COMMENT As far as I can see it, there are two strategies currently being used to take away people’s attention from the ongoing 1MDB debacle.

Both are not working because people no longer trust the current batch of leaders, and as aptly put by CIMB Group chairperson Nazir Abdul Razak, we are living in political dark times.

We shall look at the ‘Strategy of Distraction’ and ask Barisan Nasional’s newly-minted strategic director Rahman Dahlan if this is the strategy being employed.

In short, the idea is to distract us from the main issue, which implicates both Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

First, there is the damning report early this month by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that an amount equivalent to the entire reserve of the Selangor state government (RM2.6 billion) had allegedly been funneled into private accounts belonging to one individual by the name of Najib Abdul Razak (Dato’ Sri).

Since the report flashed across the world on July 2, Najib has zipped up. He neither admitted nor did he deny that the transaction had ever taken place. This has led to another equally damning report for Malaysia, titled ‘The Scandal That Ate Malaysia’ in Bloomberg .

Our task force investigating into the 1MDB should be forthright in revealing the truth. While they are investigating, the managing director of SRC International, Nik Faisal Ariff Nik Othman Kamil, who is implicated in transferring the money into Najib’s personal accounts, has apparently gone into hiding .

It is not clear whether the 1MDB task force is now seeking to find out from Nik Faisal the reason for the transaction, or is he being pursued as a whistleblower for releasing information to a third party.

Secondly, Sarawak Report highlighted another case of RM2 million cash being deposited into an individual’s account bearing the name of one Rosmah Binti Mansor (Datin Sri). This has also shocked the nation. All we want to know is whether there is an element of corruption in the case.

No investment would yield such a huge sum, and as someone pointed out, even with a 10 percent yield, Rosmah would need RM22 million in investment.

Sarawak Report ’s editor Claire Rewcastle-Brown had published evidence to prove that the cash deposit was indeed made by one Roslan Sohari, who claimed he did not know Najib and Rosmah, but evidence from Roslan’s Facebook provided by Sarawak Report shows that he was the resident manager at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Since Bank Negara was aware of it, and the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) is now in the know, has any investigation been carried out and appropriate actions taken?

Distractions

While both the local and international media have done a great job with the expose, I feel that we should not be easily distracted by one former Sarawakian journalist, Lester Melanyi, whom even Sarawak minister James Masing had not given much credence .

The younger brother of Court of Appeal judge Linton Albert had claimed that he was in touch with one alleged fictitious forger James Steward Stephen, but it has been proven that the photograph was that of one James Steward, a senior station manager for the bus company Abellio, based in Norwich.

The real Steward is apparently not amused by Lester arbitrarily lifting his picture from the website. We should leave this to the British High Commission to lodge a direct complaint to the Home Ministry so that action could be taken against Lester.

Lester’s video clip, which was released by Pertubuhan Minda dan Sosial Prihatin leader Ramesh Rao Naidu and used by BN’s newly-minted strategic communications director Rahman Dahlan, is nothing but a form of distraction to the real issues.

Both the media and the inspector-general of police have given Lester too much attention. It makes one wonder if Lester is in fact part of the strategy of distraction, and his allegations are being hyped up to make it appear as though there is a political conspiracy to topple Najib.

The rationale is not there for Sarawak Report to be blocked. Brown had easily debunked Lester’s claim, yet the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission  (MCMC) saw it fit to block Sarawak Report , instead of Lester’s video clips.

The one who is truly doing a disfavour to the Barisan Nasional’s already tainted reputation is Lester. Masing is quoted in The Malaysian Insider as saying, “I'm quite surprised (Abdul Rahman had used him). If Abdul Rahman had asked me, I would not have advised him to use him (Lester).”

Re-focus

Tomorrow, I will delve into the second strategy used by people in the perception game.

Meanwhile, as the country’s economy is badly hit, and news has just reached us that the ringgit has dropped another 0.3 percent to 3.8055 a dollar as of 10.08am July 22, we have to re-focus our attention on expediting the investigation into the 1MDB debacle, and haul up the relevant people for investigation.

As PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli has correctly pointed out, Najib is the most important figure with regard to this investigation; therefore, he should be called to testify as well both by the task force and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as soon as possible.

Najib is both finance minister as well as the chairperson of the advisory committee to the 1MDB. There is no way that he can escape from his responsibility over the way how his brainchild turns out, especially since it involves a humongous amount of public funds.

The IGP, Khalid Abu Bakar, should not go off tangent and go witch hunting to find out who is out to topple Najib; instead, he should ask why ordinary people like me are concerned over the amount of money that went into one individual’s personal accounts.

The media should also re-focus its attention, and editors should all agree not to give Lester any media space. Whether he sings or croaks, no one cares. At best, he is a distraction, and an unsuccessful strategy used by Rahman and Naidu to get people’s attention away from the 1MDB.

Our main concern is that, if a scandal of such magnitude can escape the long arms of the law, it would set a dangerous precedent for the future generation of leaders, in particular anyone coming from Umno.

As a nation, we would have to pay a hefty price for the sins of our leaders.

Tomorrow: The Second Strategy has not changed the people’s perception in any way.

 

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