Mahathir and Muhyiddin living dangerously politically by pushing 1MDB Najib to the wall
At the rate both Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin (2Ms) are going about exposing Umno’s dirty linen in public, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Prime Minister Najib Razak is surely under tremendous political pressure.
Mahathir, the former premier of 22 years, and Muhyiddin, the deputy prime minister and deputy Umno president who was sacked by Najib, are dangerously pushing Najib to the wall.
The 2Ms are not mincing their words in washing Najib and Umno’s “dirty linen” in public. Gone are the days when they would double speak/talk or beat around the bush in their speeches.
They have started going to the rural Malay heartland, revealing “dirty secrets”. They appear to be losing no time in promoting their yet to be approved Malay political party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), in preparation for electoral battle with the Umno-led Barisan Nasional when Najib calls for the country’s 14th General Election (GE14) which is only due in March 2018.
It sure looks like Najib cannot just sit and allow his two most menacing political rivals to continue with their attacks unabated.
Logically, Najib will be forced to take drastic political decisions and he has at least two choices:
> Have both the 2Ms jailed to shut them up, just like de facto Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is languishing in Sungai Buloh Prison; or
> Call for snap GE14 to consolidate, his, Umno and BN’s political grip on federal power,thereby checkmating the 2Ms politically. (Read this for context: http://victorlim2016.blogspot.my/2016/08/1mdb-najib-to-call-for-snap-polls-in.html)
How Najib will react to the 2Ms’ aggressive attacks will depend on how desperate and confident is he in consolidating his power.
Jailing the 2Ms will only turn them into Malay martyrs of sorts, just like what Anwar was in GE12 and GE13. This option is likely to affect socio-economic and political stability.
The GE14 option looks good as the Opposition is in complete disarray and disunited, a severely weakened political force not ready to face the mighty BN in a national poll.
In a month, the 2Ms have made damning accusations against Najib and Umno.
The most shocking salvo was fired by Muhyiddin when he publicly called Najib “the thief who stole from 1MDB” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_Aui1PXi1JM).
And then Mahathir was reported by online news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) to have said these:
"Mahathir: Umno must go, not just Najib
FMT Reporters
| August 28, 2016
Former premier says his former party must be defeated and a new party stronger than Umno is needed.
PETALING JAYA: It is no longer enough to remove Najib Razak from power, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today. Umno itself must be defeated.
The former premier, speaking at a ceramah in Kota Bharu last night, said he was disappointed with Umno’s condition.
Umno leaders were no longer proper leaders; they feared to speak up and would only follow orders, he told the Sinar Harian newspaper.
“This party (Umno) has to be defeated and we need a new party that is stronger than Umno. I loved Umno, that was why I was with Umno for a long time,” he said.
Dr Mahathir has spearheaded a campaign for more than a year with the focus on ousting Najib Razak as Umno president and prime minister.
He left Umno earlier this year and has founded Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, which is awaiting registration, to form a united opposition front to contest at the next general election against the Barisan Nasional.
Responding to criticisms of his association with the DAP in the new alliance, Dr Mahathir said Najib’s father, Tun Abdul Razak, had also forged an alliance with opposition parties.
Tun Razak had formed the Barisan Nasional in 1973 after bringing opposition parties Gerakan and PAS together with Umno, MCA and MIC, which had formed the Alliance party.
“Some people have asked me, how can I work with (DAP’s) Lim Kit Siang when I fiercely condemned him in the past and he did the same to me. But in our efforts to achieve success, we have to always be smart,” he said, pointing out that Tun Razak had also approached the DAP (which rejected the offer).He said he was using the same strategy."
And, Muhyiddin continued with his political fire power with this article posted by the Malaysian banned online news portal Malaysia Chronicle:
"MUHYIDDIN BOMBSHELL: LONG BEFORE RM2.6 BIL, NAJIB ALREADY HAD RM1 BIL IN HIS PERSONAL A/C
Politics | August 28, 2016 by | 0 Comments
Former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin claimed close to RM1 billion was already in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal bank account even before the widely reported RM2.6 billion came in.
