‘THIS IS THE TRUE STORY OF MALAYSIA’: MALAYSIA’S ENVOY TO U.K. THROWS TANTRUM OVER THE ECONOMIST REPORT, DISGRACES HIMSELF WITH FACETIOUS DEFENCE OF ‘BILLION DOLLAR THIEF’ NAJIB

An ‘arrogant colonial mindset’ and publishing an article ‘based on falsehoods’, Malaysia’s High Commissioner to the UK Datuk Ahmad Rasidi Hazizi has not minced his words in lambasting the UK financial daily over its recent articles on Malaysia.

In a letter to the editor of The Economist dated 15 March 2018, Ahmad Rasidi wanted to bring to the attention of the publication the biased reporting of its recent articles “Stop, thief!” and “Tilting the playing field” published on 10 March, and also show the real situation in Malaysia.

“Your recent articles on Malaysia contained serious errors and reeked of an arrogant colonial mindset, disparaging our prime minister, government, police, judiciary, election commission, media and even our voters,” he took The Economist to task for deliberately misrepresenting the facts.

Filepic: The Economist

“For example, America’s Department of Justice never accused Najib Razak, the prime minister, of “siphoning” off funds, nor has Mr Najib ever suggested that the funds were a “gift from an unnamed admirer”.

“In fact, the prime minister and numerous officials have stated that the funds—the vast majority of which were returned—were a donation from the royal family of Saudi Arabia.

“This has been confirmed by the Saudi foreign minister, who has publicly stated that the funds were “a genuine donation with nothing expected in return” and that the Saudi authorities consider the matter closed,” Ahmad Rasidi reminded.

Malaysian High Commissioner to the UK Datuk Ahmad Rasidi Hazizi Filepic: BernamaHe also refuted the article’s insinuation about Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak misusing his federal powers to rig the election in his coalition’s favour, pointing out that the UK government can also be accused of doing the same thing.

“Separately, to suggest that the redrawing of electoral boundaries to account for population growth is somehow “rigging the system” reveals your double standards for Western countries and the rest of the world.

“Your allegation would imply that numerous democracies are guilty of the same charge, not least Britain, where significant constituency changes are expected in advance of the next election.

“In Malaysia these changes were proposed and implemented by the independent Election Commission and subsequently approved by the judiciary, whose impartiality is evidenced by the fact that it frequently rules against the government and senior ministers.”

He proceded to share the real picture of the nation’s progress as verified by international bodies on its sound economic credentials.

“Since Najib Razak took office in 2009, Malaysia’s gross national income has increased by more than 50%, 2.3m jobs have been created, unemployment and inflation have been kept low and poverty reduced significantly.

“Indeed, the Malaysian economy is growing at such a fast rate that the World Bank had to increase its estimates for our growth three times over 2017, to 5.8%. The government’s plan for the economic well-being and security of Malaysia and its people is delivering.

“This is the true story of Malaysia,” Ahmad Rasidi summed up his observation which were reproduced in the ‘letters to the editor’ column of the financial news magazine.

Your reporting appears to have been based exclusively on falsehoods pushed by opposition parties and their sympathisers for political gain ahead of the coming election,” he concluded.

– mD