My third open letter to the prime minister

#DearNajib

It has been a long time since I last wrote to you, Mr Prime Minister.

First of all, I would like to congratulate you on staying in Malaysian politics for a span of 40 years.

The reason I am writing to you is that I can’t help thinking about you, almost every morning, day, and night because, congratulations - you have become the most talked-about person in Malaysia, or perhaps, the world.

Everywhere I go, I hear about people talking about your RM2.6 billion story. When I go jogging, I hear aunties and uncles talking about you. During Chinese New Year, the issue of RM2.6 billion would crop up during discussion. School children would blurt out the question of RM2.6 billion whenever they study in classes.

Malays, the Chinese, and Indians would also gush about your RM2.6 billion in coffee shops with friends or families. News stories about the RM2.6 billion are splashed across all the major newspapers and electronic media in the world, online and offline, almost every day.

Your name, Najib, is omnipresent; the figure, 2.6 billion, ubiquitous.

You become famous, or to be more precisely, infamous for the vast sum of money - RM2.6 billion that was deposited into your personal bank account some time ago.

If the story of 2.6 billion had been a song, it would have been remained at the top of the Billboard Charts for more than 33 consecutive weeks! Well done, Mr Prime Minister!

It’s true; the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has cleared you of wrongdoing by declaring that the RM2.6 billion is a donation from unknown sources in the month of August last year.

And recently, your trusted and favoured subordinate or friend, the newly-appointed attorney-general, Mohamed Apandi, Ali absolved you of any illegal financial connection with 1MDB on Jan 26, 2016.

It seems that the New Year 2016 is a new dawn for your chaotic political career in 2015, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

However, the 2.6 billion is a mystery. To paraphrase Churchill, I cannot forecast to you the story of 2.6 billion. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

When it was first reported in the month of July in 2015 by the Wall Street Journal, it was stated that the 2.6 billion sum of money banked into your private account was linked to 1MDB-related companies.

Then, after one month of investigation, the MACC declared that the money was a donation, or to be more exactly, it came from donors, not one person, but many.

And you personally said in an interview with The Star that the MACC had met with donors from the Middle East.

And your trusted attorney-general, Mohamed Apandi Ali further added, the RM2.6 billion, was “a personal donation” from the Saudi royal family.

All the bare facts beg to differ

In spite of that, as the story unfolds, all the bare facts beg to differ.

First, Adel al-Jubeir, the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, asserted that the money was part of a business arrangement, believing that it came from a private Saudi citizen instead of the Saudi government and was meant for investment purposes in Malaysia rather than a political donation.

One member of the royal family of Saudi Arabia, as reported by the news media, claimed that the RM2.6 billion came from a private Saudi prince and it was not a political donation as claimed by MACC.

Mr Prime Minister, please note that MACC and your beloved Deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi earlier confirmed that the money had come from donors, but now the Saudi Foreign Minister and a member of the royal family say that the money was from a single person.

How contradictory?

It appears that what the MACC and your deputy have said lacks credibility.

Yes Mr Prime Minister; you may be acquitted by the MACC, exonerated by your family and political friends, but still never vindicated in the eyes of the public and perhaps, the world.

You may be wondering why?

As your RM2.6 billion story is “a mountain of theory built on a molehill of evidence” as quoted by the journalist Geoffrey Carr. There are still many questions that make your story of 2.6 billion as donation untenable. Let me explain to you as an ordinary citizen of Malaysia.

1. First, when it was first reported that the sum of RM2.6 billion had deposited into your personal bank account by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Sarawak Report, you couldn’t give an honest and definite answer except you said you had taken nothing for personal gain. Why didn’t you say that it had been a donation in the first place if the ‘donation’ was really legitimate? And why did it take one month for MACC to find out the RM2.6 billion was a donation?

2. Secondly, why did you take drastic measures to sack your deputy, Muhyddin Yasin, the then-AG, Abdul Gani Patail, and reshuffle the cabinet if everything had been proper?

3. Initially, you wanted to take legal action against WSJ, screaming defamation and political sabotage. And we the rakyat thought that WSJ had smeared the good name of our prime minister and it later transpired that what the Wall Street Journal had reported is true. In this particular instance, who was lying?

