Ariff Sabri: 1MDB is proof of hypocrisy in Umno

Jho Low's alleged involvement is at odds with rhetoric Umno leaders use against Chinese businessmen

PETALING JAYA: If any evidence of Umno leaders’ hypocrisy is needed, one need only to consider the 1MDB scandal, according to Raub MP Ariff Sabri.

Referring to Jho Low’s alleged involvement with 1MDB, he says it is at odds with the rhetoric Umno leaders use against Chinese businessmen when they face Malay audiences.

“The reality – if the young punks in Umno want to know – is that Umno leaders like to do business with non-Malays,” Ariff says in his latest blog posting.

“If they deal with Malays, they don’t get lubrication. Furthermore, Malays like to go around telling stories. With Malays around, you cannot be naughty. With other races, you can do whatever you like.”

He alleges that there are plenty of transactions involving Jho Low and asks, “Is this Chinese boy that brilliant?”

He urges “Malays who don’t support Umno” to be aware that while Umno likes to provoke enmity between the races, its top leaders “sleep with their Chinese financiers”.

He asks Prime Minister Najib’s defenders to answer “the most basic question” about 1MDB: “Why keep money in offshore accounts if not to launder it?

“There’s another question the public would like to ask. Has Jho Low abused 1MDB’s status as a sovereign fund to bid for three famous hotels in London?

“Why did 1MDB, as proven through court documents shown in Sarawak Report, give a letter of support to a company owned by Jho Low? What special relationship does this Chinese boy have with 1MDB or with Najib or with the Prime Minister’s wife?

“Lest Umno forgets, this Jho Low is Chinese. He comes from a community that Umno tells the Malays to fight against. The people at the top frolic with the Chinese even as they tell those below them to flog the Chinese.”

Even with the increasingly worrying reports coming out about 1MDB, he notes, the “Umno boys” are still calling for trust in Najib’s judgement. “The reality is that more and more people are losing their trust in Najib,” he says. “Why is it so difficult for Umno to understand this?”