SO WHAT DO THEY WANT 1MDB TO DO?

Salleh Said Keruak

There are those who are not happy that 1MDB had borrowed billions to finance its investments. They want 1MDB’s debts to be paid and its exposure reduced. And that is exactly what 1MDB is trying to do.

These same people are not happy that Malaysia’s power company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), was talking about buying some of 1MDB’s assets. They do not want any local company such as TNB to buy over any of 1MDB’s assets. If 1MDB sells its assets to local companies they will call it a bailout. However, they still want 1MDB to reduce its debts.

Now 1MDB is in the final stages of selling Edra Global Energy to foreign investors and there is still a lot of criticism. They are saying that the price is too low (even though it is being sold at a higher price than if sold to TNB) or that this is an act of treason for selling to foreign investors, and so on.

It makes it very difficult when people do not know what they want. They want 1MDB to reduce its debts but they do not want any local company to buy any of 1MDB’s assets and at the same time they do not want 1MDB to sell these assets to foreigners. So what then do they want 1MDB to do?  

There are only three things 1MDB can do and all three things are not acceptable to the critics. There is, of course, a fourth alternative, bankruptcy. Is this what they want 1MBD to do, get declared bankrupt, so that they can make this an issue against the Prime Minister?