Najib had claimed the US$681 million which he received in March 2013, widely referred to as the RM2.6 billion based on the exchange rate when it was first publicised in July last year, was a donation from a member of the Arab royal family.
Muhyiddin said he learnt about the deposits prior to the purported ‘Arab donation’ from then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, who had shared the information with him.
“The former attorney-general did mention – before he suffered the same fate as me by being sacked – there was already almost RM1 billion in Najib’s account before that (RM2.6 billion controversy).
“So in total, it was around RM4 billion in the prime minister’s account. Can you believe it?” he told a ceramah in Ketereh, Kelantan yesterday.
A video recording of the ceramah was uploaded on Gerakan Harapan Baru TV and KiniTV.
Muhyiddin said he almost passed out after he looked at the figures in Najib’s personal bank account.
“The attorney-general at that time… he showed me – I almost fainted looking at that much money in Najib’s account.
“I felt like fainting but luckily I didn’t,” he said.
Muhyiddin’s claim appear to corroborate a report by Australia-based ABC News in March which put the peak figure in Najib’s bank account at US$1.051 billion (RM4.202 billion) based on bank statements.
According to the report, prior to RM2.6 billion deposit from Tanore Finance, Najib also received US$120 million from Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partner Ltd (BVI), US$80 million from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance and US$75 million from Prince Faisal bin Turkey bin Bandar Alsaud.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) also highlighted deposits not mentioned or disclosed in the ABC News report, including an additional US$10 million on Feb 23, 2011 and another US$10 million on June 13, 2011 from Prince Faisal, referred to as “PetroSaudi co-founder”. An additional US$5 million on Oct 30, 2012 and US$25 million on Nov 19, 2012 also came in from Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partner Ltd (BVI), according to the DOJ. This put the total sum prior to the RM2.6 billion deposit at US$325 million, or just under RM1 billion based on the exchange rate in 2011 and 2012. The DOJ claimed the deposits from Tanore Finance, Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partner Ltd and the PetroSaudi co-founder originated from 1MDB. The DOJ, claimed more than US$3.5 billion was allegedly misappropriated from 1MDB, largely focused on the money trail that passed through the US financial system. Najib had denied wrongdoing and said he had never taken public funds for personal gain. Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali had also cleared the prime minister of wrongdoing. Muhyiddin was removed as deputy prime minister in July last year, the same month when the RM2.6 billion deposit came to light. Muhyiddin claimed he was removed after confronting Najib about the deposits. His sacking coincided with the removal of then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail. – M’kini"And this is a FLASHBACK, if you are interested:
“Najib crowned Champion of Doubletalk by top US paper despite splurging millions on publicity What a deafening silence from Prime Minister Najib Razak!
While the world shook its head over the FBC Media scandal, where his administration used Malaysian tax-payers money to ‘buy’ favorable mentions on international prime-time television, Najib is no where to be heard or seen.
It could be he is hiding his head in shame but given his past record, the Malaysian PM doesn't feel remorse or guilt easily. In a statement posted on the BBC website, the broadcaster said the “small number” of programmes that were aired on BBC World News between Feb 2009 and July 2011, broke the internal rules aimed at protecting its editorial integrity.
“These rules ensure that programmes are free, and are seen to be free, from commercial or other outside pressures,” read the statement.
Although the nature of the programmes related to Malaysia were mentioned without much details, the BBC made it clear that 8 of these appeared to have a 'financial relationship' with the Malaysian government.
After much public tongue-lashing from the Opposition, Najib finally admitted to Parliament that it had paid RM84 million to FBC Media between 2007 and 2010 for ‘consultancy services, advice and management of a communication campaign’ to spruce up Malaysia’s image.
Apart from painting a falsely flattering image image of himself, the documentaries also painted a rosy picture of Malaysia's oil palm industry and its treatment of indigenous peoples - which are in stark contract to the views from the ground.
British daily The Independent, the newspaper that broke the scandal, reported that the BBC would be apologizing to an estimated 74 million people globally over the matter.
The report said viewers from “Kuala Lumpur to Khartoum” will be able to watch the broadcast which is available to 295 million homes, 1.7 million hotel rooms, 81 cruise ships, 46 airlines and 35 mobile phone platforms, at four different time zones.
