Is PM expected to possess fabulous riches?

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YOURSAY ‘Somebody has to pay for this extravagance, abuse, and arrogance.’

 

PMO blasé about Rosmah's 'jewellery invoices'

          

Kim Quek: PM Najib Razak told New York Times (NYT) reporter Louise Strong that the millions that his wife splashes around come from his inheritance. Inheritance from whom? From his father Abdul Razak Hussein?

 

But our dedicated and frugal second prime minister was as poor as a church mouse right up to his death. This fact is discerned from an article commemorating Abdul Razak written by Najib’s youngest brother Nazir, titled ‘ Remembering my father, Tun Razak ’.

 

The relevant paragraph is so moving - in enlightening us of the honest career of this illustrious prime minister - that I can’t help sharing it with Malaysiakini readers.

 

Writing on Razak’s final journey to United Kingdom in 1975 where he died of cancer, Nazir writes: “He must have known that it could well be his last trip, yet he did not allow my mother to accompany him to save his own money; probably concerned about her financial situation after his passing.

 

“She only managed to join him weeks later on the insistence of the cabinet and with a specially approved government budget for her travel.”

 

Since the millions couldn’t have come from Razak, Najib has better tell us from whom he has inherited the fortune. Failing to answer that may be taken as confirmation that he has illegitimate sources of fabulous income.

 

Vijay47: Kim Quek, you are right, it is a moving quotation. It reflects two principles totally lacking these days.

 

The insistence by the cabinet shows the affection they held for a dying Razak and his wife and even then, the flight fare for the wife required a special approval from government.

 

Today, any ‘insistence’ would be out of highly refined sycophancy and ‘approval’? Please. Many in high places especially their wives regard public facilities and funds as their private preserves for them to use as they wish.

 

Somebody has to pay for this extravagance, abuse, and arrogance. And I don't mean monetarily.

 

Two points here bring more dismay to Malaysians and confirm many of their suspicions. The first was, surprisingly or perhaps not surprisingly considering the letter-writing skills in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), that Najib's Arabian Nights wealth "are not unusual for a person of the prime minister’s position, responsibilities and legacy family assets".

What exactly does this mean? That the prime minister of Malaysia is expected to possess such fabulous riches?

 

Are we then supposed to believe that perhaps Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the menteri besar of a mere state, could similarly own a proportionate though beggarly RM3-4 billion or so? But why does nobody think so?

 

Then we have the "close associates from Russia, Colombia, China, Kazakhstan and Mexico" who feature prominently in Interpol galleries. Kazakhstan? The in-laws must be outlaws. And the rest, Mafiosi and members of drug cartels.

 

So who can blame Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for frolicking with his friend Paul Phua, the alleged gambling king? All in all, just another day at the office.

 

Abasir: While we don't know if Tunku Abdul Rahman, Abdul Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn made a pile during their tenure and led vulgarly ostentatious lives, we know for sure that all those who came after them did.

 

It all started with Dr Mahathir Mohamad, an ordinary GP (general practitioner) who, after his 22 years as custodian of the Umno money machine, is now allegedly wealthy beyond the dreams of most Malaysians.

 

Similarly, the ex-civil servant Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who has yet to explain the ‘food for oil’ mystery and now of course, the unaccountable Prince of Putrajaya, the high-flying, consultant-dependent, 'sovereign fund' manager moonlighting as a PM.

 

Najib has as much credibility as the fellow who came to see him in the dead of the night for a 'scholarship' - following which he lay down on a 'flying carpet' with KY Jelly in his hands.

 

JD Lovrenciear: This NYT report needs to be published in the Malaysian local dailies. Therein lies the test of professional journalism. This is no mere allegations.

 

Cabinet ministers, are you going to remain with blindfolds and sealed lips?

 

As responsible citizens who are always pledging to defend the nation, we must demand clear concise answers to all that is reported in the NYT. Otherwise we are all traitors to nation, Agong and people.

 

Kang Kong King: What family inheritance? Yes, we knew of the Noah Foundation with shares from the Genting casino, but it also belong to other children and family members of Noah, not Najib alone.

 

This gambling profit (maknanya duit haram) was as the result of Noah allegedly ‘helping’ to secure the land for Lim Goh Tong when Najib's father was the deputy prime minister.

 

Kingfisher: One wanders how the rich who have "wealth without work" can reconcile with themselves in the privacy of their own minds.

 

Then again, it would seem that moral guilt conscience is not a persuasive perquisite for those with lowly endowments and a propensity for greed gratification.

 

Maplesyrup: The PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) don’t want to see the invoices of Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor’s multi-million dollar jewellery purchases, because they don’t want to know.

 

The more they know, the more they have to answer.


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