JOHOR POLLS | Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad debuted in the Johor election campaign today with guns blazing against Najib Abdul Razak, hammering the former protege for trying to whitewash his crimes related to the 1MDB scandal.
Mahathir (above), who joined the campaign trail despite doctors cautioning the nonagenarian about health risks from Covid-19, said he was moved to act as he was growing concerned about the state election.
Najib has at the start of the campaign made several high-profile visits where he appeared to receive a warm welcome, positioning himself as a leader who remained popular despite his money laundering, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust conviction.
Speaking to some 70 people in attendance at a ceramah in Felda Ayer Hitam within the state seat of Machap, Mahathir slammed Najib for whitewashing the debt situation that the sixth prime minister had brought upon the country.
Under Najib's premiership from 2009 to 2018, 1MDB took out multi-billion ringgit bonds, a substantial amount of which was misappropriated. Investigators said some of the amounts also even up in Najib's personal bank account.
Malaysia is now facing a financial reckoning as the first of the major bonds are set to mature this year.
Malaysia will have to fork out US$1.75 billion (RM7.27 billion) to pay the principal for 1MDB Energy Ltd's bond due in May 2022 and another US$1.75 billion for 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd's bond due in October 2022.
Then in March 2023, Malaysia will need to pay another US$3 billion (RM12.46 billion) for 1MDB Global Investments Ltd's bond.
This is excluding the higher than market coupon payments (interest for bonds) that Malaysia has been paying over the years.
Debt at the cost of development
Najib yesterday claimed in the Dewan Rakyat that not a single sen of public funds have been used to pay 1MDB's debt because they were being covered by the recovery effort of stolen 1MDB funds.
This included the Goldman Sachs settlement for its role in facilitating the misappropriation of 1MDB bonds proceeds and also several banking and accounting institutions for their oversight.
Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz had disputed Najib's claim that taxpayers were unaffected, stating that the public already have to foot the interest payments over the years.
Najib, during his tenure, had refused to acknowledge the theft of 1MDB funds. The recovery effort was only initiated after he lost power in 2018.
The government had said the partial recovery of stolen 1MDB funds will only be enough to cover the debt payment for this year.
Mahathir, in his speech, said he was disgusted by Najib's claim that taxpayers don't have to foot 1MDB's debt, calling him a fool.
"This is Najib, he doesn't pay debt, he only steals more to increase the debt," he added.
The reality, Mahathir said, is the debt repayment on money that was stolen was limiting the country's ability to develop.
"This is causing us to have insufficient money to develop the country and service the people," he said.
'Najib extraordinary human being'
Mahathir called Najib's ability to justify his alleged theft "extraordinary".
"Najib is indeed an extraordinary human being. He can steal in front of us and say he didn't steal.
"After he was convicted, he said 'what is there to be ashamed?'," he told those in attendance, who were primarily Pejuang members and some local residents.
Mahathir said the inability to feel shame for wrongdoings will wreck society.
"Society should feel shame when they have done wrong but not for Najib, he becomes Bossku," he said.
Mahathir said people like Najib must be stopped from having any influence on the government.
Earlier, Pejuang president Mukhriz Mahathir, who is also Mahathir's son, had expressed concern about his father.
"We are being very careful due to the age factor. He is already 97 and he recently only recovered after being treated at the National Heart Institute (IJN).
"He is not 100 percent recovered and we're in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. The elderly are more affected by Covid-19," he said.
However, Mukhriz said Mahathir had insisted on joining the Johor campaign as he no longer wanted to just write open letters and issue statements.
"We hope his presence in Machap will give a big impact in Johor," he said.
Mahathir was discharged from the IJN on Feb 5, his third stay in a month.
Johor Pejuang chief Shahruddin Md Salleh is contesting in Machap. His opponents include BN's Onn Hafiz Ghazi, Perikatan Nasional's Azlisham Azahar and Muda's R Sangaran.
The seat, which has always voted for Umno, comprised 65 percent Malays, 30 percent Chinese, and five percent Indians.
Johoreans will go to the polls on March 12.
On a separate matter, Mahathir, when asked to comment on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, said war should be criminalised.
"We want war to be criminalised, but we see this time Russia has used war to capture or resolve its problem. We cannot support people who use war.
"We want any dispute between governments and states to be resolved through negotiations, arbitration or point of law. That is the best way.
"But clearly Russia does not prioritise negotiations and have instead used their armies to address their dispute with Ukraine," he said. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.