MP SPEAKS All cabinet ministers are guilty of colossal negligence and irresponsibility of the first degree when they could set up a special task force to conduct a probe into Bank Negara foreign exchange market (forex) losses more than two decades ago but dare not breathe a word on the monstrous 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal.

Only yesterday, a Swiss newspaper gave a two-page spread to what it described as “Biggest Misappropriation of Funds in History”, referring to the international multi-billion 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal.

In the coverage under the headline "La Face Suise d’un Scandal", which is Google-translated as "The Swiss Face of a Scandal", with photographs of the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in the company of Xavier Justo, Jens Fred Sturzengger and Leonardo DiCaprio, with Najib described as "L'instigator" ("The Instigator").

But all the ministers of Najib's cabinet yesterday preferred to play the role of the traditional three monkeys - with eyes that see not, with ears that hear not, with mouths that speak not what the whole world and Malaysians can see, hear and speak - to the extent that Malaysia is regarded worldwide as a new and instant “global kleptocracy” under the sixth prime minister, Najib.

After the cabinet meeting last week, Umno Youth chief and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (photo) said that the cabinet would decide this week whether there should be an official inquiry into the Bank Negara forex losses in the early 1990s.

I asked Khairy to speak for all the youths in Malaysia, that they do not want Malaysia to be known worldwide as a global kleptocracy as a result of the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal, and that while investigations can be launched into the scandals of the past, whether BMF or Bank Negara forex losses, there must be full accountability for the greatest Malaysian financial scandal, which is even regarded as a world-class financial scandal - the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal!

Did Khairy speak up for the aspirations of all Malaysian youths in the cabinet yesterday, to demand that there should not only be a special task force on the Bank Negara forex losses of more than two decades ago, but into the 1MDB scandal, which is continuing to make headlines all over the world, almost every other day?

Let Malaysians demand full accountability from all the ministers, from today onwards, wherever the ministers appear, on why they agreed to the establishment of a special task force on the Bank Negara forex losses more than two decades ago but acted like the three traditional three monkeys on the 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal.

Undoubtedly, the cabinet meeting yesterday was the lowest point ever plummeted by any Malaysian cabinet in the nation’s 60-year history, when it set up a special task force into the Bank Negara forex lscandal more than two decades ago and being completely indifferent and uninterested in the 1MDB scandal, which is making world headlines and news almost every other day and making Malaysians ashamed to admit they are Malaysians when they are abroad.

Just in having such a colossal blind-spot, all ministers are not fit to be in the cabinet, for they seem more interested in exacting vendetta and personal vengeance, instead of protecting the rights, interests and good name of Malaysia.

LIM KIT SIANG is DAP parliamentary leader and the MP for Gelang Patah.

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