Archive for category Najib Razak
Can Malaysia’s PM Pull Off a Trip to the UN?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Wednesday, 23 September 2015
By John Berthelsen
Asia Sentinel
September 22, 2015
A trip by Malaysia’s embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak to London and New York is shrouded in mystery, with a London source saying the premier and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, are already in London, staying at the five-star Dorchester in Mayfair, and editors in Kuala Lumpur being told he won’t go until Sept. 23, after the weekly cabinet meeting. A source later confirmed that Najib had quietly left KL.
His overseas jaunt, which is expected to later include a trip to Milan with Rosmah for her Islamic dress fashion show, is scarred by spiraling investigations by international law enforcement agencies in New York, Switzerland, Singapore and London and domestic rumors of behind-the-scenes negotiations to replace him with a unity government — which seems unlikely now.
The multiple probes of the prime minister’s personal finances and the operations of the debt-strapped 1Malaysia Development Bhd., which faces more than US$11 billion of unmet liabilities that could trigger a national financial crisis, have delivered up disastrous international publicity in the US’s two most respected newspapers. The prime minister was hoping for a star turn at the United Nations General Assembly and a meeting with US President Barack Obama. Read the rest of this entry »
The Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde of Umno
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 23 September 2015
— Koon Yew Yin
Malay Mail Online
September 23, 2015
SEPTEMBER 23 — Malaysian readers of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous book which has been made into film on several occasions will recognise the split personality of good and bad, if not evil, in the country’s dominant party Umno since its early days.
This split personality has emerged more strongly especially since the Tunku was stabbed in the back and taken down in what amounted to a coup d’etat in 1969 by his own party colleagues led by Tun Razak, the father of the current prime minister.
Since then, although the party has had its share of good leaders such as Tun Hussein Onn and has played a positive role in some areas of nation building, it has been the major obstacle to building a robust and resilient nation based on the rule of law and ensuring equal rights, justice and freedom to all citizens.
This is because it has made Malay dominance or “ketuanan Melayu” its main party platform and ideology, while giving lip service to the constitutional provisions providing for racial, religious and cultural equality. Read the rest of this entry »
As Malaysia’s PM struggles in graft scandal, his party plays the race card
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 23 September 2015
John Chalmers and Raju Gopalakrishnan
Reuters/Channel News Asia
23 Sep 2015
KUALA LUMPUR: When thousands of Malay Muslims marched through Kuala Lumpur last week to support his scandal-wracked government, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak kept his distance.
He neither attended nor officially endorsed the racially charged rally by members of Malaysia’s majority community.
But several members of Najib’s political party told Reuters they helped an ultranationalist Malay group stage the “Malay Pride” rally. Critics accused the organisers of stoking racial tensions in multicultural Malaysia to distract from a multi-million-dollar corruption scandal swirling around the prime minister.
Protesters at the rally held signs reading “Don’t insult Malays and Islam” and “#najibstays”. Some were eventually dispersed by riot police outside Chinatown, where many Chinese businesses are located. Read the rest of this entry »
Has Malaysia got a kleptocrat as a Prime Minister?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 23 September 2015
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has established a special niche for himself in the Guinness Book of Records and of course the Malaysian Book of Records as the Prime Minister who has broken all the records of previous Malaysian Prime Ministers by achieving the most “firsts”.
This despite Najib’s short premiership of less than six-and-a-half years which cannot compare in length to the more than 22 years as PM of Tun Dr.Mahathir Mohamad or the more than 13 years of the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman – but unfortunately, mostly for the wrong reasons establishing bad records.
For instance, Najib is the first Malaysian Prime Minister to be investigated for alleged money laundering and corruption in four foreign countries, namely United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Now he has added to this roll of dubious honour by being the first Malaysian and ASEAN leader to be investigated by a federal grand jury in the United States in connection with corruption and money-laundering. Read the rest of this entry »
The FBI Has Its Eyes On Malaysia’s Embattled Prime Minister
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 23 September 2015
By Shannon Hayden
VICE News
September 22, 2015
Malaysia’s prime minister is elbows-deep in a mess of trouble, and it looks like it’s only going to get worse. The fallout from $700 million that somehow found its way into Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal bank account continued over the weekend, with the arrest of a prominent critic of Razak’s while he attempted to leave the country, reports of further missing payments, and news that the FBI is now on the case.
