard this Najib-Trump meeting in the White House on Sept. 12 as an honour to Malaysia or a national shame and disgrace to Malaysia, as for the last two years, Najib had done nothing to clear or cleanse himself of the US DOJ charge that he is a “kleptocrat” as “MO1” as well as to get the US government to concede that Malaysia has not become a kleptocracy under Najib?
Two days before the 60th Merdeka anniversary on Monday, I issued an Open Letter to all Cabinet Ministers asking them to take a patriotic stand at the Cabinet meeting to veto Najib from visiting the White House to meet President Trump on Sept. 12 to spare 30 million Malaysians international shame and humiliation as the US Government had virtually branded the Malaysian Prime Minister as a kleptocrat, referred to as “MO1” in the US DOJ kleptocratic litigation to forfeit US$1.7 billion 1MDB-assets in the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
Najib cannot deny that he is “MO1” as his Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Economic Planning Unit, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, had told the world in a BBC interview last September that only an idiot would not know that the US DOJ reference of “MO1” was referring to none other than Najib. The corruption problem in Malaysia has come to a stage where even Perak Sultan Nazrin has declared it as one of the four “apocalypse” of the country sixty years after Merdeka.
Speaking at the launching of the book “Fulfilling A Legacy – Tun Razak Foundation” by Shahreen Kamaluddin in Kuala Lumpur on the eve of the 60th Merdeka anniversary, Sultan Nazrin said that if Tun were alive today, he would be disappointed by the scale and magnitude of the corruption problem in Malaysia today.
In Pete Teo’s extraordinary and unprecedented Merdeka video “Citizens” where the MCA President and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai took on a double acting role, corruption was specifically mentioned as one of the national “apocalypses” which had caused Malaysians to lose hope in Malaysia and in the Malaysian Dream.
I do not believe that the founding fathers of the nation, like Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman and his deputy, Tun Razak, had ever expected Malaysia to fall so low as to be regarded worldwide as a global kleptocarcy.
Najib seems to have sub-contracted the task of fighting corruption to the new Chief Commissioner of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Datuk Dzulkifi Ahmad, provided the MACC respects the “no trespass” boundaries in its anti-corruption campaign – the Prime Minister and the top government leaders and the subject of the 1MDB scandal which has resulted in Malaysia getting the international infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy.
Dzulkifli issued an unprecedented Merdeka Day message and urged Malaysians to reject graft and to appreciate the true meaning of independence and to free themselves from the culture of corruption that could destroy the nation.
Would Dzulkifli set the example of his own words by demonstrating that MACC has “the strength and a strong identity” to rid Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy, starting with independent, professional and fearless action on the 1MDB scandal and “MO1”?
UMNO and BN leaders have been competing with each other to say the most inane and outrageous things to justify their pretence and sham that the 1MDB scandal is not a real problem.
A most egregious example was provided by the UMNO Information Chief and former Cabinet Minister, Tan Sri Annuar Musa who infamously said that Bank Negara’s forex loses a quarter of a century ago were real while 1MDB losses are only on paper.
DAP MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua yesterday asked if taxpayers were the ones footing the bill for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) payments of some US$350 million to International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).
Would Annuar like to answer that 1MDB’s payment of some US$350 million to IPIC were just “only on paper” and were another of a series of fake transactions by 1MDB?
Another example of inane and outrageous statements by UMNO/BN leaders to hide the “apocalypse” of corruption in Malaysia is the one by the Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak who came out with the bright idea that I am “actually scared that Najib’s vist to the US is going to prove that the DOJ is not after Najib after all”.
Are Salleh and the Cabinet Ministers afraid the Najib might be arrested by FBI in the United Staters? Nobody in his right senses suggests or believes that Najib would be nabbed by the US DOJ for “money-laundering” for the 1MDB scandal, when the US DOJ has not even arrested 1MDB mastermind, Jho Low and other protagonists of the 1MDB scandal.
Why is Najib or Salleh trying to prove something that nobody expects to happen in Najib’s forthcoming visit to the United States.
The issue is not about Najib’s visit to the US but his visit to the White House to meet with President Trump, whose government has branded him as a “kleptocrat” as “MO1” in the largest klepocratic civil litigation by the DOJ.
The Cabinet failed Malaysians big-time in their failure on the eve of the 60th Merdeka Anniversary to veto Najib’s visit to the White House and meeting President Trump to send out a clear and unmistakable message to Malaysians and the world that the Malaysian government and people will not tolerate any culture, politics or government of corruption.
It is now left to ordinary 30 million Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or politics to be more patriotic than the Cabinet Ministers to save Malaysia from kleptocracy and extremism and to revive the Merdeka Dream for Malaysia to be a world-class nation in every field of human endeavor.
This should be the common resolve of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or politics, on the occasion of the 60th Merdeka anniversary of the nation!