First, they said Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor were involved in the gruesome murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu. Then, they said the despicable couple was as innocent as a newborn baby, even though they can’t explain why Najib’s bodyguard who did not know the Mongolian at all would end up killing the pregnant woman before blowing up her body with military grade explosive.
Later, they ran down Muhyiddin Yassin, accusing him of having an extramarital affair with Nika Gee Siew Yee, the wife of former deputy public prosecutor Stanley Clement Augustin. Muhyiddin’s dirty laundry was exposed after he broke ranks with Najib over 1MDB scandal. Muhyiddin denied the allegation, but did not dare sue anyone. Today, they changed the tune and praise Muhyiddin as a great Malay leader.
Now that Muhyiddin becomes the prime minister of a backdoor “Malay only” government, all his past sins are forgiven and forgotten. So they attacked Mahathir Mohamad for not joining and endorsing Muhyiddin. They joined hands with Najib and Muhyiddin to expose Mahathir’s past corruption, nepotism, cronyism, racism and whatnot. But the emergence of a photo may change their stance again.
The infamous “Sheraton Move” saw the defeated Barisan Nasional MPs together with Islamist party PAS MPs forming a new loosely glued government with traitors Muhyiddin Yassin (Bersatu faction) and Azmin Ali (PKR faction), leading to the collapse of legitimately voted Pakatan Harapan coalition government, which stunningly won the May 2018 General Election.
The photo of Mahathir hosting Malay leaders, some of whom he had previously despised and condemned as corrupt crook or “munafiq (hypocrite)” leader, has raised eyebrows. If indeed the old man was the mastermind behind the “Sheraton Move” all this while, they argued, it means Mahathir is actually a hero who has united all the Malays in a racist crusade against the non-Malays.
On March 1, Mahathir revealed that he had urged his party president Muhyiddin Yassin to wait till after the criminal trials of UMNO leaders (obviously referring to Najib Razak, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Tengku Adnan) were resolved before considering cooperation with UMNO. “Muhyiddin said he was willing to accept UMNO en bloc. I said I could not agree,” – said Mahathir.
That statement alone confirms what we published in November 2019 that Mahathir will not step down until Najib is sent to prison. It also agrees with an article we published in December 2019 that Mahathir’s endgame was to rejoin or merge with UMNO after Najib is imprisoned. The reason is simple – only by merging or joining UMNO can Bersatu becomes a dominant Malay political party.
Najib Razak’s version of Malay dignity is the simplest – “Cash is King”. To enrich his families, he was willing to sell the country to China. He also used cash to buy votes. Java-immigrant Zahid Hamidi does not subscribe to Malay dignity and had happily sold the country to Bangladesh just to milk some money from the business of importing millions of cheap labours into Malaysia.
Hadi Awang and his band of fake holy men are easier to satisfy. They’re happy as long as you bribe them with enough cash to buy a fleet of Mercedes-Benz and to reward themselves RM50,000 in bonus. Once they can proudly drive and display their Benz, the Malay dignity barometer hits maximum level. They would then stop screaming about Malays losing power or dignity.
While everyone was distracted with the leaked photo of Mahathir having a private meeting with Malay leaders on the day “Sheraton Move” kicked off, a leaked audio recording has escaped some of people’s attention. The voice recording was said to be the final Bersatu Supreme Council meeting before Muhyiddin pulled out and toppled his own Pakatan Harapan government.
Unlike a photo, which can be interpreted in a thousand ways, there’s a limit on how an audio recording can be twisted. In the one-minute audio recording, a voice resembling that of Bersatu (PPBM) president Muhyiddin suggested that UMNO leaders be tempted to join PPBM with promises of positions – clearly bribes – in the Cabinet and even GLCs (government-linked companies).
But the biggest bombshell was Muhyiddin’s willingness – even desperation – to offer positions to the world’s biggest crook, saying – “If they know a new government is going to be formed with UMNO, why not tell them to join us now rather than later? I think if we do that … 10, 20 people … Najib and his gang … and we give them positions … if not ministers, then the chairmen of GLCs.”
So far, Mr. Muhyddin has yet to deny the authentication of the audio clip – suggesting it is genuine. Interestingly, in another audio clip released earlier, but of the same meeting, Mahathir was heard begging with the Supreme Council members of the political party he co-founded not to force him to work with UMNO as it went against his principles.
Heck, Muhyiddin had even claimed that when he was sacked, PM Najib offered him a choice of two other plum jobs – the governorship of Penang or the chairmanship of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), one of the largest government-backed fund management companies. Muhyiddin turned down both offers – “I said sorry, I’m not accepting it, I’m rejecting it … I think it’s a matter of principle. You can’t buy me.”
Yes, Muhyiddin is perhaps a classic example as to why Mahathir doesn’t believe Malays (or UMNO-Malay to be precise) have dignity or principle. Exactly how could Muhyiddin stoop so low as to desperately and shamelessly invite and offer special positions to a thief whom he previously despised and mocked as a liability to both the party and country?
After the May 18 Dewan Rakyat (Lower House of Parliament) proceedings established that Muhyiddin’s backdoor Perikatan Nasional government has the support of merely 113 MPs, only 2 majority in the 222-seat Parliament, the disgraced prime minister now has more reason to ensure Najib is freed from his current criminal trial – money laundering involving RM2.28 billion worth of 1MDB funds.
It seems Muhyiddin is worse than Mahathir and Najib combined. The 72-year-old prime minister, despite being a pancreatic cancer patient, does not have a red line that he won’t cross. Given a chance, he would not think twice about selling his wife, daughters and granddaughters if the price is right. His tolerance and acceptance of thievery of such scale is giving a bad name to the Malay dignity.
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FT ni batu ronson. Jangan percaya
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