The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has the opportunity in his winding-up speech as UMNO President tomorrow to prove that he is not a false democrat who accepts the verdict of the electorate when he wins but rejects democracy and overturns the verdict by declaring he will accept the voters’ judgement in the 14th General Election including a peaceful and democratic transition of power in the replacement of UMNO/BN Government by Pakatan Harapan in Putrajaya.
Najib’s democratic credentials came into doubt when in his UMNO Presidential speech yesterday, he said he wanted UMNO to continue to rule the nation, not only in the next 30 years, but for another 1,000 years.
This is not the mindset of a democrat, but a Maharaja or Maharaja-wannabe.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Zahid Hamidi said at the opening of the 2017 UMNO Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings general assembly on Tuesday night that UMNO is the only political party in the world that continues to rule and has never been defeated in elections since 1955.
If the Malaysian electorate, comprising voters from all races, religions and regions, decide in the 14th General Election which will be held in the next 150 days, that Malaysia should become a normal democratic country and have a new start after 60 years of UMNO rule to avoid being trapped in the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state, will Najib demonstrate that he is the true “democrat” by declaring in advance that he will accept the verdict and personally ensure a peaceful and democratic transition of power?
It is regrettable that Najib’s speech yesterday and the UMNO General Assemblies are not examples of a political party sure and certain of victory in the impending 14th General Election in a clean and honest democratic battle, but fearful of defeat but desperate to win and is prepared to plumb the lowest depths of deceit, hatred and bigotry to arouse and escalate primordial fears and insecurities to stay in power.
I never expected when I attended the official opening of the new UMNO Headquarters at the World Putra Trade Centre (PWTC) in 1985, that I will adorn one of its walls three decades later in an UMNO exhibition to degrade and demonise leaders of the Opposition.
No ruling party, especially one which boasts of being the world’s sole example of unbroken continued rule for more than six decades, confident of itself and not obsessed about being defeated in the forthcoming polls, would stoop so low with such an “no-class” exhibition.
Malaysians cry for UMNO, which has deviated from its founding years from a political party for Malays and bumiputras into a political party for UMNO-putras, betraying the great Malaysian dream of excellence, justice, integrity, freedom and harmony of diverse races, religions and cultures by turning Malaysia into a land of mediocrity, injustice, repression, racial and religious polarization, and worst of all, a global kleptocracy!
Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, called on everyone in the country “to work and strive with hand and brain to create a new nation, inspired by the ideals of justice and liberty – a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world” but sixty years later, Malaysia itself has become a “disturbed and distracted” country.
This is why Najib and the 2017 UMNO General Assembly continued their charade of the last three years to ignore the “elephant” at the UMNO General Assemblies – the international multi-billion 1MDB scandal although Malaysia was humiliated in an international forum on the eve of the 2017 UMNO General Assembly when the United States Attorney-General Jeffs Session described 1MDB scandal as “kleptocracy at its worst”!
Will Najib break his silence on the “kleptocracy at its worst” in his summing-up speech tomorrow?
The three FAQs on 1MDB “kleptocracy at its worst” scandal are:
1. Whether Najib received RM2.6 billion donation from Saudi royalty;
2. Whether Najib returned RM2.1 billion to Saudi royalty; and
3. Whether the RM144 million pink diamond necklace for the “wife of MO1” came from stolen 1MDB funds.
The answers to all these three FAQs about the 1MDB scandal are given, in great detail, in the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) largest kleptocratic litigation to forfeit US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.
Will Najib, at minimum, announce tomorrow that he is sending the Malaysian Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali to Washington to get full answers from the US Department of Justice not only on the RM2.6 billion “donation” to Najib’s personal banking accounts, but all the other 34 references to “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” (“MO1”) in the DOJ kleptocratic litigation?
The saddest part of Najib’s speech to beat the war-drums for the 14th General Election is his deplorable example in resorting to lies, falsehoods, defamatory statements and race-baiting to score political points, for instance, repeating the baseless lies that the DAP is “terang-terang Anti-Melayu dan Islam” because DAP stands for a secular Malaysia.
The first three Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn had stood for a secular Malaysia. Is Najib suggesting that the three first three Prime Ministers, including his father Tun Razak and uncle Tun Hussein had been anti-Malay and anti-Islam?
Is the Prime Minister immune from the laws of the land, including criminal defamation and the crimes of racial and religious incitement to create unrest in the country?
This will an important test of the independence, impartiality, efficiency and professionalism of the Police and the law-enforcement agencies in the country!