The once-domestic issue now involves unusually “generous” unnamed Middle Eastern donors, frozen accounts in Switzerland and Singapore, and nationwide demonstrations calling for Najib’s resignation. Najib’s attempts to delay further investigation have partially succeeded, but his remaining time in office is uncertain. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s Leader, Najib Razak, Faces U.S. Corruption Inquiry
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 23 September 2015
by Louise Story
New York Times
SEPT. 21, 2015
The embattled prime minister of Malaysia, facing mounting political turmoil and a parade of inquiries at home and abroad into a sovereign wealth fund that he oversees, is now coming under the scrutiny of American investigators as well.
A federal grand jury is examining allegations of corruption involving the prime minister, Najib Razak, and people close to him, according to two people with knowledge of the investigation.
The inquiry, being run by a unit of the Justice Department that investigates international corruption, is focused on properties in the United States that were purchased in recent years by shell companies that belong to the prime minister’s stepson as well as other real estate connected to a close family friend, said the people knowledgeable about the case, who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it. Investigators are also looking at a $681 million payment made to what is believed to be Mr. Najib’s personal bank account. Read the rest of this entry »
Ali Rustam and the prolonged May 13 trauma
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 21 September 2015
Aidila Razak
Malaysiakini
21st Sept 2015
COMMENT National Silat Federation (Pesaka) chief Mohd Ali Rustam seems to be suffering from prolonged trauma.
The symptoms were striking in his interview with Mingguan Malaysia yesterday on the achievements of Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu on Sept 16.
Asked what the rally, meant to ‘reclaim Malay dignity’ had achieved, Ali turned Dr Who to travel close to five decades into time to the race riots of 1969.
“They (Bersih 4 organisers and participants) try to show that Kuala Lumpur belongs to Bersih and the DAP gang, and Malays should balik kampung (go back to the villages). But now the villagers are coming to Kuala Lumpur.
“They think we have lost our self-worth and that Kuala Lumpur does not belong to various races. They think Malays don’t belong to Kuala Lumpur, and it is only for DAP and Bersih.
“They try to show they are brave and that Malays are not. They held rallies four times, and yet no Malays were brave enough to fight back,” he said.
Note the mention of taunts of ‘balik kampung’. Read the rest of this entry »
Umno’s red terror gambit
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 21 September 2015
by Dennis Ignatius
Malaysiakini
21st Sept 2015
COMMENT When illiberal regimes lose their legitimacy, when they run out of excuses, when they feel their power slipping away, they almost always resort to scaremongering and scapegoating.
Suddenly, imaginary threats are everywhere. Everyone who does not toe the line becomes an enemy, an agent of dark unseen forces, part of some sinister conspiracy. All criticism, all dissent becomes seditious, unpatriotic, anti-national, a threat to national unity.
The ensuing tensions then provide the context and justification for further repression and for increased curtailment of fundamental liberties. What’s left of democratic space slowly vanishes.
Is the same thing now happening in Malaysia? Read the rest of this entry »
If Cabinet on Wednesday will not apologise for shameful abdication of responsibility in giving “green light” for divisive and racist Sept. 16 Red Shirts rally, will the Ministers step forward to tender separate individual apologies?
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, nation building on Monday, 21 September 2015
A day immediately after the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay rally, I had asked the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to apologise to Malaysians for the most shameful abdication of responsibility in allowing Malaysia Day to be desecrated and racial harmony and social peace to be undermined by the divisive, racially-charged and provocative Red Shirts rally.
It does not appear that Najib will be ready to tender such an apology, as he had transformed his “silent blessing” before the Red Shirts rally to active endorsement after the rally, closing his eyes, ears and mind to the racist slurs, provocations and breaches of law committed by the participants of the Red Shirts rally.
