MP SPEAKS DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s arrest and two corruption charges is one of the eight after-effects of the BN victories in the twin Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections on June 18.

The BN twin by-election victories have given Prime Minster Najib Abdul Razak the confidence to go on an all-out political offensive, believing that he has the licence to do whatever he likes to consolidate his political power position despite creating a paradox for Malaysia - a prime minister who is seemingly more powerful and unshakeable inside the country but who is increasingly regarded in international society as the worst prime minister for Malaysia who had virtually made Malaysia synonymous with global corruption with his RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” twin mega financial scandals, which are being investigated in seven different countries.

The eight twin by-election effects are:

1. Giving Najib the confidence and belief that he can sweep the twin RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” scandals under the carpet at home, either by intimidating or silencing critics or dissent, whether in the media, civil society or political front, closing media publications, blocking internet sites, arrests and prosecutions, and just ignoring growing international clamour for accountability for the 1MDB scandal of global embezzlement, money laundering and corruption. In fact, in the 10 days after the twin by-elections, the world’s media have continued with exposé of the ramifications of the 1MDB global scandal, including spotlighting the whereabouts of the Penang billionaire Jho Low and his real role in Najib’s twin mega scandals.
2. The sacking of Muhyiddin Yassin and Mukhriz Mahathir from Umno and the suspension of Shafie Apdal as an Umno member.
3. Series of actions against former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, including propaganda attacks, police investigations for his remarks likening Najib to Uganda dictator Idi Amin and the attempts to withdraw government funding for Mahathir projects like the Perdana Leadership Foundation.
4.  Major purge in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) involving the two top men in the MACC, reminiscent of the earlier purges of the key figures in the former Special Task Force on 1MDB, involving topmost officers in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Bank Negara, the police and MACC.
5. The campaign to incite racial and religious tensions in Utusan Malaysia after the twin by-elections, including falsely painting DAP as anti-Malay and anti-Islam.
6. The irresponsible, incendiary and seditious kafir harbi statement by the Pahang mufti, which is not only given national prominence and front-page treatment by Umno mouthpiece, Utusan Malaysia, but condoned and “white-washed” by the Prime Minister’s Office, instead of a forthright repudiation by the prime minister and his cabinet.
7. Cabinet reshuffle to bring in more mediocrity and sycophancy and “yes men” whose sole loyalty is to Najib’s survival and not to the nation or people.
8. The arrest of Guan Eng on two corruption charges in the latest attempt to destroy the opposition and defend Najib’s political position.

It is matter of sorrow and anger that Najib and his cabinet of sycophants do not see the need to check Malaysia from continuing its trajectory towards a fractured, failed and rogue state.

The whole object of the arrest and prosecution of Guan Eng was revealed in a confession made in a statement issued by the BN strategic communicaions director, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, the new Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department yesterday, who said that Guan Eng’s arrest shows DAP is not so clean after all.

This is the time for all Malaysians to rise above race, religion, region or even political affiliation to 'Save Malaysia' from hurtling onwards towards a fractured, failed and rogue state.

LIM KIT SIANG is MP for Gelang Patah and DAP parliamentary leader.