Pakatan in Putrajaya: Taib, Dr M in dock?

Losing the 13th general election will be akin to opening the Pandora boxes owned by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Taib Mahmud, Najib Tun Razak and his wife Rosmah.

COMMENT

The 13th general election is being turned into the toughest, ugliest and dirtiest election ever in the history of Malaysian politics, mainly due to the incumbent government’s unwillingness to accept defeat.

But it is not so much the defeat itself that Barisan Nasional fears but rather the consequences of a defeat.

So much is at stake for Taib Mahmud and his Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) if Umno-BN loses this general election.

Firstly, losing the polls will mean surrendering the executive power in the government. This means the loss of opportunities to continue enriching themselves and squandering more of the nation’s wealth.

Secondly the exposure of all their misdeeds by the new government backdated to the year 1981 until today.

And lastly the retributions they will get from the law.

Hence the phobia of these three realities compel the Umno elites to plan all kinds of strategies to stop the opposition from winning in the forthcoming election.

The Umno elites are desperate to keep all their ill-gotten riches in secrecy and, away from public knowledge.

These filthy rich Malaysians are the nation’s unsung billionaires. These crooks forget that whatever one does has a tag attached or associated with it.

As all these riches are mostly obtained by corrupt and unlawful means, their wealth is associated with evilness and they cannot escape the consequences of keeping, owning or spending them.

Keeping these stolen riches is akin to owning a Pandora box and losing this 13th GE will be akin to opening the box.

Secret loots

In Malaysia we have four big Pandora boxes owned by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Taib Mahmud, Najib Tun Razak and Rosmah Mansor. Each of these secret war-chests have a story.

i) Mahathir’s mega projects

Within the span of 22 years of his reign, many have estimated Mahathir’s accumulated wealth to be in excessive, allegedly gained mainly from mega government projects awarded to his family or cronies’ companies at highly inflated prices.

Even out of office he still continues to assert his influence on the Umno’s political elite and the government. They submit before him due to their indebtedness to him.

Mahathir’s Pandora box looks much like a miniature replica of the Petronas twin towers, from where bulk of his ill-gotten wealth was derived.

ii) Taib’s timber

Taib has ruled Sarawak for 32 years. Imagine the amount of ill-gotten assets he has accumulated. According to a Swiss NGO, Bruno Manser Fund, Taib has a whopping RM46 billion in his coffers. But if the assets of his cronies are included, the value could reach RM64 billion.

Taib’s main source of wealth initially came from timber but over the years the origins of his wealth has diversified. His Pandora box would likely be a mini tree trunk.

iii) Najib’s submarine

Prime Minister Najib has only been in the seat since 2009. But in that short span, he and his wife have amassed an impressive array of assets. Not comparable of course to Mahathir and Taib.

But nonetheless Rosmah is a keen competitor.

Hence she is pushing her husband Najib to the limits. Najib’s war chest should take the form of a submarine, being the symbol of one of the major sources of his wealth, while Rosmah’s would be shaped like a big branded hand bag. Rosmah has a fetish for super expensive handbags.

Record of misdeeds

Of course these riches came with a heavy price – enemies, miseries to the people, destruction of the forests and environment, a galloping national debt and last but not least human lives had to be sacrificed (Lahad Datu incursion).

Each one of these grand thieves have their record of misdeeds kept in their respective Pandora boxes.

A defeat in this election would mean the opposition-turn-government will open their Pandora boxes and the public will then be able to know the extent of their true wealth.

As such it is pertinent that the people should vote for Pakatan Rakyat to enable the latter to expose the extent of the stolen loot and to recover them.

These Pandora boxes of assets can then be utilised to pay off part of the national debt which now stands at more than RM502 billion.

Awang Abdillah is a political analyst, writer and FMT columnist