PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's silence on allegations against Prime Minister Najib Razak suggests that the Islamist party chief is not interested in Malaysia's fate, says opposition veteran Lim Kit Siang.

"Hadi has made clear as to where he stands on the issue - that he wants to 'Save Najib' and not to 'Save Malaysia'.

"Is this why Hadi had not said a single word of condemnation or even criticism against Najib over the 1MDB scandal, although it is the 'mother' of all financial scandals in Malaysia, and is even regarded as the largest kleptocratic scandal in the world?" Lim asked.

In his speech last night at Changkat Jong, Perak, the Gelang Patah MP added that he was also seeing signs that grassroots PAS and Umno leaders may not follow their leaders blindly.

He cited reports on the defeats of PAS Youth chief Nik Abduh Nik Aziz at the Pengkalan Chepa PAS division election and PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan in the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) election.

"These two news items remind us that a quiet revolution is taking place in our nation, and it is a great error of judgment for anyone to take the people's support for granted," Lim said.

Hadi has said little about the ongoing 1MDB scandal except that the local authorities should be allowed to investigate, not foreigners.

He has also appeared in public with Najib and top Umno leaders on several occasions, for example at the Rohingya solidarity rally in Kuala Lumpur last December and his chat with Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak last October.

Grassroots may feel differently

Lim said PAS and Umno leaders should not assume their members would definitely vote in accordance with their wishes and directives, regardless of the circumstances.

"I have not come across greater restiveness and unease among the Malay voters about the Umno government and leadership, especially those who understand the magnitude of the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal, which is making news headlines almost every other day all over the world, except in Malaysia.

"Even among the 1.6 million in the civil service, I do not think there has been a time in the history of Malaysia where the civil servants are so restive and agitated over the corruption in the top levels of government and the lack of good governance of the Umno leaders," Lim said.

He said Malaysians across the board and political affiliation would not want Malaysia to become and continue to be a global kleptocracy.

"Even ordinary Umno and PAS members, if they understand the real issues involved in the 14th general election, will unite with all patriotic Malaysians to save Malaysia (from this fate)," he said.

Last September, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) launched what it called its largest action ever brought under its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative (Kari).

Through a series of civil forfeiture suits, it is seeking to seize more than US$1 billion worth of assets that it claims were the result of criminal proceeds from the embezzlement of over US$3.5 billion from 1MDB.

Cases related to 1MDB have also been undertaken in Switzerland and Singapore, among others.

Malaysia has not seen any individual charged over the 1MDB scandal, with Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani on March 17 saying this was because the authorities did not have a "complete story" of the scandal.

Lim urged voters to save the country from becoming a "global kleptocracy, which will hurtle the country towards a failed and rogue state".

He added: "In less than eight years as the sixth prime minister, Najib has succeeded where the country’s first five prime ministers... have not done in 52 years - subjecting Malaysia to world-wide ridicule and mockery as a global kleptocracy."