Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s latest salvo at Datuk Seri Najib Razak includes the prime minister’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, and her ‘lavish lifestyle’. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, April 20, 2015.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad fired a new salvo at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today, this time including mention of his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and her "lavish lifestyle".
Taking Najib to task again over unexplained missing funds from debt-ridden 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), Dr Mahathir said in a blog post today that he had been able to overlook some of Najib's "behaviour" until now.
"There are many things about his personal behaviour that I thought were not right. But I was prepared to overlook them, including he and his wife’s lavish lifestyle," the former prime minister wrote.
"But when he cannot explain where billions of ringgit have gone to and his involvement with questionable people in the management of 1MDB, I feel that he is not fit to be the prime minister of this country.
"I will explain about how he lost billions of ringgit in my next blog," he said.
On Saturday, Dr Mahathir said Umno, the ruling Malay party of which Najib is president, ought to remove him or risk losing the next general election.
"We are faced with this choice: either you remove a prime minister who has failed and who will lead Umno to lose the next election, or you take your chance that if he goes off, we may be able to revive Umno," Dr Mahathir had told reporters after giving a speech an an anti-war forum in Kuala Lumpur.
He said Najib should be removed because he had failed to explain financial scandals involving 1MDB and where some of its funds in the Caymans had gone.
In previous blog posts at chedet.cc, Dr Mahathir has criticised Najib several times over 1MDB, and also his policy of giving cash handouts under the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M).
The prime minister of 22 years has previously called for Najib's resignation, but had never before this told Umno to take action so openly.
He had also never publicly commented on Rosmah before, whose spending on jewellery was mentioned in a February article in the New York Times which highlighted the wealth of businessman Low Taek Jho.
Low's role as a property investor and transactions involving various parties, including Riza Aziz, Najib's stepson, was also highlighted.
The paper also reported Rosmah's spending on jewellery and designer handbags.
It said that Najib, “who earns an annual salary of about $100,000 (RM360,000) as prime minister, has been battered by news media reports of his wife’s lavish spending”.
It also noted that there were photos of Rosmah using at least nine different Birkin bags, which typically cost between US$9,000 and US$150,000 a piece.
The paper, furnishing invoices and other documents as proof of jewellery purchases for Rosmah, had asked the Prime Minister's Office for a response and received a response which said: “Neither any money spent on travel, nor any jewellery purchases, nor the alleged contents of any safes are unusual for a person of the prime minister’s position, responsibilities and legacy family assets.”
This led to speculation about Najib and his family's wealth, and triggered a letter signed by Najib's four brothers – Datuk Johari, Datuk Nizam, Datuk Nazim, and Datuk Seri Nazir – taking issue with those who speculated about the inheritance left by their father, Malaysia's second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein.
The four Razak brothers said their father was known for his integrity and frugality, and denounced "anyone who taints his memory".
"We are extremely concerned that some recent news articles and postings have given rise to speculation as to the nature and extent of the inheritance that our late father, Tun Abdul Razak, had left behind.
"We wish to put on record that Tun Abdul Razak was a highly principled man, well-known to all who knew him for his frugality and utmost integrity and any statement or inference to the contrary would be totally false and misleading to his memory and to his service and sacrifices for the nation," said the statement issued on February 24.
The Razak brothers added that the "whole family" was united on this issue.
- TMI
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