Why Is Kleptocrat Mahathir Screaming About Kleptocracy?

Mahathir is saying that Najib is a kleptocrat and that Malaysia is a kleptocracy (so that means democracy is dead, argues Mahathir stupidly). But then Najib’s grandfather was the Chairman of Genting, a company now worth RM155 billion with a revenue of about RM9 billion last year. And every year its profits and market capitalisation keeps increasing. So Najib comes from a wealthy family. Why then keep raising the matter of Najib’s wealth (as what Mahathir is doing)?

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today the destruction of democracy in Malaysia is due to the fact that the country has turned into a kleptocracy. To Mahathir, the opposite of democracy is kleptocracy. Actually, the opposite of democracy is autocracy. Mahathir, somehow, does not understand this or maybe, as usual, he is pretending he does not understand. And this was how Mahathir ruled Malaysia for 22 years, as an autocrat, and not as a democrat.

It is very unwise for Mahathir to talk about the destruction of democracy — or titles his blog posting THE DESTRUCTION OF DEMOCRACY — because that would be talking about what Mahathir’s 22-year rule as Prime Minister was. And to say that the destruction of democracy is due to kleptocracy is silly when it is autocracy that results in the destruction of democracy.

This word ‘kleptocracy’ was recently introduced to Malaysians after the 1MDB campaign failed. Initially, in December 2014, Mahathir said that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had stolen RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money. Mahathir got this information from Muhyiddin Yassin.

Mahathir and Muhyiddin did not understand that 1MDB borrowed RM42 billion to fund RM51 billion in assets and investments and not lose RM42 billion ‘into thin air’

What Muhyiddin and Mahathir did not understand is that 1MDB had invested RM42 billion in various assets and equities. However, 1MDB’s paid up capital is only RM1 million so those investments were funded by borrowings. So it made sense that 1MDB had RM42 billion in borrowings. But its assets and investment came to RM51 billion. Hence 1MDB was not insolvent as Mahathir said.

Although this was very simple to understand, Mahathir and Muhyiddin did not understand it. Or maybe they did but they purposely wanted to mislead Malaysians by alleging that “RM42 billion had disappeared into thin air” and that Najib had stolen the money.

Mahathir did not care whether the allegation was true or not because it was meant as a short-term measure. Najib was supposed to have been ousted within six months so if later Malaysians find out the allegation is a lie it really did not matter. The damage would already have been done.

But that was three years ago and Najib did not fall within six months as planned. So the 1MDB issue is now no longer effective. You cannot carry this issue over four years into the next general election. You need a fresh song to sing to the voters. And that was when Mahathir came out with his ‘kleptocracy’ campaign to replace the 1MDB campaign.

Najib was supposed to have been ousted at the very latest by July 2015 and when that did not happen Mahathir was forced to shift the attacks from 1MDB to kleptocracy

Mahathir is saying that Najib is a kleptocrat and that Malaysia is a kleptocracy (so that means democracy is dead, argues Mahathir stupidly). But then Najib’s grandfather was the Chairman of Genting, a company now worth RM155 billion with a revenue of about RM9 billion last year. And every year its profits and market capitalisation keeps increasing. So Najib comes from a wealthy family. Why then keep raising the matter of Najib’s wealth (as what Mahathir is doing)?

Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Daim Zainuddin, Anwar Ibrahim, Shafie Apdal and many more Pakatan Harapan leaders, however, come from humble beginnings — unlike Najib who comes from a bangsawan (nobility) family whose patriarch was the Chairman of one of the leading conglomerates in Malaysia. In fact, Daim was a failed businessman whose garam factory in Terengganu went bankrupt. And Selangor Menteri Besar Harun Idris had to save Daim from bankruptcy by giving him government land to develop.

To question where Najib gets his wealth from is absurd. However, to question how Mahathir can be worth RM100 billion, a bankrupt Daim RM60 billion — and how Muhyiddin, Anwar, Shafie, Mukhriz, Mirzan, Mokhzani, etc., can be worth another couple of billions — would be justifiable. How do they explain how they can be so rich?

It is mind-boggling that Mahathir is going on and on accusing Najib of being a kleptocrat. It is well-documented that Mahathir cost Malaysia RM200 billion and that RM100 billion of this went into his own pocket. Added to that, Daim’s wealth plus that of the rest of their family, cronies, proxies, and nominees, the RM100 billion doubles to RM200 billion.

Now that is what we would call a kleptocracy, and Mahathir is the kleptocrat. The mere RM2.6 billion that Najib received from the Saudi Royal Family has already been explained. Mahathir keeps asking where that RM2.6 billion came from. But then when Najib explains where it came from Mahathir rejects the answer and asks the same question over and over again. What is wrong with that senile old man? If you do not like the answer then do not keep asking the question.

