COMMENT The country is in deep trouble if such a huge sum of money as RM2.6 billion can be donated by a foreign source as political funds channeled into the private accounts of our prime minister.

It is simply preposterous the way how both Barisan Nasional’s (BN) strategic communications director Rahman Dahlan and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman had put it.

Rahman ( photo ) had been quoted saying that Umno does not see anything wrong with its president’s account being used as a trust account; Azalina, on the other hand, added to the script by saying that it is not wrong for Umno to receive political funds from a foreign source.

My question is since when the laws have changed? As Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said in his blog, the amount that could be spent per candidate for any general election is only RM200,000.

With only 222 parliamentary seats contested, and another 576 state constituencies being contested in the last general election, a simple calculation shows that BN can only spend a total of up to RM160 million. What happened to the rest of the money then?

And, why is Azalina so dead sure that receiving funds from a foreign source is not contrary to the spirit of patriotism? Does she even know the source of the fund?

Reveal the source

Certainly, a donation as huge as RM2.6 billion cannot be overlooked by any person in authority, and ordinary citizens like me would want to have an answer from the prime minister himself, being the man entrusted with the money.

Najib Abdul Razak has to come clean and transparent with regard to the money by revealing the source of the funds. Avoiding the issue, and using the iron fist, would not go down well with the average Malaysian. This will, in fact, lead to a deadlock in the Umno-led government-people relations for many years to come.

We would like to know the source of the fund, and why the donor is willing to provide such a huge sum of money. Is it the Saudi tycoons as suggested by PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli? Or is it the American president Barack Obama, who is seen close to Najib? If so, what are their objectives of channeling such huge amount of political funds to the BN chairperson?

What are the vested interests that this foreign funder has in our country? In short, what is his return on investment (ROI)?

Does it have to do with the purchase of land, assets and businesses belonging to Malaysians? Or, has it anything to do with the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)? There are a hundred and one more questions on the minds of the people until the truth is told.

Or, may I ask, is it some political fund belonging to any political party that is currently kept overseas to avoid detection? We are interested to know what our leaders are up to and how the amount of money could be amassed in the past.

Based on Rahman’s and Azalina’s ( photo ) confessions, the country is enmeshed in some serious problems if the funds came from a foreign source.

We have heard of various spins by Umno leaders, but what we want are some straight answers from Najib to Dr Mahathir’s questions.

Reveal the truth

The arrest of several Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) senior personnel who are on the money trail, and many more in the near future, is also not helping with the entire public relations plot.

It will only put Najib and Umno into a worse spot than what it is presently. Umno leaders only need to ask why the present leadership cannot be more up-front in telling us the truth.

Even the Lembah Pantai and Kluang Umno divisions have voiced their concerns; therefore, Najib cannot blame the opposition for trying to split Umno. The cracks have only gone from bad to worse after Muhyiddin Yassin was unceremoniously removed as deputy prime minister.

Najib has also postponed the next party election by 18 months. It appears that this is nothing but Najib trying to fight off any attempt to remove him as Umno president and as prime minister of the country.

The old adage still holds true, ‘Whatever a man sows, that he shall also reap’. If you use force against your opponents, you will reap it many times more in return. There are no two ways about it. God is great!

Therefore, I urge that the truth be told if Umno wants to win the people’s confidence, instead using gangster tactics to intimidate the people.

On one hand, we are told there is nothing wrong with BN getting funds from overseas; on the other hand, the people who are investigating into the matter are arrested and interrogated by the police.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which was also investigating into the case was also suddenly told that it cannot continue to operate under its acting chairperson.

In short, the investigation by various parties into the 1MDB debacle has been effectively derailed since the removal of the attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail and the elevation of four PAC members to various cabinet positions.

Tell us, why should we, as right minded Malaysians, believe in what the 1MDB board of directors have to say about the cancellation of the inquiry when the company in a statement said, it is its “intention to extend (our) full cooperation to the PAC and look forward to appearing before the committee on the new dates”.

In a recent development, the secretary of the PAC, in a letter to 1MDB , appears to have more power than the acting chairperson Dr Tan Seng Giaw himself.

Another former PAC member, Reezal Merican Naina Merican, gave an assurance that “there would be no cover-up of any information in the investigation on 1MDB”. How do you expect us to believe this?

We have earlier requested for the prime minister in question to go on official leave while the investigations are being carried out. This was never heeded, but promises were made that there would be no interference.

All the latest developments do not seem to suggest that Malaysians have been told the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Does it?

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

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