Recently, I came across a statement by the 250-NGO Filipino multi-sectoral, non-sectarian and pluralist economic development coalition, the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) describing Ferdinand Marcos (1965 – 1986) as the worst kleptocratic President in Philippines history.
It said that Marcos institutionalised corruption on such a scale that Filipinos continue to feel its effects today.
In his 20 years in power, Philippines’ foreign debt metastasised from about $1 billion to over $25 billion.
FDC estimated that as much as a third of all that debt, about $8 billion, went into his pockets or those of his cronies and the country will continue paying for all that debt until 2025.
This is reminiscent of the unwinding of the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia after the 14GE, the revelation that the country’s national debt have exceeded the trillion ringgit mark, and the surge of national patriotic fervour to rally and donate to the Tabung Harapan Malaysia, collecting over RM75 million since its formation on 30th May.
I fully agree with the Amanah MP for Sepang, Hanipa Maidin, who stressed that the maxim the a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by court is only applicable in certain contexts, specifically during the judicial process.
This is because the People’s Court in the 14th General Election had pronounced Najib guilty of the 1MDB kleptocratic scandal, a major issue in the general election campaign, evicting as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
The charade that Malaysia has not become a global kleptocracy especially for the past three years should now end.
In fact, I wonder what would have been the response of the Indonesian President Jokowi or the Singapore Prime Ministder Lee Hsien Loong if they had been tarred like “MO1” with a 250-page US Department of Justice kleptocratic litigation listing a host of kleptocratic money-laundering transactions worldwide.
(Media Statement in Penang on Sunday, 17th June 2018)