According to the BBC statement, the BBC Trust’s editorial standards committee had identified various breaches in editorial guidelines due to the errant programmes.
“It agreed that given the serious nature of the breaches an on-air apology to the audience was appropriate,” read the statement. But not a word from Najib or his team. Such a public roasting, and yet Utusan, Star and all its media organs carried not a word on the matter.
So when Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng demanded an apology from the Prime Minister, he was cheered on by the public even though Najib would pretend to ignore the entire incident or condemn it as being an "opposition-instigated" demand.
But did Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's Pakatan Rakyat pay RM84 million to the UK publicity firm? Who was it who instructed FBC to polish Najib's image, give an overly glowing report about the benefits of consuming palm oil, and praise the BN's handling of indigenous people?
“Datuk Seri Najib Razak should direct his Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to apologise for paying RM84 million to burnish the Najib administration’s image... just as the BBC is apologising for accepting payments in exchange for a positive image for countries with a poor record of democratic practices and corruption,” Guan Eng wrote in a statement.
However, in a sad reflection of his caliber, Najib has chosen to hide his head in the sand. The same goes for the UMNO-BN government he leads. They all seem content to stick their heads in the sand and wait for the whole matter to blow away.
Who then apart from the opposition will keep an eye out for the Malaysian people? Will MCA ask Najib about the RM84 million sloshed down the drain? Will Gerakan, or the MIC? How about Umno?
Yet, it is more than just another embarrassing moment for Malaysia and one which Najib should apologize for. That is the minimum to restore some degree of the global esteem lost through the ill-judged and unethical act of paying a mercenary media firm to basically plant false news and disseminate it to an unsuspecting audience.
There was also APCO, Mr Cool and Ah Jib Gor ... No doubt, following the FBC expose, Putrajaya ended its RM96 million contract with FBC, which Najib began in 2009.
But FBC is not the only media scandal. In his vanity and thirst to be larger than life, Najib had signed on other public relation strategists including the Zionist-backed APCO Worldwide to polish his personal image.
Given his attack against arch rival Anwar Ibrahim for supporting a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, such an appointment is hypocritical to say the least, especially since Najib even gave APCO staff access to key communications facilities in the country.
It is well-known that many of the top staff at APCO are former high-level officers at Shin Bet and Mossad, the Israeli secret services.
What an awful joke and when Anwar, DAP chairman Karpal Singh, PKR leaders Azmin Ali and Sivarasa Rasiah took issue on the matter, fearing breach of national security, Najib had them suspended and locked out of Parliament for 6 months!
Indeed, APCO’s time in Malaysia was marked by controversy. So too was the most recent hire of a team purportedly comprising ex-staff of former British PM Tony Blair’s “New Labour” campaign. This group was tasked to turn Najib into a 'Mr Cool' and to reinvent him as a moderate reformist.
Once the news leaked, it was clear Najib had bungled again, losing millions of public money. Malaysians either laughed or disapproved at the 'nonsense' he was dishing out. Even his 'Ah Jib Gor' Facebook website has failed miserably.
Aimed to attract the Chinese, it has been taunted as being silly, in bad taste, and a desperate political move. And the result - Najib crowned Champion of Doubletalk Proof that Najib's exorbitant media scams are not working and instead backfiring comes in the form of a stinging rebuke from the highly influential Washington post editorial, which describes Najib's government as the "champion of doubletalk".
Mind you, even President Obama and Hillary Clinton read the Washington Post. "His persecution has been facilitated by another champion of double-talk, the government of Malaysia, which claims to respect the rule of law but bundled Mr Kashgari onto a private Saudi jet Sunday in spite of a court order prohibiting his deportation," said the Washington Post.
The Post was referring to Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari whom Najib's cousin and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein illegally deported to face near certain death in his own country over several tweets the Saudi authorities deemed blasphemous.
As human rights activists the world over have warned, if Hamza is executed, there will be blood on Najib's hand. So enough of the doublespeak. The game is up. You have been rumbled. Own up and apologize. Najib owes Malaysia an apology over the media scandals he created in his vanity, and for wasting the people's money so foolishly and flagrantly. Malaysia Chronicle"
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