If Cabinet on Wednesday are not prepared to apologise for its shameful abdication of responsibility in giving “green light” for the divisive and racist Sept. 16 Red Shirts rally, will the Ministers step forward to tender separate individual apologies?
I still hope that Najib can realise that he is Prime Minister for all Malaysians, and not just for Malays, UMNO or an UMNO faction. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia is pounded every day by a surfeit of lack of integrity issues and problems, which is hurtling Malaysia down slippery slope to failed state
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Police on Sunday, 20 September 2015
Malaysia is pounded every day by a surfeit of lack of integrity issues and problems, which is hurtling Malaysia down the slippery slope to a failed state.
Something is very wrong with the national institutions and system of values, which have reached a very advanced stage of rottenness, when the Police confirmed today that the body found in a drum filled with concrete last Wednesday was that of deputy head of the Attorney-General’s Chambers Appellate and Trial Division, Anthony Kevin Morais.
Morais’ abduction and gruesome murder were believed to be related to a corruption case he was handling.
Today, we have three bad news all related to one mega corruption scandal in Malaysia – the long-running M50 billion 1MDB scandal, viz:
• FBI starts probe on 1MDB, says WSJ (Malaysiakini)
• Ambiga says ‘appalled’ by 1MDB critic’s six-day demand (MMO)
• Najib risks arrest if he travels abroad, says Dr Mahathir – by V. Anbalagan (TMI)
Questions teem everyone’s mind. Read the rest of this entry »
Is it worthwhile for Najib to abandon 1Malaysia Policy and Global Movement of Moderates initiative for the placebo Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay rally?
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Najib Razak on Sunday, 20 September 2015
Is it worth it for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to abandon his signature 1Malaysia Policy and the Global Movement of Moderates initiative for the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay rally?
These are the two major policy initiatives Najib would want to be remembered as his legacy as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia – one his local contribution to Malaysian nation-building and the other his contribution to global politics beset by the trials and tribulations caused by intolerance, bigotry, extremism and terrorism.
But in one fell stroke, he had destroyed both – and all for the placebo effect of the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay Rally in Kuala Lumpur! Read the rest of this entry »
Do Umno Malays know the meaning of dignity?
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Malays, Mariam Mokhtar, Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 20 September 2015
Mariam Mokhtar | September 20, 2015
Free Malaysia Today
They need to exorcise the demons inside them and to wean themselves from the entitlement culture.
COMMENT
It looks like the red shirted Umno-Baru Malays are condemning themselves to a life sentence of self-denial. They assume that everyone else in Malaysia owes them a living. It is time they came to terms with the real world. They need to exorcise their inner demons, and they need to wean themselves from the entitlement culture, which they expect will nurse them from cradle to grave.
Malays throughout Malaysia were ashamed to be associated with these bigots, who claim that they held the Red Shirts Rally to uphold Malay dignity. Their protest had nothing to do with Malay dignity. The rally was held primarily to distract us from the 1MDB scandal.
What kind of dignity can we associate with insolence and the hurling of insults at other communities? What dignity is there in transporting the elderly from the villages to boost attendance at the Kuala Lumpur rally? Taxpayers’ money was probably used to facilitate the transportation and to provide meals and pocket money. Read the rest of this entry »
Dignity is all about looking at ourselves
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Najib Razak on Sunday, 20 September 2015
TK Chua
Malaysiakini
19 Sep 2015
Dignity is now a big word in Malaysia. But what is it?
It is self-respect, pride, self-esteem and self-worth. It is the quality of being worthy of honour or respect.
Dignity is not what others bestowed on us. It is how we carry ourselves. It is how we portray ourselves worthy of admiration and respect by others. Only we can insult our own dignity, not others.
