Najib's clairvoyants and incompetent storytellers must go

COMMENT The report of the communications and multimedia minister's latest blog post is interesting.

What we are told just goes to show yet again why the 1MDB conundrum can never come to a satisfactory conclusion without honest, impartial outside agencies coming in to settle the issue.

The minister said those who have, according to his charge, slandered Najib Abdul Razak should now apologise to the latter on the basis that, also according to him, they have relied on The Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) erroneous information published solely to defame him (Najib).

As we know, WSJ has not only stood by its first exposé but also published more.

Since we are led to believe that WSJ's reports have been based on untruths, then Najib Abdul Razak must take it to court.

But Najib has instead tried to avoid doing the necessary by first feigning a weak comprehension of English and then by giving the excuse that he was not well known enough stateside to be able to command a substantial sum of money as compensation.

And then he demurred again because of the Speech Act.

It was one excuse after another, and some eight months has gone by without him doing anything to clear his name if he indeed is clean.

Obviously to Najib, that his image has been immersed in a cesspool matters naught, that what matters is money.

When you don't care about your image, then you deserve no apology even if you are worthy of the expression of regret. Because an apology is meant to, in this case, clean an image that has been sullied.

I shan't touch on the rest of the things that the minister has said, or else this piece will be very long.

I shall only comment on his claim that WSJ has just now said the money was not from 1MDB, after all, but that it was a donation from Middle Eastern sources.

I don't remember WSJ having stated anything like that, at all. I may be wrong, of course.

Can we have some intelligent rebuttal, please?

I think many, if not most, of us are reasonable people. We would not jump to conclusions but look at the matter at hand closely first before we form an opinion.

Unfortunately, we have not heard much, if any, intelligent challenge coming from Najib's supporters since this multi-faceted scandal blew up. The below are but a few examples.

1. The giver of what was claimed to be a donation (±US$681 million) changed in numbers from one to several.

2. Najib was given the money because of, among other things, his fighting of the IS.

But the IS was not yet in existence when the money was transferred into his personal bank accounts.

3. Australian Immigration charged that Sirul Azhar Umar’s videos were made before he was incarcerated at the Villawood detention centre, in Australia.

But Sirul's statements of great import described matters that are valid and events that have transpired after his arrest and incarceration.

It would be very much appreciated if Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop and Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton could part their lips and use their vocal cords to explain to us how this extraordinary happenstance has come about.

4. We are supposed to believe that a Saudi prince has written a letter that proves that Najib has indeed received a donation from the Saudi royal family.

But there are several things that show the letter is not veritable. I have written a piece providing a few examples, but it has not been published.

Here are additional ones.

One of the glaring errors that have given the game away is that the gift was made in appreciation of, among other things, the existence of the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) that Najib has initiated.

The big problem is that the letter was dated Nov 1, 2011, while the GMM made the news more than a year later.

The GMM initiative was reported to have been adopted by the 20th Asean Summit in Phnom Penh only on April 3, 2012.

The GMM's first CEO, Saifuddin Abdullah, was appointed only in September 2013.

This means that the GMM went into business, so to speak, only some one year and five months after the news broke out.

If you want to reward Najib for his effort, you would do so only after the movement has officially begun operating, because anything could have happened before that that requires you to abort it.

Quite beside the fact that the ghostly prince seems to have been conjured from the sands of Arabia, he is also like Sirul, in that he can foresee the future.

Then again, in fairy tales, such a thing is, naturally, possible.

Of course, we also note that the contents of the letter have obviously been so worded to clear the doubts of the hoi polloi with regard to the legitimacy of the money found to have been transferred into Najib's personal bank accounts.

Unfortunately for Najib, instead of exonerating him, the letter has incriminated him even further by also confirming that he has received money from a company owned by Jho Low.

That company is Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners Limited.

Conclusion

The problem with having yourself surrounded by clairvoyants and incompetent fairy tales tellers is that you cannot be taken seriously. You need normal people with sound, sapient brains.

Speaking of which, whatever has happened to the gentleman called Paul Stadlen (former Apco Malaysia boss)?

Surely, someone with his experience and background should be able to craft logical, credible stories - never mind if they should be works of fiction.

Because even if they were works of fiction, we would at least be entertained instead of being insulted and annoyed.

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ODIN TAJUE is a regular Malaysiakini commenter.