Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s PAS leadership appears to be former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s last line of defence in the unravelling of Najib’s kleptocratic premiership when even UMNO leaders are beginning to distance themselves from the former Prime Minister.
Acting Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that all quarters should respect the ongoing Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probe against Najib, as long as it is conducted appropriately “within the appropriate hours”.
If this rule had been strictly observed, Teoh Beng Hock would not have died at the Selangor MACC premises in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009, and still awaiting for justice for nearly nine years – the reason why the Teoh Beng Hock case, like many other cases of injustices resulting in death, should be re-opened for justice to be finally done.
But apart from Zahid, there is thunderous silence from the other UMNO leaders like UMNO Vice President Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin on the 1MDB scandal and Najib’s “global kleptocracy”.
In sharp contrast, Hadi’s PAS leadership has rushed to Najib’s defence with its lawyer criticizing newly-appointed MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull’s decision to reveal details related to the 1MDB investigation in 2015 on the ground that it was very prejudiced against the former premier and would create the perception that there was political interference in the case before this.
This is a most shocking position to come from Hadi’s PAS leadership, as if there had been no political interference in the case in the past four years, causing Malaysia to suffer the international infamy and ignominy of a “global kleptocracy” and making Malaysians to be ashamed to acknowledge that they are Malaysians when abroad.
The reasons why Hadi’s PAS leadership is so enamoured by Najib’s kleptocratic premiership have yet to be revealed, but Malaysians will not forget that Hadi was hoping that his PAS leadership would be the “kingmaker” to prop up Najib’s kleptocratic regime, if the 14th General Election had resulted in a hung Parliament with PAS winning some 40 parliamentary seats!
Shukri’s tell-all press conference was quite unorthodox, but in the extraordinary circumstances of the scale of the criminality and moral turpitude of the 1MDB scandal, suborning national institutions and destroying public confidence in them, and staining and disgracing the international reputation of the nation, I fully support Shukri’s unorthodox action.
What has Najib got to hide – and Hadi, what has the PAS President got to hide?
(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 23rd May 2018)
#1 by Jeffrey on Wednesday, 23 May 2018 - 1:09 pm
“I fully support Shukri’s unorthodox action” per YB Kit. Shukri’s unorthodox action is best explained: a paradigm shift since May 9th to us living in most unorthodox times! What is orthodox? Was the electoral loss of BN expected? A person is usually tried by Court of law on guilt – but here BN lost to PH precisely because its former leader has already unusually been tried and found guilty by the Court of public opinion/social media with sentence in the form of electoral defeat meted out. The narrative of this whole 14th Malaysian election outcome has been explained as nothing less than sheer unorthodoxy – a 4th PM putting the would be or to be 8th PM in jail 20 years ago but only to be returned as the 7th PM with 8th PM’s help to defeat the 6th PM so that the 8th PM might be pardoned and released from and to be replaced in his place by the 6th PM, all in the name of accountability in part for unjustly having put the 8th PM in jail but without the 7th PM, since redeemed, being equally accountable for doing same thing to 8th PM, 20 years earlier. What so orthodox about this? Neither Hollywood nor Bollywood’s best writers could have thought of this script! As the current 7th PM used to say, “Malaysia Boleh!”
#2 by Jeffrey on Wednesday, 23 May 2018 - 2:46 pm
Salaries of all ministers cut by 10%, in a move to cut government spending, “this has been a practice of mine. I also did the same thing when I became prime minister in 1981,” said Tun Dr Mahathir. Actually he should do the unorthodox -like Singapore- – increase ministerial salaries by 10% to signal that henceforward ministers don’t have to resort to corrupt income. Sure austerity drive that’s why not increasing by 100%.. Japan Spore have higher national debt to GDP ratio than our 65%. How govt spends without leakage and waste but with income generation is more important and that’s why you increase your ministers salaries so that they don’t commit the country to expensive wasteful and useless projects for round tripping.