THE writing on the wall is unmistakable. BN/UMNO’s most recent victory in Johor, in the November 2021 Melaka state elections, and in the Tanjung Piai by-election in November 2019 reveal a powerful lesson that the electorate has taught the doubting Thomasses (pun intended) and the nattering naysayers.
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s popularity has not weakened, withered or waned in the least bit despite the 1MDB allegations when facts got totally confused with data, details, particulars, proof and evidence.
A few years ago some of my judicial colleagues in the USA asked me whether Najib is guilty of the accusations concerning 1MDB. I pointed them to Article 43(6) of the Malaysian Federal Constitution (FC) which insulates ministers and instead offers immunity when they swear an oath of secrecy as prescribed in the Sixth Schedule.
This does not translate to secrecy and privacy from wrongdoing, or allowing crimes to be swept under the carpet. The oath of secrecy is sacrosanct as it is part and parcel of the supreme law of the land. It is there for a very good cause, reason and purpose. The oath of secrecy is thus the ideal shield to keep covert national security imperatives given the fact that ASEAN is not a military pact.
Then, there is another group of crystal ball watchers and worshippers who say that the Federal Court will uphold the decisions of the High Court and the Court of Appeal to show and tell the world that Malaysia has an independent judiciary. All good. No argument here. God bless the unenumerated non-existent doctrine of the separation of powers in the FC.
The same group says the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has the power and authority to pardon Najib under Article 42 of the FC, the supreme law of the land. So, what’s the issue? Disobey, disregard, disrespect and discard the supreme law of the land and challenge the royal prerogative?
As far as the strictures of the law and the tenets of justice are concerned justice was perverted and subverted when they courts found Najib guilty without Jho Low’s testimony. Whatever any prosecutor says, or does not want to say, every bit of evidence in court concerning the relationship of Jho Low to 1MDB and Najib was nothing but pure and unadulterated hearsay!
As President Ronal Reagan advised, “trust, but verify.” The prosecution may trust the evidence, the proof and all other testimonies gathered and garnered in open court, but how do they verify it without Jho Low’s testimony in open court?
The QC that Najib plans to hire will undoubtedly shred and tatter every nuance of procedural and substantive law that led him to temporary infamy.
In another related matter, Gopal Sri Ram was elevated in 1994 from the Bar to the Bench direct to the Court of Appeal without even so much as serving judicial commissioner in the High Court. This is vintage Tun Dr Mahathir Mahathir’s doing. Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has every right to request for the disqualification of Gopal Sri Ram as a prosecutor in her trial as he is believed to be a Dr Mahathir man.
The frenzy of prosecutions began with the rise of the Pakatan Harapan on March 18, 2020 when it toppled BN/UMNO. Dr Mahathir was seking revenge. By February 2020 he was forced to vacate Putrajaya after the so-called Sheraton Move because Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin reportedly had real dirt on Dr Mahathir. Dirt that could find him guilty on all counts of money politics and other shenanigans during his 22 years at the helm.
Political scientists R.S. Milne and Dianke K. Mauzy commented that Malaysia’s financial scandals “reached endemic proportions” in the mid-1980s. Barry Wain, author of ‘Malaysian Maverick’ reckons that Dr Mahathir allegedly squandered close to RM100 billion during his term as prime minister. Dr Mahathir has never been charged!
One of the first scandals soon after Dr Mahathir came into office in the 1980s was the RM2.5 billion “scandal of scandals” when Bumiputra Malaysia Finance, a Hong Kong based subsidiary of state-owned Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad, was found to have engaged in a wide range of shady dealings involving the Carrian Group.
The sordid details included the murder of a BBMB auditor who questioned the propriety of the loans. Then there is the $600 million losses suffered by the country over the Maminco-Makuwasa tin caper on November 19, 1986.
The piratisation (coined by Lim Kit Siang) and privatisation of the North-South Highway in 1987 in concert with United Engineers Malaysia (UEM) evidenced blatant improprieties in the tender exercise, conflict of interest, lack of accountability and transparency and one-sided terms inimical to the interests of Malaysians for three decades. In August 1987, Dr Mahathir stated that UEM, owned by UMNO trustee company, Hatibudi Sdn. Bhd., was chosen in order to finance the $360 million UMNO headquarters, the Putra World Trade Centre!
Bank Negara forex recorded losses as a result of speculation in the international currency markets from 1992-1994, with the losses cited as ranging from RM10 billion to RM30 billion. Kit Siang fought tooth and nail in Parliament in 1994 for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the colossal Bank Negara forex losses to determine the actual extent of the forex losses suffered by Bank Negara 1992-1994; whether there had been any financial malpractices and abuses in view of the inconsistencies and conflicting explanations about the gargantuan forex losses; and establish how Bank Negara could incur such huge losses.
Sometime in 1998 several leading NGOs submitted petitions to the Anti-Corruption Agency in August demanding swift investigations concerning various noted personalities, including the children of the Prime Minister. The Registry of Companies in 1994 evidenced that Mirzan had interests in 98 companies, Mokhzani in 48 companies and Mukhriz in 67 companies. Machiavellian Dr Mahathir never offered full co-operation to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into nepotism, particularly as to whether there is any nepotism in the government, through Petronas, using hundreds of millions of ringgits of public funds to bail out Mirzan Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd.
Dr Mahathir publicly declared in 2002 that Perwaja Steel lost RM10 billion due to mismanagement and misappropriation of funds. No questions, no inquiries, nothing.
Thus far, Dr Mahathir walks free while calling Najib a criminal. Is there a huge difference, contrast or comparison? Najib is very popular with the Malaysians unlike Dr Mahathir who is fond of saying that he got very troubled and worried when Najib mentioned to him that “cash is king.” After all it was Dr Mahathir who introduced money politics from the get go.
Can Najib become Malaysia’s next prime minister when the battle of GE-15 is concluded? He certainly has the requisite qualifications. Politics, after all, is the gizzard of society, full of gut and gravel, as observed by Henry David Thoreau.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
