The UMNO Assemblies this week beginning tomorrow present an unbelievably fertile ground for the writing of Greek tragedies and even comedies!

Yesterday, the incumbent contender for the post of UMNO President, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi forecast that Pakatan Harapan will implode before the 15th General Election by 2023 and that UMNO will return to Putrajaya soon without the hassle of having to go through a general election.

This is a revised timeline as earlier UMNO leaders were comforting themselves about the disintegration of the Pakatan Harapan government in one or two years’ time.

This is the best illustration of what “whistling in the dark” means.

Will UMNO implode before Zahid’s hope-for implosion of Pakatan Harapan?

Before the 14GE, not one of the UMNO warlords had expected the UMNO/BN coalition to be chucked out of office by the electorate.

In fact, the then UMNO President and Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak was supremely confident that UMNO/BN would not only win big in the 14GE, but would be able to recapture the two-thirds parliamentary majority of at least 149 seats UMNO/BN lost in the two previous general elections in 2008 and 2013.

This was one reason why Najib did not plan any get-away on Polling Day, for he simply cannot envisage any scenario post-14GE where he could be out of power in Putrajaya to control and direct events, including the continued charade pretending that the 1MDB international money-laundering scandal did not exist and to ignore Malaysia’s international infamy, ignominy and iniquity as a global kleptocracy.

When Najib realized that he had lost power for good, it was too late for him to implement any get-away plan!

Another top UMNO contender, Tan Sri Annuar Musa made what must rank as the stupidest statement of the year in a year of very stupid political statements, when he said that the 1MDB probe had nothing to do with Umno and there was no reason for the party to be alarmed.

Would Annuar similarly declare that his MARA corruption case, which is still being investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, has nothing to do with UMNO and there was no reason for UMNO to be alarmed?

Who is Annuar trying to deceive?

Isn’t he aware that former Minister and Barisan Nasional Backbenchers’ Club (BNBBC) Chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Samad was the first to confirm that he was one of the recipients from Najib’s infamous RM2.6 billion personal accounts from 1MDB for the 13th General Election campaign, followed by the disclosure of RM2 million given out to another UMNO stalwart, then Deputy Minister Ahmad Mazlan?

Would Annuar agree that all former UMNO Ministers and Deputy Ministers, as well as other UMNO individuals and UMNO Divisions and branches who received monies from Najib from 1MDB should publicly own up and donate equal amount of the “dirty money” that they had received to Tabung Harapan Malaysia as a sign of their contrition and redemption for aiding and abetting the 1MDB kleptocratic scandal, which plunged Malaysia into the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy?

According to Annuar, Umno had no knowledge of what transpired in 1MDB and was never briefed on any of the dealings handled by the state-owned company.

Either Annuar has very short memory, selective memory or he is not a person who can be trusted with truth and facts.

Didn’t the IMDB CEO, Arul Kanda Kandasamy, probably the highest-paid head of a government company in Malaysian history, go on an UMNO/BN-sponsored “Tanya Tanya” roadshow covering some 30 locations during the 14th General Elections to mislead Malaysians about the 1MDB scandal?

This was why I said during the 14GE that nobody was interested in Arul’s fairy tales about the 1MDB scandal, as the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should step forward to account fully for the 1MDB “kleptocracy at its worst” which had landed Malaysia with the ignominy, infamy and iniquity as a global kleptocracy!

Now, after the UMNO/BN electoral disaster, even Najib is claiming ignorance about the criminality, corruption and the moral turpitude in the 1MDB scandal. Why didn’t Arul tell Najib the “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” about the 1MDB scandal and instead went on a national roadshow to mislead the Malaysian electorate? And now, we have Annuar saying that the 1MDB scandal had nothing to do with UMNO!

It is sad to see the former Prime Minister trying his utmost to extricate himself from the Reuters interview and equivocate as to whether he had blamed the 1MDB board and management for the financial scandal or not.

However, what is clear is everybody close-up to the 1MDB scandal is busy disclaiming responsibility for the “kleptocracy at its worst” after the change of government in the 14GE!

Another contender for the post of UMNO saviour, Khairy Jamaluddin, issued a mea culpa early this month in an interview with the South China Morning Post that the 1MDB scandal was the cause of UMNO/BN’s “catastrophic” downfall in the 14th General Election.

Two days ago, he returned to this theme and stressed that UMNO lost in the 14th general elections as the party was plagued with scandals among the top leadership.

Could Khairy now understand why I had felt so ashamed as a MP in the 13th Parliament although I had been a Member of Parliament for 10 terms from 1969 to 2018, except for the tenth Parliament from 1999 to 2004, spanning 45 years from 1969 – why I was suspended twice, and for six months each, basically because I demanded answers and accountability over the 1MDB scandal?

Would Khairy ask the UMNO Assemblies beginning tromorrow to endorse my call on Najib and the 13th Parliament Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to apologise to all Malaysians for the 13th Parliament’s failure to do anything to clear or purge Malaysia of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy arising from the 1MDB scandal?

I am shocked that the perpetual aspirant to be the Malaysian Prime Minister, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has so far not said a single word about the 1MDB scandal – which is typical of his politics of buying insurance most of the time.

Willl Razaleigh take an unequivocal stand to ask UMNO repudiate the 1MDB scandal and exorcise both UMNO and Malaysia of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of beomg regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy in the past few years?

(Media Statement in Gelang Patah on Tuesday, 26th June 2018)