I was taken aback when I read of the speedy agreement of the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to my proposal when I campaigned for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the Port Dickson by-election on Friday, proposing that several mysterious deaths which occurred during Najib’s tenure should be re-opened for investigation, and even for the establishment of special inquiries.

Among these mysterious deaths were the Mongolian model Altatunya Shaariibuu who was killed in a deserted area in Shah Alam on October 18, 2006 and her remains destroyed by C-4 explosives; Deputy Public Prosecutor Kevin Morais who was last seen alive on 4th September 2015 and his body subsequently found in a drum filled with concrete; Hussain Najadi, the AmBank founder and banker who was fatally shot on 29th July 2013 in a parking lot in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur; and Teoh Beng Hock, a DAP political aide to Selangor State Exco Member, Ean Yong Hian Wah who was found dead on 16th July 2009 falling from the 14th floor of Selangor MACC premises while in MACC custody.

The question that immediately comes to mind following Najib’s exclamation that it was high time “justice is served” to him is why Najib had allowed such travesties of justice during his premiership and did not re-open investigations into mysterious deaths like that of Altantunya Shaariibuu, Kevin Morais, Hussain Najadi and Teoh Beng Hock when he had the power to direct such re-investigations?

Could it be that “justice” did not matter when he was the Prime Minister while it matters when Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is the Prime Minister?

For Najib’s elucidation, justice matters regardless of time or who is the Prime Minister. Let me remind Najib of what a great African American Malcom X said: “I am for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter what it’s for or against.

It would appear that during the five months since he had been toppled as Prime Minister, Najib is personally heading his team of propagandists and cybertroopers to scour through all the things that have been said about him in the past nine years of his premiership, to the extent that he knows more about what I had said about him than I myself.

I was driven by his blog yesterday to check what I said about him and Najadi in 2015, since he said that I was among those who had attempted to link him to the case.

I checked and I found that this was what I said on 7th July 2015:

“I call on the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to re-open investigations into the murder of founder of AmBank, Hussein Ahmad Najadi who was shot dead in broad daylight in the centre of Kuala Lumpur in Lorong Ceylon in Bukit Bintang on July 29, 2013 to ascertain whether the murder had any links with the 1MDB scandal.

“The 75-year-old Hussain was shot dead in a car park in Kuala Lumpur on 29th July 23, 2013.”

Why was it so difficult to answer these questions which I posed in July 2015, “whether it is true that in March 2013, Hussein had reported to Bank Negara about significant amounts of money deposited into Najib’s personal accounts and subsequently about withdrawal of significant amounts of money from these bank accounts; and that Hussein lodged a police report on the above matters on 28th July 2013 when no actions were taken by Bank Negara”?

A simple “yes” or “no” would suffice. Why was there thunderous silence, instead?

May be, with so much free time on his hands, Najib can answer these questions now!

Since Najib is suddenly so enamoured with the concept of “justice”, he can probably explain why he had not sued Clare Rewcastle Brown for her book “The Sarawak Report – the Inside Story of the 1MBD Expose” or Tom Wright and Bradley Hope for their “Billion Dollar Whale – the Man who fooled Wall Street, Hollywood and the World” for defamation of character?

In page 457, Clare called Najib “a thief and a liar”, while in page 224, Tom Wright and Bradley Hope accused Najib of winning the 2013 general election “armed with dirty 1MDB cash”.

Both books are best-sellers but why is Najib so quiet and inactive to seek “justice” for his reputation and character?

Najib has been summoned to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in its re-opening of investigations into the 1MDB scandal, as the report of the PAC of the 13th Parliament on the 1MDB scandal was an impaired and tainted one, designed to aid and abet Najib to suppress the truth of the 1MDB scandal instead of unearthing the truth about the 1MDB scandal, – and which had been described as the world’s “kleptocracy at its worst” by the United States Attorney-General, Jeff Sessions.

Will Najib “tell all” at the PAC re-opening of investigations into the 1MDB scandal, or will he clamp up, pleading that with the 49 1MDB-related charges concerning corruption, money-laundering and abuse of power against him and his wife, Datin Rosmah Mansoh, he can no longer speak freely about the 1MDB scandal?

Let’s hear from Najib on this.

Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has said he wants the other mastermind of the 1MDB scandal, Jho Low, to turn up in Malaysia to testify in Najib’s trial.

Does Najib want Jho Low to return to Malaysia as he had been accused of secret meetings with Jho Low in China, Thailand and Turkey as Jho Loh has become and international fugitive with many legal jurisdictions looking for him in their 1MDB-related investigations.

Would Najib want Jho Low to return to Malaysia to testify about the 1MDB scandal or whether he wants Jho Low to continue as an international fugitive from the law – far away from the clutches of the Malaysian legal system as well as many legal jurisdictions?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 7th October 2018)