Why Najib must remain silent

If he sings like a bird, we may witness a Greek tragedy in Malaysia.

COMMENT

Very few people now recall how the Greek economic tragedy unfolded. It actually began with the Opposition coming to power and, in a bid to prevent the ousted ruling party from making a comeback, revealing that the government was on the verge of default. That set off a run on Greece. The rest is history. Greece, under the new government, could have hung on for a few more months and perhaps found a way to prevent the run.

Everyone knows that even the strongest bank in the world would collapse if there’s a run on it i.e. when all the depositors turn up bright and early one morning and demand their money back.

We must take Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s assurances on Malaysia’s “sound economic fundamentals” with more than a pinch of salt. She said she would start worrying only if there was “no economic growth.”

It’s an open secret that the country is in a mess and that this is because Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has chosen to play deaf, dumb and blind to the various scandals plaguing his administration. So, will things become better if he opens up, spills the beans on the altar of transparency, openness and public accountability? It’s doubtful. In fact, things could go from bad to worse. It’s the work of the government to maintain consumer sentiment and investor confidence. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be doing this work.

Nothing short of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the various scandals associated with the Najib administration would help the country find closure.

If Najib sings , we may witness the making of another Greek tragedy.

At this juncture, we can hazard a guess on what Najib is hiding, on why he refuses to step down and it’s not because the cat would come out of the bag once he’s gone. With so many CGPA 3.85 ministers around, notwithstanding the rating agencies, anything can happen. The rating agencies, by the way, are also vultures. They serve the banks who only want to know whether a borrower is making repayments to other banks.

What has happened to Malaysia under Najib comes down to the nature of the man himself. There is any number of people who, knowing Najib’s feudal mindset and imperial pretensions, have decided that they could take advantage of the situation and make rich pickings in the process. The Prime Minister is careless with details, preferring to leave them to others. This is why there are people who have taken advantage of him, the government and the country.

Who are these people? There are no prizes for guessing – the banks, hedge funds, investment managers, Arab loan sharks, lawyers and those who work with Najib at 1MDB and elsewhere.

We have only to look at the case of Puerto Rico to see how these vultures operate. They realise that Najib could be led by the noose since all political power in Malaysia was concentrated in him as the Prime Minister and his office and department in general. There are no checks and balances standing in the way. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad created the system to suit his dictatorial style of administration and left it behind for people like Abdullah Badawi and Najib to inherit.