“It had all the earmarks of a CIA operation; the bomb killed everybody in the room except the intended target!”

- William F Buckley Jr.

COMMENT | I have been getting all these e-mails and text messages about how Najib Abdul Razak is a traitor to this country and reading about how people are shocked by the letter of the so-called intelligence unit to solicit any kind of help to bolster a failing kleptocracy.

This is not earth-shattering news, folks. This is business as usual for corrupt, racist and bigoted governments the world over asking Uncle Sam for a handout while demonising the US to the locals.

Back in the day when the current Pakatan Harapan grand poobah paid disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to arrange a meeting with George Bush Sr, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang railed against such interference. In a statement, Kit Siang wanted full transparency and wanted to know if government funds were used.

As cited in the international press, then deputy prime minister Megat Junid Megat Ayub was part of a “shadowy Malaysian group” that facilitated funds for the meeting. These days, it's the so-called “intelligence unit” in the former PM's office.

Like I said, whether it is cosying up to the intelligence apparatus of the US or canoodling with its presidents, using funds from god knows where, Malaysia, like many other strongmen “democracies”, has a history of sucking up to the US when it suits their purposes while demonising the US to stir up the local racial and religious base.

And let's be honest - compromised presidents or prime ministers are easier to handle than leaders who are actually pushing economic and regional security reform. Big business demands compliant local actors and the interests of the US trumps those of the local populace when dealing with corrupt potentates who lead race-based political parties.

Last year, in the CIA info dump of declassified articles, three pages concerned Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the BMF scandal. Mahathir claimed that such actions were meant to demonise him.

"Dr Mahathir also questioned the timing of the release of the CIA report, claiming it was politically motivated. 'These things happened way back, between 1981 and 1984, why are they bringing it up now? Can you correct what I’ve done before? The purpose is political. Maybe some people might benefit from it',” So, there is that.

But what I found extremely interesting was the comment by "a source close to Najib" who said this: “Doesn't the current government have more important things to do other than to leak sensitive military intelligence letters between countries to the media in order to continue slandering Najib?