COMMENT Barisan Nasional’s newly-appointed strategic communications director Rahman Dahlan, in his latest article which appeared in mainstream media as well as in Malaysiakini , proves my point.

He and the people in the BN war room are using this strategy of discrediting the opponent. They are out to cast doubts and aspersions on members of the opposition.

Crudely speaking, it is mudslinging, which is very common in politics. They did that to jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, but none of that had worked. Finally, they had to put him behind bars, only to find Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak landing in the soup. It is what you sow that you will also reap.

This strategy is used when the party under attack has nothing else that they can use in either defence or offence. If they published the original emails or documents as The Wall Street Journal had done, they end up being incriminated; therefore, the only best thing to do is to resort to mudslinging as Rahman is doing now.

Under the current situation, my advice to Najib is to be like the brave Bugis warriors of old and be prepared to be questioned by the Parliament in the same manner that impeached US president Bill Clinton had faced the congress. No one, including Najib, is above the law. To tarry is to drag the Malaysian economy and his personal reputation further down. It will not be good for anyone.

My observations

During the entire 1MDB debacle, I have been analysing the strategies used by both sides. This second strategy was in fact used by Brian Lord, the managing director of the Protection Group International (PGI), who spoke on behalf of his client PetroSaudi International (PSI).

In one of his statements to the local media, Lord attempted to discredit the expose by Sarawak Report, claiming that the information about the alleged impropriety in PetroSaudi International Ltd’s aborted joint venture with 1MDB, is “inconsistent” and “unreliable”.

He went on to cast doubts about Xavier Justo who had been arrested by the Thai authorities. Obviously, Justo did not have the means to defend himself against Lord’s allegations.

The same tactic was used by Umno lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah when he went on a smear campaign after Anwar Ibrahim was jailed.

Read this line by Lord which clearly shows that half-truths are used to throw mud at an opponent (I quote Lord): “Having gone through the process of trying to extort money from the former employer with threats to leak the data and being refused, he (Justo) could have still gone to the authorities had there been any wrong doing. But he chose to go to Sarawak Report.”

Lord went on to say that Justo could have reported the wrongdoing to the “authorities in Malaysia, Switzerland or United Kingdom or take it to an established media”. Most of us know why Justo would not have gone very far if he had raised the matter with Prime Minister Najib.

Even if he had raised it with his own government or the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron ( photo ), there is only a certain degree that both governments would be able to expose the matter to the people (Malaysians) who should know.

There are protocols involved in international relations that sometimes make it difficult for someone like Cameron to even suggest Najib to unblock Sarawak Report . Cameron’s own credibility as the leader of a matured democracy would be put to the litmus test when he arrives next week.

And, it is not as though other established media are unaware of the 1MDB debacle. We should be concerned that there is such worldwide coverage (as a result of the expose by Sarawak Report) that we have to ask Najib to step aside and allow the investigation to be carried out without prejudice.

Against the backdrop of such damning reports that we should all be concerned of how our trading partners and investors view us as a nation. They are monitoring the outcome of the 1MDB task force, since this involves the major government agencies in this country such as the central bank and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

I have read reports in Wall Street Journal , the Edge and the latest in Bloomberg ; therefore, Lord does not earn his brownie points by mentioning ‘established media’. I would say Justo did the right thing by alerting Sarawak Report and the Edge . We owe it to him for exposing what usually transpired behind thick walls, where transparency and governance are just slogans used by our leaders.

While it it true that Justo has been arrested by the Thai police, we do not know whether he had indeed blackmailed his former employer. Even if he did, you have to ask yourself this question: “What made Justo believe that he could blackmail his former employers unless he had indeed possessed some really useful information that could be used against them?”

This is the information that was fed to Sarawak Report . I am not sure why another Umno leader had also met with Justo, but perhaps, there was a counter-offer which did not work out because Justo is one tough nut who could not stand to see how public funds are being funnelled into the private accounts belonging to a sitting prime minister.

Instead of making a brouhaha over an Umno leader who met Justo, an opposition leader and a media owner were investigated and made to appear as though they were involved in a political conspiracy.

Najib should realise that the more he uses the iron fist, the more the people would seek to rout him and the entire BN regime out of Putrajaya.

Analysing further, after failing to stop the expose, the ‘brilliant’ Lord went on to say that Justo had tampered with the emails, saying that the information fed to Sarawak Report was inconsistent and unreliable. However, Lord stopped short of publishing the original emails if he claimed that the emails had been tampered.

Same attempt

The same attempt was made by the disgraced former journalist from Sarawak and younger brother of Court of Appeal judge Albert Linton through a series of video clips.

However, Lester Melanyi ( photo ) was cruder in the way he did it, that it was almost instantly that you could debunk his so-called “the truth, nothing but the truth”.

Strangely, Rahman and Ramesh Rao, president of a relatively unknown NGO, Pertubuhan Minda dan Sosial Prihatin, saw it fit to listen to Lester, which does not really add value to the entire smear campaign.

I would go as far as to say that Rao lacks the skills of a refined campaigner. Immediately, he jumped into his Twitter account with the words, “Penghutang dan Muflis Dipandang Hina Oleh #DAP #PKR. Maka Itu Saya Menyeru Penghutang dan Muflis Jangan Lagi Sokong #DAP #PKR!” (Debtors and bankrupts are being looked down upon by #DAP #PKR. Therefore, I urge all debtors and bankrupts no longer to vote for #DAP  #PKR!)

What difference does it make whether I am a bankrupt or a debtor?

Do you think, based on what Rao said, I would follow his footstep to vote for a coalition that has been overstaying the people’s hospitality far too long?

Part I: Rahman, is this the ‘Strategy of Distraction’?

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.

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