I agree stomping on the pictures of Najib Abdul Razak and Hadi Awang was not the right thing to do. But it is how we react to that stomping that defines our dignity. Read the rest of this entry »
Three things we learned from: #Merah169
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Najib Razak, UMNO on Saturday, 19 September 2015
by Zurairi AR
Malay Mail Online
September 17, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 ― Thousands of Malays painted the city red yesterday, purportedly to show solidarity with Malay government leaders who are allegedly under siege from the ethnic Chinese community.
The event was originally planned as at least three separate rallies held by different organisers: martial arts group Pesaka who hosted the official gathering, a coalition of 250 Malay groups, and Felda settlers.
As the day went on, however, it was clear that there was only one event in town, the pro-Malay rally informally dubbed #Merah169, held as a reaction towards the electoral reform rally Bersih 4 that was attended by tens of thousands last month and deemed to be Chinese-driven.
Here are three things we learned about the event: Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s prime minister is a questionable ally
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Najib Razak on Saturday, 19 September 2015
By Editorial Board
Washington Post
September 18, 2015
THE OBAMA administration has made a heavy bet on the Malaysian government of Najib Razak, whose majority Muslim nation collaborates on several key U.S. national security initiatives: counterterrorism, counterproliferation and balancing against China’s regional ambitions. In December, President Obama invited Mr. Najib to a round of golf during his Hawaiian vacation, a rare show of friendship for a foreign leader.
Since then, however, Mr. Najib has been evolving into an increasingly unseemly pal. In February, the country’s opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, was imprisoned on blatantly trumped-up charges, just under a year after the coalition Mr. Anwar led won the popular vote in national elections. That was the tip of a broader campaign to suppress the opposition; key leaders were indicted under a sedition law that Mr. Najib once promised to repeal, and a leading cartoonist was prosecuted for tweets. Mr. Anwar’s daughter, parliament member Nurul Izzah Anwar, was recently told she was being investigated under an anti-terrorism law. Read the rest of this entry »
Pak Samad: Malay-centric Putrajaya may put Malaysia into state of emergency before GE14
Posted by Kit in DAP, Malays, Najib Razak on Saturday, 19 September 2015
by Kamles Kumar
Malay Mail Online
September 19, 2015
PETALING JAYA, Sept 19 — Malaysia is headed towards a state of emergency being declared possibly within the next five years if the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) does not fix its overtly pro-Malay attitude in governance, national laureate Datuk A. Samad Said predicted today.
The respected poet and Malay writer popularly known as Pak Samad said the current administration’s tendency to favour the dominant Malay community over that of ethnic minorities will deepen the rift among Malaysians, with a state of emergency possibly declared before even polls can be held.
“At the rate things are going, with the way race issues are played up and we see people being caught for show, it is not impossible that things will peak into a state of an emergency if the government does not keep peace.
“The government is being Malay-centric now, all their speeches are targeted towards the Malays,” he said after launching a book titled “Young & Malay” at Gerakbudaya here. Read the rest of this entry »
Time for the subject of “no confidence motion” against Najib as PM to be put on the table as a national agenda for discussion by MPs from both the government coalition and the Opposition as well as the Malaysian public before Parliament meets on Oct. 19
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, Parliament on Saturday, 19 September 2015
I congratulate DAP Kedah activist Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Shaffee, who is heading the Impian Kedah/Perlis project, as well as Dr. Tan Poh Teng and Nurul Shifa Abdul Manan in the Impian Kedah/Perlis project committee, for their hard work and success in the inaugural three-day Impian Kedah/Perlis medical camp.
This is the second day of the three-day Impian Kedah/Perlis medical camp, which will be in Perlis tomorrow.
The Impian Kedah/Perlis project was announced three months ago and we are now seeing the fruits of this new initiative to promote an inclusive vision to rally all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or class to unite on a common agenda of Malaysian unity, justice and prosperity.
