1MDB'S EXTREME-SCALE PLUNDER: Is that what Najib means by 'INFINITE POSSIBILITIES'

It is impossible to look the other way when the scandal of 1MDB has been front and centre every day for all to see. It has been featuring in the mainstream print media and portals for months. This is not a plane lost at sea or wreckage to recover from a conflict zone. It is something of our own doing. The story has outlasted the humanitarian disaster of the Kelantan floods and has as much appeal as a ripe corpse.

The initial disbelief by the public that dubious dealings on such a grand scale could possibly happen under the gaze of the government has slowly given way to an unwelcome realisation of what “infinite possibilities” might possibly mean. As the details are slowly exposed by trickle and drip, it has meant a continuous, incessant need for damage control.

The powers that be have circled their wagons around the person they still refer to in public as their leader, Premier Najib. This is presumably to ward off the witches brew of negativity from within Umno itself. It is perhaps an unintended admission that negative politics is alive and well, as are its producers, who also brought us Sodomy chapters 1 and 2. This time its hooks are trained in on itself. The warlock has been identified and his coterie of veteran fixers look unwilling to stand down until the incumbent premier stands down himself. Much to Najib’s dismay, it appears Tun Mahathir will not take his retirement rest.

While the federal opposition yells for clarity and transparency on the issue and the accusations reach hyperbolic pitch, the administration of the day merely sees fit to change its front man. Isn’t that too little, too late? Like a runaway horse, 1MDB has caused a ruckus by galloping through town riderless. Is this new front man to save the fund from disaster or just to shut the barn door after the horse has bolted? It must be extremely clear by now that the sheer magnitude of the financial dealings and the potential losses that could accrue will continue to feed the devil of a bad press for the Najib administration, as if he doesn’t have enough of that already with GST looming on the horizon and the price of necessities continuing to rise even before the tax is introduced.

Months after the first denials of any impropriety, and just days after a declaration of the fund’s good intentions, Najib has finally asked the Auditor General to do an audit. Kadir Jasin, a strident critic of the premier and of 1MDB, has asked the AG for quick action on the audit. This suggests that he still puts some stock in the AG’s ability to find any wrongdoing and identify the wrongdoers. But we’ve also heard uncorroborated stories from Sarawak Report that all the 1MDB computers and laptops have been called in for a wipe. So how much will the AG be able to dredge up anyway?

PR gloss

The Najib approach, as Tun Mahathir likes to call it, has focused on inconsequential glitter and public relations gloss over real transformations and the reforms he promised the voters.

Forget about the changes that should be improving the lives of ordinary citizens and keeping extremism at bay. The real question now seems to be how to keep his critics at bay as he struggles to fend off moves to topple not the Barisan government but his premiership and his hangers-on.

After the bounty of cash and freebies pre-general election 2013, the house remains unfixed and the prices of teh tarek and nasi campur continue to climb. And every step closer we take to complying with the demands of the communalists and religious right-wing makes the place that Najib promised every citizen under the Malaysian sun shrink ever smaller in a Malaysia where bigotry is now the norm and no longer the exception.

The Najib premiership has been punctuated by inconsistencies in promises and formulated policy which many Malaysians have had some rhyme or reason to experience. We must assume that being a graduate from England makes the premier well cognizant of his own words to the English language media. So it must be a lack of will or courage to handle the difficult issues that explain the contrary actions that many of the English reading public now expect from his administration.

While the wolves from his own party continue to nip and draw blood from his heels, the public will watch in wonderment at how much punishment his image can take before he makes a last stand against his detractors. Or will his public relations apparatus find some way to redirect the scurrilous attacks against his integrity as they are apt to do, true to form?

Much as it makes for an interesting read, it is really catastrophic that both the apex leaders of the federal opposition and the federal government of the day are indisposed. While one is incarcerated, the other is holding back an unofficial revolt. Rising above nasty and vicious partisan politics, it is really unfortunate for the people that without the direction of a solid leadership their vital concerns will receive only the attention of the civil service on auto-pilot with no authority to change course in the face of a storm. Let us hope that none of the equipment has expired or there may be an all systems failure to pay for. - FMT