Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak does not want Malaysians to remember the lessons of history, as he hopes to return as a global kleptocrat and to repeat the same heinous mistakes for Malaysia to again become a global kleptocracy.
As far as Najib is concerned, he does not want Malaysians to heed the famous saying of thinker George Santayana that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
Najib does not want Malaysians to know or remember the 1MDB global kleptocracy, Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015 or the “Week of the Long Knives” at the end of July 2015 when Najib orchestrated a multi-faceted operation to undermine parliamentary democracy by attacking important principles of democracy in Malaysia like the rule of law, the doctrine of separation of powers, good governance and public integrity as well as a systematic attack on the independence, impartiality and professionalism of key national institutions like Parliament, the Cabinet, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Police, Bank Negara, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Auditor-General, etc.
The Week of Long Knives launched the darkest period in the 61-year democratic history of Malaysia and yet to this day, this episode is couched in great mystery with most Malaysians quite ignorant about it.
This is why I had suggested that a police report should be lodged so that the police could investigate and unravel the heinous crimes committed by Najib and his ilk on Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015 and the Week of Long Knives, as Malaysians must not ignore Santayana’s warning that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”!
Does Najib agree to a full police investigation of Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015, the “Week of Long Knives” and the darkness they ushered for Malaysian democracy until the Malaysian voters bravely, courageously and unexpectedly shook off the shroud of darkness in the 14th General Election of May 9, 2018?
Malaysians are entitled to know the circumstances:
(i) Of the sudden and unconstitutional dismissal of the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail some two months before his retirement in early October 2015 on the ground of health reasons, which had been subsequently denied by Gani himself:
(ii) The improper and unconstitutional appointment of Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali as Attorney-General, who suddenly resigned overnight from the Federal Court, and the terms of understanding in such an unconstitutional appointment. Did Apandi start off his tenure as Attorney-General by making a public statement which was far from the truth when he said that the purported corruption charge sheet against Prime Minister Najib was a fake, coupled with the “warning to everybody” that he was “watching”?
(iii) The sacking of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal as Minister for Regional and Rural Development;
(iv) The appointment of Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as Deputy Prime Minister although he was in Mecca to perform his umrah pilgrimage during the last ten days of Ramadan;
(v) The removal of the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman and three UMNO/BN members of the PAC by their sudden elevation as Minister or Deputy Ministers;
(vi) Suspension of the multi-agency Special Task Force comprising Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Royal Malaysian Police and Attorney-General’s Chambers to get to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) allegations on the RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal accounts.
(vii) Whether the Week of Long Knives was to enable Najib to avoid prosecution for corruption and abuse of power.
(viii) The reign of terror casting a pall in the country that there would be a “hurricane” equivalent to 1987 Ops Lalang crackdown, with 13 conspirators in an alleged international plot to “criminalise” Najib and topple him as elected Prime Minister of Malaysia. The so-called “Ring of 13 Conspirators” was identified, and included top personnel from three of the four agencies constituting the Special Task Force on the 1MDB, as well as two from the press and a Member of Parliament. They were expected arrested in an impending crackdown and to be charged under Section 124 of the Penal Code for offences related to “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” which could send persons convicted to up to 20 years in jail.
(ix) Declaration by Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) President Akhbar Satar on 30th July 2015 that the 1MDB probes were “dead” – whether by the multi-agency Special Task Force, the Public Accounts Committee or even by the Auditor-General.
(x) The trio of arrests, namely a MACC deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Sazilee Abdul Khairi who had been handling the 1MDB probe, MACC’s former advisory board member Tan Sri Rashpal Singh and the Attorney-General’s Chambers finance and anti-money laundering secretariat member Jessica Gurmeet Kaur.
(xi) Formation of a new 1MDB Cabinet and a cowed and subjugated Parliament with a subservient Speaker on the 1MDB scandal.
(xii) Appointment of a trio of Cabinet “spin doctors” to defend Najib and 1MDB scandal together with the emergence of the post of Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director setting off unprecedented convulsion in the most fractured Government in the nation’s history, with one enforcement agency investigating and pouncing on another.
(xiii) National roadshow by Najib and his UMNO lieutenants with UMNO members bussed in tens of thousands, together with support from PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang.
(xiv) Protest by the MACC special operations director Bahri Mohamad Zain whether “hidden hands” were behind ongoing police crackdown on MACC officers, with him being questioned by a police team from Bukit Aman under Section 124 of the Penal Code for activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.
