COMMENT | Kit Siang helps Najib launder his reputation

Editor's note: Following a reply by Lim Kit Siang, published here, the author of this article has requested an addendum which has been attached to the end of this piece.

"Will Najib do that and will the BN, comprising Umno, MCA, and MIC, declare they will never name Najib as a future prime minister of Malaysia?"

– Lim Kit Siang

COMMENT | In a public statement from the DAP in 2018, the highly respected Lim Kit Siang, the grand old man of Malaysian politics, said this:

“Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak is entitled to a fair and objective hearing in his trial over criminal breach of trust and abuse of power involving RM42 million linked to SRC International Sdn Bhd – although this was denied to many during Najib’s premiership, especially Teoh Beng Hock. Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed, A Kugan, S Balamurugan or Altantuya Shaariibuu.”

Leading up to the general election that saw Umno fall from grace, Lim wondered why the silence from a prime minister which international news organisations had labelled a “thief”.

“In the first time in 61 years of the nation’s history, the prime minister of the country has been publicly been called a ‘thief’, not once, but twice within two days, by two international media organisations on completely different issues.”

Now it seems that Lim was willing to work with Najib if he condemned the 1MDB scandal because apparently everyone is capable of change for the better. There is a funny quote by Lim in his piece about working with a reformed Najib.

He wrote: “There are no angels among men and women but it is wrong to see anyone as the very embodiment of evil.”

This is of course hilarious because the DAP and its hardcore partisans do this to anyone they disagree with or who disagrees with them.

This Manichean view is straight out of the DAP playbook and there is a dearth of quotes and actions by DAP political operatives and supporters who have done “wrong” by seeing their detractors as the “very embodiment of evil”.

Indeed Damansara MP Tony Pua lectured a Chinese school in Johor for inviting Najib to speak there, wagging his finger and saying: "These governors should all be sacked for a complete lack of integrity, for failing to set an upright example for our young and innocent children and destroying the moral fibre of our society.”

Didn’t someone tell Pua that it is wrong to see anyone as the embodiment of evil, that people can change but most importantly, you should not lecture people on ethics when your own party had hooked up with someone your bosses had called a cruel dictator for decades?

I would say that this puts the other DAP political operatives in an uncomfortable position, but seeing how any form of dissent is frowned upon in the DAP, nobody is going to come out and disagree with Lim.

Indeed, by making this statement, the DAP does not get to lecture anyone on their silence or working with Najib.

They can’t say this to Umno, the MCA or anyone really who thinks that maybe Najib has “changed”. Or does someone change only when the DAP says so?

Keep in mind that Najib swore on oath in a mosque that he had nothing to do with the murder of Altantuya, stating “In Allah’s noble house, and on this thankful Friday, I declare and swear... I have never instructed any individual to murder a woman of Mongolian nationality named Altantuya Shaariibuu.”

People wanted change

Is that good enough for Lim? Also, remember that Najib was willing to take an oath saying that he had nothing to do with 1MDB but his lawyers said that he had already taken an oath in court.

"After the case is finished, I would like to invite (Lim) to the mosque where I would swear a sumpah laknat on 1MDB,” Najib had said in his Facebook post.

Four years have passed since Najib made that offer, so maybe he and Lim could get together and forget that Najib was found guilty because, you know, a man can change and he is going to swear that he did nothing wrong in a mosque. Who needs to condemn when you swear on a holy book, right?

Say what you want about PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli but at least he has the cajones to directly attack Bossku and throw rhetorical hand grenades into the well-laid plans of the Malaysian political establishment.

Here we have a young Malay leader taking on corruption and political malfeasances head-on, and an elder Chinese leader aping the sentiments of religionists who claim that a man can change if he condemns an act but does so with no penitence.

Lim is peddling the same manure as religious operatives by downplaying the extent of not only Najib’s corruption but also that when a man supposedly changes, all his sins are washed away.

People who voted for Pakatan Harapan wanted change but all they got was the same old horse manure, while Harapan political operatives and hyper partisans berated anyone who demanded that Harapan live up to its promises and its supposed principles.

I get that hardcore Harapan supporters want someone to tell them how to reform this country instead of knowing what they want and ensuring their political candidates fulfil the mandate they were voted in for, and for years Harapan coasted on this.

All of these upheavals are Harapan's chickens coming home to roost.

Do you know what fence-sitters see when they read something like this? They see a craven political gambit and why bother voting or even voting for Harapan when the Malay uber alles parties do it much better.

The rhetoric of Lim, unfortunately, feeds into the propaganda of Malay uber alles parties, which attempts to depict the DAP as willing to work with anyone in order to gain power.

Addendum: A writer's note

Lim replied to my piece today, objecting to the characterisation of his words as the laundering of Najib’s reputation.

First off, I read everything he writes because I think they are worth reading. So yes, nothing he wrote in his reply is new to me.

His quotes regarding the Johor by-election, Tony Pua, and Najib are all a historical record of what he thinks of the former prime minister which is the reason why I chose to use the quotes of his that I used in my piece.

And that is the point.

With all Lim has said about the former prime minister, he still for some odd reason chose to write a piece about how he would work with the convicted prime minister and how a person could change for the better.

This of course is not new. Lim has said he was willing to work with Najib to save Malaysia, before the general election that brought Najib and Umno down, and that he was comfortable with Islamisation if it is done within the framework of the Constitution even though we are slipping into a theocratic state.

Lim clarifies now that he wants to see Najib in jail. He wants him to be an example of how a politician can and should be held accountable for his actions.

Then why write a piece extolling the virtues of change but more importantly, telling Malaysians he would work with Najib if only he would condemn 1MDB which the former prime minister has said was a political witch hunt? How does this save Malaysia?

Why write a piece telling Malaysians he would work with Najib when the former prime minister and the elements of the political establishment are working angles so that Najib may very well receive a pardon from compromised Malaysian institutions?

How does working with someone like this further the goals of equality and justice in this country?

Why write a piece telling Malaysians that you would work with Najib and lecturing people about change when the former prime minister is wandering the countryside, his allies are corrupting institutions, and his propagandists are reminding Malaysians of an imagined middle ground in politics that only Umno can deliver?

Why write a piece telling Malaysians you would work with a former prime minister who at this very moment is inciting the baser elements of the political class to further racial and religious agendas but at the same time making inroads into minority communities because Harapan has let them down so badly?

All Lim's piece did, like what that dumb debate that Anwar agreed to do and a Singaporean public official did by visiting Najib, is to launder his reputation.

If a seasoned political operative like Lim was not aware that his words in his original price were merely containing the process of laundering Najib's reputation and what he desires, then Harapan is really in trouble.

Then again both Lim and I endorsed former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, which I very quickly said my mea culpas for and which is public record, so we all make mistakes.

My advice to Lim is, do not give ammo to political opponents your comrades are still fighting against in the trenches.

S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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