Felda Chini folk: Equanimity what?

Dr Mahathir Mohamad was quick to seize on news that 1MDB-linked businessperson Jho Low's yacht had been impounded by Indonesian authorities, using it as cannon fodder for his inaugural ceramah as opposition leader in Pekan, Pahang, yesterday.

But while the issue could be a big hit in urban areas, it appeared Low’s superyacht sailed over the heads of last night’s crowd in Felda Chini.

"Because the money (used to buy the yacht) was stolen from 1MDB, that is why the Indonesians dared to seize it," Mahathir said in his speech.

This prompted only a few of the 600-strong crowd to give the former prime minister a rather unenthusiastic applause.

The cold response is likely due to the unfamiliarity of the topic to the Felda residents.

"I don't know anything about the yacht," Rahim Umar, 50, told Malaysiakini.

Thirty-year-old Saiful Aiman was similarly unaware of the yacht - named the Equanimity - and its significance in the 1MDB scandal.

"It's it the first time I'm hearing about it. Things like this, I don't know much about," the plantation worker said.

A friend of his, who declined to be named, did not even know that Mahathir had been talking about a stolen ship.

"Was there a missing ship?" the puzzled youth asked.

Billion-ringgit superyacht

Pakatan Harapan is partly banking on the 1MDB scandal, which implicates Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, on turning the tide in their favour at the upcoming 14th general election.

However, 1MDB fails to spark much interest in the rural areas, where voters are more concerned about bread and butter issues.

Low's yacht was reportedly custom-built for him in 2014 to the tune of US$250 million (approximately RM1 billion).

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking to seize the vessel as part of its anti-kleptocracy asset recovery exercise.

The DOJ claimed that Equanimity was bought with laundered money that was “stolen” from 1MDB.

Court filings by the DOJ indicate that the laundered funds were also used to buy jewellery, pay gambling bills as well as to acquire famous art pieces, among others.- Mkini