(xv) “Witch-hunt” in high government places to ferret out “ traitors” involved in an international conspiracy to topple Najib as the elected Prime Minister of Malaysia, with six MACC officers arrested or questioned by police, under Section 124 of the Penal Code on “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”.
(xvi) Great ingenuity and creativity of Malaysian social media, with the following post going viral:
“Polis ambil RM50 panggil CORRUPTION;
Menteri ambil RM500 juta panggil COMMISSION;
PM ambil RM2.6 billion panggil DONATION.”
(xvii) Immediate transfer of two Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) directors, Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin (special operations division) and Datuk Rohaizad Yaakob (strategic communications division) to the Prime Minister’s Department with immediate effect, and the WhatsApp message by the then MACC Deputy Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull from the United States urging Putrajaya to rescind the transfer orders for Bahri and Rohaizad, and offering to take their places. The transfer orders were subsequently cancelled.
(xviii) The most extraordinary solat hajat (special prayers) by MACC officers seeking divine intervention to allow MACC officers to carry out their anti-corruption duties.
(xix) The sudden and rocky transfer out of the Special Branch (SB) of the deputy director of the police intelligence agency, Datuk Abdul Hamid Bador to the Prime Minister’s Department reporting directly to Prime Minister Najib and the subsequent Hamid protest that he was removed from the police force where he had served for 37 years for his insistence on looking into the 1MDB scandal.
(xx) Najib described as “A Deadman Walking” by a Malaysian academician in Australian writing in an international publication – but the “Dead Man” walked for another three years and had hoped to walk on for another five years.
What was the cause of the “madness in Putrajaya” set off by the Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015 and the Week of Long Knives with the Police and MACC succumbing to a mad frenzy with “cloak-and-dagger” power play warring against each other?
Najib said yesterday that I had “lost all credibility” after turning down a debate with him.
By Najib’s logic, Najib would not even have the right even to open his mouth to utter a single word as he had more than “lost all credibility” running away from two “Nothing-to-Hide” confrontations with Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on the 1MDB scandal, disgraced himself internationally when he chickened out of delivering a key-note opening address for the 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Putrajaya on Sept. 2 -4, 2015 attended by over 1,000 delegates from 130 countries, and the infamous walkout of Al Jazeera interview in October last year with interviewer Mary Ann Jolley.
But I will not deny Najib his freedom of expression.
In fact, I would like him to say more, as there is nothing better to use his own words to condemn and bury him.
The delusion of some Opposition leaders is evident when they expressed the hope that there will be a snap general election, when there are no signs whatsoever why the Pakatan Harapan Government in Putrajaya should not serve out its full term.
The Pakatan Harapan government is stronger today after having weathered its first year, which unexpectedly, had to be focussed on draining the swamp – and what is most shocking, was to discover how horrendous was the swamp that was left behind by Najib and the UMNO/BN Government.
Although the task of draining the swamp is not fully done, the second year of Pakatan Harapan Government in Putrjaya should be better than the first year in terms of delivery of Pakatan Harapan pledges to create a New Malaysia.
It is not possible to undo the corruption, abuses of power and deviations caused by six decades of UMNO/BN government, as this task cannot be accomplished in a hundred days or a year but a mission which will take years and even over a decade.
Najib only proves his political bankruptcy and immorality when he could claim “moral victory” because of a cancelled debate while thunderously silent for years about global kleptocracy.
I am sorry to disappoint Najib, but for the past week that I have moved about in the Malaysian public domain, including a visit to Sandakan, I have not felt or detected any fall-off of my political credibility or any perception that he had scored “a huge moral victory”.
I have only found support in my withdrawal from the debate with Najib.
In reciprocation for Hadi’s support since Black Tuesday of July 28, 2015 and the Week of Long Knives, Najib is how the foremost publicist for the UMNO-PAS axis, claiming that it should be the choice of the young generation today.
This is issue fighting for the heart and soul of Malaysia – whether the young generation of Malaysians are going to blindly support a global kleptocrat, a point Najib is strenuously trying to establish in his “Malu Apa Bossku” escapade.
The future will tell whether Najib will win in his shameless “Malu Apa Bossku” escapade for Malaysians NOT to heed Santayana’s warning and NOT to remember the lessons of history, as he hopes to return as a global kleptocrat and for Malaysia to again become a global kleptocracy!
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Thursday, May 30, 2019)
