World champion of corruption

Transparency International, ANI Washington, Hindustan Times and WSJ Live, to name a few, have all bestowed Malaysia the dubious honour of Champion of Corruption.

COMMENT

By Chua Jui Meng

For so long, Malaysia has been in the domestic and international limelight as far as corruption is concerned.

However, it has never been humiliated and shamed by the international community wholesale like today.

Transparency International, ANI Washington, Hindustan Times and WSJ Live, to name a few, have all bestowed Malaysia the dubious honour of Champion of Corruption.

Much have been written, reported and more than 100 financial scandals exposed since 1983, beginning with the then world’s biggest banking financial loan scandal – the Bumiputera Malaysia Finance (BMF) which came with a murder suspense.

BMF’s internal auditor Jalil Ibrahim was found dead in a banana grove in Hong Kong in July 1983 when he was sent there to probe the scandal.

The federal government had to bailout BMF three times to a tune of RM2.5 billion to keep it afloat.

After 29 years, no one has been punished for the financial scandal and no one has been convicted for the murder.

That was 1983. What about today?

It is still the same as reflected by the murder of Mongolian interpreter Altantuya Shaariibuu who is linked to alleged corrupt financial practices over Malaysia’s Defence Ministry’s purchase of two French-made second hand Scorpene submarines at an inflated price of RM6.7 billion.

What is confirmed is that Altantuya was murdered by two police security officers who served Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor.

Although the two policemen have been convicted for the murder and their case is pending appeal, what we amazingly still don’t know are these:

• What’s the motive for the murder. The presiding judge had the audacity to rule that the motive for the murder is irrelevant. Can any court in the world beat that?;

• Why did the murderers, after shooting Altantuya point blank on the head, need to use exclusive military grade C4 explosives to blow up her body. The plausible explanation for this is to destroy all DNA evidence as she was reported to be pregnant when she was killed. This begs the question: Whose child was Altantuya carrying?; and

• Why is the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) government so fearful of the ongoing French court’s probe on alleged corrupt financial practices over the Scorpene purchases, to the ridiculous extent of barring French lawyers from entering the country to brief parliamentarians and Malaysians on the development of the case.

Rising federal debts

Malaysia is a country blessed with vast and rich natural resources, including oil and gas. But, after 55 years of BN-Umno rule, the country’s federal debt is at more than RM620 billion (including RM118 billion in off-budget liabilities or sovereign guarantees for private corporations like the Port Klang Free Zone and government-linked company loans ending 2011) against a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of RM881 billion or 70.4% of GDP.

This means the BN government is operating way above the legislated federal debt ceiling of 55% of GDP.

Although I have mentioned this many times over, there is surely a need to keep on reminding all Malaysians so that, when they go to the next general election, they can make an informed decision on what they must do to save Malaysia from an economic disaster of a bankrupt nation.

Congratulations Najib. The whole world now knows you are leading the most corrupt nation on earth.

Chua Jui Meng is PKR vice-president and Johor state chief. He is also a former MCA vice-president and an ex-Cabinet member.