4. I have never heard of anybody returning a large portion of donation money back to the donor. The idea of returning back the donation money is a flimsy alibi unless you have found out the money donated was questionable and illicit. Furthermore, returning donation money intended for a good cause is a manifestation of complete contempt for the magnanimous donor, or donors, who has or have given out perhaps the ‘largest donation’ ever in the world.

5. As our seasoned politician Lim Kit Siang says in the press, “What amount of unused money had Najib actually returned to Saudi Arabia? And where is the documentary proof of the return of such sums of money?” Could you show us your bank statements to prove that you have returned the money to your ‘donors’?

Lend a hand to Zoo Negara?

6. And why didn’t you make good use of the remaining unused RM2.6 billion for good causes and instead you returned it back substantially? For example, in a December 2015 article titled, ‘Zoo Negara hopes more NGOs will sponsor animals’ in New Straits Times, it says Zoo Negara needs RM14 million annually for food and maintenance.

If our National Zoo needed such a vast sum of money annually and desperately, why didn’t you lend a hand with your billions to relieve its problem? Why didn’t you use the money to alleviate the suffering of those who live in abject property in Malaysia? Aren’t you a prime minister of magnanimity and generosity?

7. One question that keeps haunting my mind is that when your good friend, the AG, Mohamed Apandi, explained in a press conference that you had been unaware of money coming from 1MDB-linked companies deposited into your private bank accounts.

It’s preposterous a finance minister had been unaware of money in and out of his bank accounts. How could you hold a post of such extreme importance if you don’t even know any sum of money going in and out of your private bank accounts, let alone the complex, complicated, and convoluted financial affairs of our country ?

8. As the computer network analyst Azral Shah summed up succinctly in a New York Times report, “It’s not logical at all. I’m not sure what is the true story, but most of the nation doesn’t think that what they are telling us is true.”

9. And how many more RM2.6 billion stories we the rakyat have yet to hear from you, the prime minister as the current RM2.6 billion donation has been reported in isolation?

In the eyes of the rakyat, Mr Prime Minister, your reputation is in a state of foul decay. It has been ruined beyond repair. As the Economist recently reports, “Now Mr Najib’s credibility is in tatters.”

But there is still hope, if you, the prime minister, take some decisive actions to mend your ways.

As a mutual fan of Manchester United, I would like to offer you some ways of doing some major repairs to your reputation.

Declare all your assets

First, if you are really clean and spotless and innocent, as always believed by you and friends, then you should declare all your assets to all Malaysians and the world, detailing all the transactions that have gone in and out of your private bank accounts.

It’s that elementary, my dear ‘prime minister’!

And if you could do that, I firmly believe that our venerable Dr Mahathir Mohamad will reignite his passion in Umno and return to Umno again. Your political foes, Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Tony Pua and the like will salute you as the legitimate and the greatest Prime Minister of Malaysia. In fact, they all will hail you as the ‘hero’, a man of courage, honesty and integrity.

However, if you are wrong, Mr Primer Minister, just admit your mistake, resign, and step down as the prime minister.

All the rakyat and your political foes will still respect you as a prime minister who dares to admit his own mistake and take responsibility.

In fact, all Malaysians want you, the prime minister, to be a success, rather than a failure. They care about you, and our country! That’s why they keep talking about you.

Before I end this letter, I would like leave you with some apt advice by your predecessor, the compassionate Abdullah Ahmad Badawi:

“But always remember that the most important thing a leader leaves behind is character.(you lack character?)

“Political stability and economic success are important but remember character - integrity, honesty and empathy. That is how I remember your father and how I want you to be remembered, too.

“Take this as an advice from an old man. Be a leader that is loved and respected. Not one that is feared and obeyed. I pray to Allah you will be guided to the right path for the future of our beloved country.” (you are on the wrong path!?)

Mr Prime Minister, think about it in 100 years from now , when people mention your name, do you want them to remember you about the RM2.6 billion, the Mongolian murder, 1MDB and...?

Are those your cherished legacies?

Or do you want them to remember you as the great and honest prime minister of Malaysia?

Think about it.

If you want to be trusted, be honest. if you want to be honest, be true. if you want to be true, be yourself. ~ Anonymous

Be the ‘Man’! Mr Prime Minister!

Period.

Regards,

Chong Beng Lim@ChongBeng

-Mkini