Impian Kedah/Perlis is part of the Impian Malaysia vision and like other Impian Malaysia projects of Impian Sabah, Impian Sarawak, Impian Kelantan and the newly-announced Impian Johor, it is born out of two convictions: firstly, Malaysia cannot be progressive and prosperous if any state continue to be poor and backward in infrastructure development; and secondly, the people and the states of Kedah and Perlis are entitled to the right to development compared to other states and not to be relegated as Malaysia’s poorest states. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib’s “well done” for the darkest hour in Malaysia in 46 years after the May 13 1969 racial riots highlights the widening gulf between ordinary Malaysians and the UMNO/BN leadership
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Sabah, Sarawak on Saturday, 19 September 2015
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s praise of “well done” for the darkest hour in Malaysia in 46 years after the May 13, 1969 racial riots – the Red Shirts Sept. 16 Rally – highlights the widening gulf between ordinary Malaysians regardless of whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans and the small coterie of UMNO/BN leadership.
Apart from the 45,000 “Red Shirts” who were bused into Kuala Lumpur from all over Peninsular Malaysia in some 2,000 buses, Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, age, gender or politics are ashamed of the Red Shirts “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu” rally in Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 16, which desecrated the 52nd Malaysia Day when the day should be an occasion for all Malaysians to strengthen national integration and counter the divisive and centrifugal forces seeking the division and disintegration of the nation.
Sept. 16 should be a day of solidarity for the reaffirmation of the unity, integrity and sovereignty of Malaysia at two levels – firstly, of the diverse races, religions, languages and cultures which have come together to make Malaysia their home and an “Instant Asia” and secondly, the union of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak into a new nation in South-east Asia in 1963 by smoothing out the knots and kinks of nationhood in the past five decades – in particular the legitimate grievances felt by Sarawakians and Sabahans about their neglect and underdevelopment in the past half century.
Instead, Sabah and Sabah were virtually forgotten on Sept. 16 as national and international attention riveted on the Red Shirt “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu” in Kuala Lumpur, and the thoughts of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Cabinet were on the Red Shirts rally although they were physically in Kota Kinabalu that day – when they should be focusing on the issues and challenges of devolution and decentralization of powers from Putrajaya to Sabah and Sarawak with more autonomy in various jurisdictions for the two states. Read the rest of this entry »
To the PM and the red-T Malays
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak on Friday, 18 September 2015
by Azly Rahman
Malaysiakini
17 Sep 2015
In conjunction with Malaysia Day, I have these brief messages of peace to both leader and the people led.
Mr Malaysian Prime Minister,
Help all Malaysians not just Malays if you and your coalition ruling party are going to redesign strategies for peace, equality, and social justice.
We are all bumiputras now and that the generation of today’s Malaysians be they from Chinese, Indian, or Malays have been here long enough to call this land no longer Tanah Melayu but Bumi Bangsa Malaysia. We’ve toiled for the soil.
And you must remind yourself that you are prime minister for all.
Poverty now cuts across racial lines, with an increasing number of those in the middle class now falling below the poverty line.
There is no strong rationale any more, after more than 50 years of independence and being a country called Malaysia, to continue policies based along racial lines. Continuing this will guarantee another 50 years of race and class antagonism. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia Fund 1MDB’s Missing Money Problem Grows
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Friday, 18 September 2015
By BRADLEY HOPE And TOM WRIGHT
The Wall Street Journal
Sept. 17, 2015
Questions around a troubled Malaysian state investment fund and missing money in the Middle East have widened to include as much as $1 billion more.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that officials in Abu Dhabi were trying to understand why a $1.4 billion transfer that the fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., said it made to a counterparty in the Middle Eastern emirate wasn’t received. Now, those officials are questioning a further $993 million that 1MDB reported it paid to the Abu Dhabi fund, the International Petroleum Investment Co., but which also appears to be largely missing, people familiar with the matter said.
Officials from 1MDB and IPIC didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The questions deepen the mystery around 1MDB, which was set up by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009 to invest in Malaysia’s economy. The fund is now struggling to repay more than $11 billion in debt and is at the center of a corruption scandal that is destabilizing Mr. Najib’s government. Read the rest of this entry »
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the Najib Razak category.
