Thanks for ‘caring’ so much, Art Harun tells Najib

In a Facebook post spiced with sarcasm, the activist lawyer responds to the former prime minister's concern over the fall in stock market following revelations of the 'real' national debt figures.

Lawyer Azhar Harun says Malaysians prefer to attract investments by building trust and developing fundamentals, not by massaging numbers. (YouTube screengrab)

KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyer Azhar Harun today claimed the stock market had fallen not because of the new government and its disclosures on the true debt of the nation, but due to earlier misrepresentations by Najib Razak’s government.

In a Facebook post, he said Najib had “massaged” the figures to misrepresent the national debt, so much so that foreign investors, beguiled by the numbers, had put their money in Malaysian stocks.

Now that they had been told the real situation by an honest government, he said, they were withdrawing.

“YB Pekan is apparently concerned that statements made by the MoF (Ministry of Finance) about the real and true position of the national debts and the fact that 1MDB is insolvent would affect the share market,” he said, referring to Najib.

“Thank you YB for caring about this nation’s well-being. It is so refreshing to see that you care about the well-being of this nation.

“If only you had cared for this nation’s interests while you were the prime minister, we, the rakyat, would not have to work so hard to throw you and your government out. Alas, it is water under the bridge now,” he added in the post which oozed with sarcasm.

He was referring to Najib’s statement on Wednesday, criticising the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government for revealing that Malaysia’s debt-to-GDP ratio was now at 65%.

He said this was a big jump from the earlier official figure of 50.9%, and that claiming the debt was now RM1 trillion without giving any details would unsettle financial markets, alarm credit rating agencies, and affect investors’ confidence in institutions such as Bank Negara Malaysia.

In a Facebook post, Najib, the Pekan MP, had said: “As a result of these alarming and confusing statements, our Bursa Malaysia index fell the most among all worldwide stock markets resulting in tens of billions of ringgit in market value being wiped out in one day. Our Bursa index fell 40.78 points today or 2.21% while the Indonesian stock index added 0.71%.”

However, Azhar, popularly known as Art Harun, defended Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng for revealing the new figures.

“All this while, you, YB Pekan, and your government have been telling us and the world – plus all the market analysts – that our national debt was only about RM700 million, representing only 50.8% of our GDP.

“The market loved that. Especially those foreign analysts, all of whom also predicted that you and your party would win the election hands down.

“They lapped up your statement like a dog. And bought our shares in droves.

“Now it appears that your statement wasn’t accurate. In fact, it could be a misrepresentation, or even a lie. Now the truth comes out. And of course, the foreigners were alarmed. They did not really like the true and accurate numbers. So they sold their shares and left.”

Azhar said the current government went by the principles of CAT – competency, accountability and transparency – “none of which you or your government had practised”.

“This government refuses to misrepresent the numbers in order to lull the public or the foreign analysts and funds into a false sense of security,” he said.

“Yes, we need investment. Yes, our stock market needs to be propped up. But we prefer to attract investments in the good old-fashioned way, namely by building trust and laying out a good foundation and developing fundamentals. Not by massaging numbers.” -FMT