Why is Malaysia the most “man man” (slowly, slowly) in the world when the rest of the world have been very “kuai kuai” (quickly, quickly) in persecuting those who have been complicit in stealing billions of dollars from Malaysian tax-payers?

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Razali Ibrahim urged patience with regard to the ongoing investigation into 1MDB, even using words in Chinese to stress his point.

"In Chinese, we say man man lah, man man (slowly lah, slowly).  We will wait for the (outcome of the) matter, which is under investigation by the relevant authorities. God willing, the truth will be revealed," Razali told the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday, 14 November.

The government treating 1MDB as a joke just shows how ridiculously selective investigations in Malaysia are.   It is obnoxious to expect Malaysians to wait even longer for a decision on a case involving multi-billion dollars that’s already been ongoing for years.

Worse, other countries have already investigated, charged and even jailed perpetrators involved in the 1MDB, while Malaysian authorities continue to drag their feet on the matter.

How much slower does the Deputy Minister expect investigations to slow down to?

His statement lays bare the sheer double standards of the government and authorities when it comes to investigating politically-linked scandals. If it’s an Opposition or parties critical of the Government, the authorities act with lightning speed. However, when the tables are turned, authorities are suddenly asked to go through things slowly.

The first police reports filed against 1MDB were done in 2014. In June 2015, the Home Minister said in Parliament that investigation papers had been referred to the Attorney- General in March. That was over two years ago, and the Attorney-General and the police are still passing the investigation papers between each other.

By comparison, the investigation into Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, started with a report to MACC on March 18 2016. Investigation papers were submitted to the AG in May and an arrest by MACC was made in June. It took MACC just two months to investigate and the AG just one month to decide on prosecution despite Lim Guan Eng having presented evidence to the contrary of the charges.

Why don’t we see this level of efficiency when it comes to scandals involving tens of billions of ringgit which implicated even the Prime Minister and his family?

Dismissive comments such as in the Deputy Minister’s speech prove just how little the government cares about upholding justice and protecting the interest of ordinary Malaysians. With billions of Malaysian public funds gone and allegedly funding the lavish lifestyles of others, we need to ask who the government are really defending – the people or crooks who are in power?