MP SPEAKS The message central to the nation-wide 'Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Mana RM2.6 billion?' campaign is to let the prime minister know that one Lim Kit Siang can be suspended from Parliament for six months, but tens and hundreds of thousands and even millions of Malaysians will rise up and declare “I am also Lim Kit Siang” to ask the same question: “Najib, mana (where is the) RM2.6 billion?”

Leaders of over 20 Asian-Pacific leaders are in Southeast Asia for the Asian Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) Summit in the Philippines and the Asean Summit in Kuala Lumpur, to exchange views about the future of the region and the world.

But there is one thing that Najib has outclassed all the world leaders from the Asia-Pacific region, whether President Xi Jingping of China, President Barack Obama of the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia or President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

No other leader in Apec, Asean or in the Asia-Pacific region would have RM2.6 billion in his personal banking account, and what is worse, refusing to explain where it came from and to whom it went to, although Najib claims full commitment to the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance.

In his visit to Malaysia, Obama met social activists who identified corruption as the main concern in Malaysia which in turn has affected public institutions and human rights.

Elephant in the room

Obama’s assurance to the social activists that the anti-corruption agenda is very important to him would have to be taken with more than a pinch of salt.

This is because the elephant in the room in Malaysia about Obama’s commitment to an anti-corruption agenda, is the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the US Department of Justice probe under the DOJ’s Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010, of Najib in connection with the 1MDB.

This was first reported by the New York Times on Sept 11, but up to now, leaders from both countries have been very coy about it – neither confirming nor denying if Najib is being investigated whether he is a “kleptocrat” by the US Department of Justice.

When will Najib stand up in Parliament and inform the nation whether for the first time in the 58-year history of the nation, the country’s prime minister is being investigated as to whether he is a “kleptocrat” by the US Department of Justice or issue an outright and definitive denial?

LIM KIT SIANG is DAP Parliamentary Leader and the MP for Gelang Patah.