COMMENT Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s one sweeping statement made during his press conference in Putrajaya on Friday will not save his skin, however he likes to put it.

He is clearly showing his desperation to hold on to his last straw to remain in power amidst pressure by the opposition, his party members and civil society to resign from all posts until the investigation is completed.

Disbanding the task force probing the 1MDB scandal has not only raised more suspicion, but put Najib into a tougher situation now than when the first salvo was fired by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

May I remind Najib and his two cabinet ministers that this is no Archimedes’ “Eureka!” as yet? It may appear as light at the end of the tunnel, but what is moving fast into the tunnel is a high-speed train.

We are just 33 months towards the next general election and the more Barisan Nasional (BN) loses its support from people who have been following the 1MDB scandal, the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu and the impact of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the cost of living.

Intelligence

Frankly, I am quite shocked that Najib could say that there is no law on political funding , also known as political donation.

The law has always been there and clearly it spells out that political donation is a form of corruption. In fact, beyond this, there exists a law that is far above Parliamentary Act 694 which dictates who has the moral stature to govern the nation. This will determine who the people will vote in the next general election.

While Najib may think he has finally found an explanation that appears most plausible, in my opinion, it is better for the embattled BN chief to be up-front with the people, tell the truth and account for the money borrowed by 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion that was funnelled into his private accounts, instead of beating around the bush.

These are the controversies surrounding Najib in the past few months after they were raised by the opposition, Dr Mahathir himself, and through a series of expose by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Sarawak Report and the Edge.

His rationale of ‘neither right or wrong’ is based on his assumption that there are currently no regulations on political donations; but this is simply the most inconceivable and lame excuse ever given by the prime minister.

Just because there is no written law or Parliamentary Act on gravity, it does not mean that the law of gravity does not govern our existence.

In fact, anyone who tries to defy the law of gravity will suffer the irreparable consequences of a great fall, and like Humpty Dumpty , not even the king’s men or the king’s horses could put Humpty together again.

If you fail to listen to the voice of conscience or the law within your heart, you will end up tormented in your soul. Lying to an entire nation will not lead to greater repercussions than being truthful and downright honest.

Stop insulting our intelligence

Never think for a moment that Malaysians can take such an explanation any longer because our level of cynicism has indeed reached a level that we may never give BN, in particular Umno, another chance for many years to come.

Ask any Malaysian on the street, and I sure that those of us who are discerning and thinking Malaysian citizens, want to get to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal, have the ‘mystery Middle Eastern donor’ identified, his motive for funnelling RM2.6 billion into Najib’s private account, and whether the money had come from some illegal sources such as online betting or drug trafficking.

The pious Muslim can ask a further question whether the money was indeed from a ‘halal’ or a ‘haram’ source. If the money was just a couple of million ringgit, no one would bother, but RM2.6 billion is beyond anyone’s imagination.

As citizens of this country, we all are interested to know whether the ‘individual’ who contributed such a huge sum of money had any vested interests in the country.

Listening to the latest story from former Terengganu menteri besar Ahmad Said ( photo ), we are now asking if there had been an agreement on oil commodity ‘futures trading’ signed between the country’s leaders and the individual. Cynical, but worth asking!

Otherwise, what drives an individual to give such a huge donation of RM2.6 billion? Are there motives behind the donation? What we all know is that in this world, there are no free lunches.

If yes, what are the ‘returns’ that Najib has promised him? This is one thing that no one except Najib can come clean, and tell the nation. We cannot continue to listen to some lame excuses given by some ‘half-past-six’ (borrowing the words from Dr Mahathir Mohamad) cabinet ministers or from Najib, Idris Jala or Paul Low now saying there are no laws that govern political funding.

Tell us, be up-front

All we are interested to know is how the ‘political donation’ was spent within the period, from the day that the money was delivered into Najib’s private accounts and when the said accounts were closed.

How is it that Bank Negara did not detect such a huge amount of money moving into the country? Why was no alarm raised? If a movement of a mere RM10,000 could cause the bank to start monitoring the client, how much more should an amount equivalent to the entire reserve of the state of Selangor be subjected to inquiries especially when it involves the personal account of one individual.

To date, the money has not been adequately accounted for, either by Najib or others from Putrajaya. Both cabinet ministers Paul Low and Idris Jala, who appeared together with Najib in the press conference, have not done justice to both the prime minister and the nation, by offering such line of defence.

More transparency is required from Putrajaya on how the money was expended during the last general election.

We know, for example, Najib had given out a couple of million ringgit here and there, but this does not even amount to one billion ringgit. Anyone with the most up-to-date information is welcome to list them out one by one, but my question is where did the rest of the money go?

Najib, as a ‘trustee’ and more so as a prime minister of this country, is duty-bound to give a full account of the money that was received. Failure to do so could mean a breach of the public trust, or worse, a steep drop of public confidence in Najib as the leader from the ruling party.

In more mature democracies, prime ministers or even presidents who suffer a crisis in public confidence would have stepped down, but in Malaysia, every effort is done to whitewash the wrongdoings of politicians, where white is turned black, and black becomes grey.

Listen to the voice of conscience

The presence of Low and Idris, standing on each side of the prime minister, is particularly very disturbing, considering that both are supposed to represent the voice of conscience.

Low, in particular, is supposed to be the minister in charge of integrity and governance.

Knowing both of them personally, I have to say that I am truly ashamed of them, that perhaps, their cabinet positions and all the privileges that come along with the positions have become more important than their higher calling of being simple ‘salt and light’.

Salt is supposed to stop the rot. If the salt has lost its taste, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

Contrary to all the explanations given by Putrajaya, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 has clearly defined the word ‘gratification’ as ‘money, donation, gift, loan, fee, reward, valuable security, property or interest in property being property of any description whether movable or immovable, financial benefit, or any other similar advantage.’

The laws are there. Besides that, there are universal laws of transparency and morality. If one is not transparent right from the beginning about the political donation, until it is exposed, of such a humongous amount, then, there is the likelihood that the money could have given as a form of corruption than true political funding.

If the money is from a foreign source, all the more it may jeopardise the national interests of all Malaysians. It is not only a question of the existence of a law governing political funding, but a question of right and wrong which Najib should not try to excuse himself from.

Any donation given to Malaysiakini ’s building fund, for example, is transparent with the name of the donor engraved on a brick.

The Barisan Nasional chief should have been been properly advised by his ministers that a prime minister can only govern the country through moral stature. In the next general election, BN will face a huge trust deficit, if Najib and his men continue to treat the civil society as gullible and ignorant citizens.

 

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