Najib’s grandfather was the Chairman of Genting while the grandfather of these three above was a schoolteacher from India

Most of the RM100 billion that Mahathir robbed was actually supposed to be Umno’s money. At least that was what Mahathir kept telling Umno — which was why the Umno members and leaders kept quiet thinking that it was the party’s hard-earned money to be used to financed the party activities and general elections, and for Barisan Nasional as well.

When Najib took over in 2009 he realised that the money was not in Umno’s pocket but in the pockets of Mahathir and Daim and of their cronies, proxies and nominees, plus family members. With no funds to finance the 2013 general election, Najib was forced to seek funding elsewhere and hence had no choice but to accept the funding from the Saudi Royal Family.

If Mahathir is so against Najib receiving RM2 billion or RM3 billion funding from the Saudis, why did he not return the money, or at least some of the money — say like RM5 billion from the RM160 billion that he and Daim are keeping?

The bigger issue, and which is frightening Mahathir, is how much of that money he stole came from the RM31.5 billion that Bank Negara lost? Mahathir is worried that the RCI findings might be pursued and he might end up in jail. So that is why Mahathir keeps talking about kleptocracy and alleges that Najib is a kleptocrat. If he keeps shouting that someone is a thief then people may not notice that the person shouting is actually the real thief.

The RCI has clearly fingered Mahathir and Daim as the culprits of the Bank Negara forex disaster. So there is no escaping this one. And that is why Mahathir is playing the distraction game. Keep whacking Najib and accuse Najib of stealing so that attention is focused elsewhere and no one talks about the RCI report proving that Mahathir and Daim are the real thieves.

Kit Siang and Guan Eng both know that the RM1 billion which Mahathir gave them is stolen money and yet they have no problems accepting the money

And Mahathir knows that Pakatan Harapan is bankrupt of issues and will readily support him on the 1MDB and kleptocracy song and dance. That is why Pakatan Harapan is the chorus with Mahathir as the lead singer even though they all know that the real kleptocrat who robbed Malaysia of hundreds of billions is Mahathir and not Najib. In fact, the Pakatan Harapan people know that the RM2.6 billion came from the Saudis and was not stolen from 1MDB.

Pakatan Harapan leaders are proving to be political pariahs. They do not mind working with Mahathir even though they know Mahathir screwed up the country and stole billions. As long as they can oust Umno and Barisan Nasional and march into Putrajaya they do not care how it is done. These are people who would make a deal with Hitler and exterminate innocent Jews as long as they can get into power.

If the DAP people like Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng and many more are so principled why accept the RM1 billion from Mahathir? They know the RM1 billion is stolen money and belongs to the rakyat and yet they accept the money. Is that not as good as DAP stealing the rakyat’s money? The only thing is they did not steal it themselves but they used Mahathir to do the stealing and took a share of the spoils.

The DAP people are worse than Mahathir. At least the whole world knows that Mahathir is a thief. The DAP people, however, pretend that they are Gandhi, Mandela and Mother Teresa three-into-one and then work with Mahathir and accept RM1 billion of the rakyat’s money that Mahathir stole. So, when Mahathir talks about makan dedak, is he not actually talking about DAP? Pakatan Harapan people should be ashamed of using the term ‘makan dedak’ on others when their own leaders are guilty of makan dedak.

Rashid Rahman, the VP of PPBM, shamelessly admits that he rigged the elections when he was the SPR or EC Chairman from November 2000 to December 2008

In the November 1999 general election, Barisan Nasional won 57% of the votes and 76% of the seats, with Umno winning only 37% of the seats. One year later, in November 2000, Mahathir appointed Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman as the Chairman of the Election Commission (EC or SPR).

Abdul Rashid’s job was to make sure that Barisan Nasional does not lose its two-thirds majority in Parliament in the 2004 general election because, according to the reports from the Special Branch and the Military Intelligence, this was going to happen.

It would be even more dangerous if the general election were to be held in November 2004 because Anwar Ibrahim was expected to be released from jail before that, and hence would be able to lead the election campaign (which was why the 2004 general election was held earlier in March and not in November).

In the 2004 general election, thanks to the effort of Abdul Rashid, Barisan Nasional won more than 90% of the seats in Parliament although it won less than two-thirds of the popular votes. Abdul Rashid had done a marvellous job in denying the opposition the federal government.

Today, Abdul Rashid is the Vice President of Mahathir’s party, PPBM. How ironical that Mahathir’s blog posting today is titled THE DESTRUCTION OF DEMOCRACY. This is what one would call spitting into the wind. The spit lands back onto your own face.