Is the BN really going to call for snap elections so soon or are they just trying to drown out an embarrassing London press conference where shocking details of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s alleged role in the Altantuya-murder and submarines-graft case are bound to be dredged up.
“The way the BN leaders have come out one after another in the past few days is very aggressive, as though Najib will be dissolving Parliament soon. I find this suspicious because elections will be early but not immediate,” Padang Serai MP N Gobalakrishnan told Malaysia Chronicle.
“My feel is the 13th GE will be held together with the Sarawak state elections. I am looking at May 2011 at the latest. But nowhere within the next two or three months as the BN is suggesting.”
War drums sounded
Indeed even political analysts doubt the BN was serious despite the relentless beating of the war drums.
“BN needs to get their house in order before going to the polls. I think the Sarawak state polls will be held by year’s end, while the GE will be held in 2012,” said Dr Sivamurugan Pandian, of Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Among the latest top leaders to come out and warn their supporters to get ready are MCA president Chua Soi Lek and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, while Najib himself approved an extra RM500,000 in funds to all BN MPs to help them win over voters.
Given the nation's record-high fiscal deficit and the government's stretched liquidity position, the extra allocation fueled already-sizzling speculation of snap polls. Yet despite generating tangible excitement, Najib and his minders have not been able to steal the thunder from this week’s main event – the so-called Bala thrilla in London.
The main course is still ... the Bala thrilla!
Private investigator P Balasubramaniam will be holding a press conference at the Holiday Villa on Wednesday, where he is expected to give further details of his statutory declaration made in 2008 that implicated Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor in the Altanutya Shaariibuu murder.
He had also revealed their connection to the defense ministry’s purchase of two high-cost Scorpene submarines, where a kickback amounting to RM570 million was allegedly paid to a firm controlled by Najib’s friend Razak Baginda.
"This is the main course. Everybody is looking forward to it because it has all the ingredients that make up a classic - sex, intrigue, money and murder," Batu MP Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
"We don't know what Bala will say yet but the pressure on Najib will be enormous. Even without any new details divulged, the case is like a stone around his neck and he will surely face calls to resign all over again - both for the sake of Umno's credibility and Malaysia's reputation as a safe country run by law and order.".
Bala was hired by Baginda to keep Altantuya from blackmailing him for her US$500,000 share of the kickback. Click here to view the video tape of the press conference Bala gave in 2008.
A former policeman, Bala fled the country fearing for his life after being pressured to retract his statutory declaration. He has also revealed that Najib’s brother Nazim Razak and Rosmah’s friend Deepak Jaikishan had offered him RM5 million to leave Malaysia immediately and to keep silent on the case. At the London presser scheduled on July 7, Bala is expected to reveal more information on this encounter.
Helping the French to break the case
Bala has also been invited by the French authorities to give his statement on what he knows about the roles played by Baginda, Najib, Rosmah and Altantuya in the submarines-corruption scandal.
French prosecutors have told Malaysian civil rights group SUARAM that they are optimistic of being able to prosecute French defense firm DCNS, which sold the Scorpenes to Malaysia. If found guilty, it paves the way for SUARAM to claim back on behalf of Malaysian taxpayers the huge commission that was paid to Baginda's firm.
It is believed that the contract the Malaysian defense ministry signed with DCNS had contained a standard anti-corruption clause, prohibiting the firm from paying any kickback or inducement to close a sale.
"We are hopeful that Bala will be able to shed new light and help the French prosecutors to break the case," SUARAM director Cynthia Gabriel told Malaysia Chronicle.
courtesy of Malaysia Chronicle
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