Amanah president Mohamed Sabu tickled the crowd at PKR's fundraising dinner in Penang last night when he said Malaysians would be the strangest people on earth if they cannot change the federal government at the 14th general elections (GE14).

At the event, Mat Sabu as he is popularly known, said it is strange if Malaysians refused to make a change after the country has been put under the global spotlight for alleged money laundering activities related to 1MDB.

He pointed to the latest video clip by CNBC which detailed the money trail and transactions involving the sovereign fund based on newspaper reports and the United States Department of Justice's claims that about US1 billion of Malaysian taxpayers' money has been "stolen".

"We are already considered a corruption pariah. Our Corruption Perceptions Index has fallen to 47/100 percent, with two African countries doing better than us.

"The highest we got was 56/100. This time, we have failed in this area," he added, to laughter from the 2,000 strong crowd.

"You can laugh. But if we can't make a change even after all these, then I do not know what to say, what kind of people are we, we must be very strange (pelik)," he added.

About 2,000 attended the dinner at Spice Penang in Bayan Baru and heard speeches from PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, state DAP chief Chow Kon Yew, state PKR chief Mansor Othman, and state Bersatu chief Marzuki Yahya.

Meanwhile, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said BN has given the people five important reasons why they must vote for change in GE14, which must be called by August.

Firstly, while the people are suffering due to the burdensome six percent goods and services tax (GST), Prime Minister Najib Razak says he eats quinoa and not rice.

"Quinoa costs RM600 per 10kg, compared to rice at RM26, he is not eating quinoa but gold, he does not understand the people's hardship," Lim said.

"Do you prefer a PM who eats quinoa or rice?" Lim (photo) asked the audience.

Secondly, he said the controversy over billionaire Robert Kuok has angered the Chinese community after the tycoon was incessantly attacked by several Umno leaders for allegedly donating money to DAP, a baseless claim.

"Their attacks clearly showed that Umno is racist and extremist. It shows they do not appreciate those who help them as Kuok has donated funds to Umno and MCA," he said.

"How can they be the government, it's time for us to change," he stressed.

The third reason involved the Swiss Finance Ministry's seizure of CHF 90 million (RM400 million) from 1MDB-linked funds seized from several banks.

Lim pointed out that those who stand to lose due to such financial scandals are Malaysians themselves.

"Until today, there is no statement from the government regarding the matter," he added.

As the fourth reason, Lim named the issue of Umno possibly benefitting from payments made by the undersea tunnel contractor - Consortium Zenith Construction Sdn Bhd to an Umno politician and businessperson for a botched consultancy work in July last year.

On Feb 24, Zenith issued letters of demand to the duo, prompting Lim to ask the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to arrest the politician Abdul Azeez Rahim (photo) and to avoid double standards.

Azeez, who is also Tabung Haji chairperson, has lodged a police report denying he received the money, while MACC has detained two high profile individuals who had allegedly taken the money to try and get MACC to cover up its probe on the tunnel.

Fifth, Lim named Indonesia's move to seize The Equanimity, a superyacht owned by Penang-born business tycoon Low Taek Jho or Jho Low which he purportedly purchased using 1MDB money, showed MACC's bias.

"Why MACC does not probe the case, why (is it) so afraid to go to Bali, where the yacht was seized?" Lim questioned.

"With all these scandals happening in Malaysia, it is time to rise up and make a change," Lim said to loud cheers from the crowd.

"But having Harapan in Penang is not enough, we need Harapan in the whole country," he added.