Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Dato’ Seri Najib Razak makes rare appearance in Parliament; fails miserably to address twin scandals of 1MDB and RM2.6 billion

The Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak made a rare appearance today in the Parliament to answer  a  question  posed  by  the  Member  from  Ketereh,  Tan Sri  Annuar  Musa, who happens to be the new UMNO information chief.

Tan Sri Annuar had asked how Malaysia will collaborate with ASEAN countries to overcome the economic uncertainties we face today.

I  had  the  opportunity  to  ask  a  supplementary  question,  where  I  raised  the  fact  that  the economic uncertainties and the crisis of confidence facing Malaysia today have been caused to  a  large  part  by  the  twin  RM55  billion  1Malaysia  Development  Bhd  (1MDB)  and  RM2.6 billion “donation” scandals.

I  emphasized  to  the  House  that  there  has  been  an  unprecedented  degree  of  negative foreign media interest in Malaysia as a result of the Prime Minister’s failure to address these unanswered scandals. The  clearest  example  would  be  the journalists  from  Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)  taking  a  flight  all  the  way  to  Kuching  just  to  seek  a comment  from  the  Prime Minister “if  you  could  explain  the  hundreds  of  million  in  your account?”

For  their  troubles  they  were  detained  by  the  police  for  6  hours  and  had  their  passports temporarily confiscated.  The attempt to further charge them for allegedly obstructing public officials from  their  duties,  before  they  were  subsequently  withdrawn  and  the  journalists deported further disgraced the nation in the eyes of the global community.

The  refusal  by  Dato’  Seri  Najib  Razak  to  answer  the  simple  question  further  cement  the perception of guilt and wrongdoing not only among Malaysians but to the entire world.

Hence I asked, what was the Prime Minister going to do to address these scandals to reduce the economic uncertainty and crisis of confidence affecting the country’s economy.

Unfortunately,  Dato’  Seri  Najib  Razak  failed  miserably  to  use  the  golden  opportunity  in Parliament,  on  live  television  to  reveal  the  truth  behind  the  scandals  and  silence  all vehement critics on these matters.

The  Prime  Minister  chose  to  paint  the  so-called  attacks  as  an “orchestrated  campaign”against his  government  and  only  promised  that  "I  am  responsible  to  the  people... The process of accountability in the country will continue".

Even  his  re-assertion  that  he  will  let  the  Public  Accounts  Committee  (PAC)  decide  on  the RM2.6  billion “donation”  and  1MDB  scandals  rings  hollow  after  singing  the  same  tune  for more  than  a  year,  where  he  had  pro-actively  stifled  the  investigations  on  these  matters, including the sacking of the former Attorney-General.

Malaysians do not want to hear Dato’ Seri Najib promising investigations.  Malaysians want to hear from the Prime Minister himself with regards to these scandals because more than RM2.6 billion was found to have appeared in his own personal bank account.

Hence  the  question  everyone  is  asking is,  why  the  heck can’t Dato’ Seri Najib Razak let Malaysians  know  why  these  obscene  sums of  money  were  found  in  his  personal  account himself? Why  does  he  need  investigators  to tell  him  why  the  money  appeared  in  his account in order to tell Malaysians and the watching world? This is particularly since it has been more than 8 months since the scandals were exposed?

The  above  proved  that  Dato’  Seri  Najib  Razak  has  failed  to  be  accountable  as  the  Prime Minister  of  Malaysians,  and  further  justify  why  all  Malaysians  should  sign  and  support  the Citizen’s Declaration seeking the removal of the Prime Minister and institutionalise reforms in the Malaysian Government.

No comments: