PMO AIRHEADS CONCEDE TO WIND DOWN 1MDB IN SIX MONTHS

Umar Mukhtar

Chief hypocrite Dr Mahathir Mohamad is gloating over the announcement as reported by The Star that 1MDB is to be wound down by early next year. He has apparently won this round in his call for 1MDB to be closed down.

The report is baffling coming in the midst of the Prime Minister’s insistence that there is nothing drastically wrong with 1MDB, and the Finance Minister II’s resolute attempts at damage control. We can make mistakes but we must also be seen to be able to handle it. Wonder if the PM was informed.

Are these little boys at PMO aware of the sensitivities of the financial markets? To announce the scheduled winding down of a heavy international borrower will make creditors jump nervously and may lead to cross-defaults of billions of Dollars worth of bonds for the people to eventually pay. The resulting misery is unthinkable.

The country ratings will plummet because it can be misconstrued as admission of lack of capacity to manage heavy borrowings, making future borrowings more difficult and more expensive. Correct things first, then only announce to close it. We haven’t seen the full picture yet, and these boys had already surrendered.

I am one of those who think 1MDB is a mistake and must be done with. But in a timely and orderly manner. Not appearing as a knee-jerk response to people like Mahathir and his gang who may have other agendas. This is not a goreng pisang stall to be closed at one’s fancy without accompanying implications. Where are the PM’s experienced corporate advisers to vet this announcement? Or have they also joined PM’s public relation czar in his drunken stupor?

Mahathir in the aftermath had also gleefully asked for the heads of those responsible for the losses. I agree with him 100% that those who were reckless with the spending of other people’s money should be sent to jail. So while we are at it, let’s reopen the forex file and catch those who were gambling with people’s money so as to cost 58 billion ringgit loss.

I am sure we can find that some breaches of scope of power, mala fide and official lying were involved. Statute of limitations? Not in this case. We did not act fast enough before because we did not know the detailed gambling misadventure. Now that the crooks are back in action and feigning lily-white conscience and bravado, let’s pin their asses to the wall.

Consider this: Two brothers were given ten ringgit to keep for tomorrow. The elder one gambled it away and the younger lost some of it and doesn’t even know what he has got left. The father was advised that the younger one should be punished for being stupid while the elder one should be let off scott-free because it is known where the money went that he lost it gambling. Logic of a perverted old man to absolve himself.

Anwar is getting lonely, if joined by his former colleagues, they can hold mock cabinet meetings in Sungai Buloh prison. And glamour-loving little boys should not be given a man’s job to do.