Sarawak Report : More Najib Handouts!

26 May 2017

Like brothers, Prime Minister Najib Razak praised his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for his undying loyalty to Umno and the BN government.

Announcing a RM5 million fund for the Tun Abdullah Badawi Legacy Organisation, Najib said Abdullah was a great national icon. “I appreciate Pak Lah’s loyalty all this while. Even after all that had happened, he continued to give his support, standing by me, the government, Umno and BN. “He never betrayed the party, let alone leave this beloved party,” he said.

Najib then said he did not come empty handed. “I am announcing a RM5 million fund for Pak Lah’s legacy. “The money will be given this year. If we have funds next year, we will give more,” he said in his speech at the opening of the Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Lecture in Putrajaya. Najib also expressed his gratitude to Abdullah for voluntarily ceding the post of Umno president to himself, paving the way to Putrajaya.

Source: More Najib Handouts!, Malaysian Insight

Comment

For a Finance Minister Najib Razak clearly has no idea whatsoever what constitutes an appropriate payment.

So, it’s fine to hand out money to his “brother” and the guy who handed him his present job.

Might Malaysian’s be allowed to ask where Najib got the money from this time?  Is it RM5 million grabbed from 1MDB or from some other public fund raided by Najib?

Or has he just raided the Ministery of Finance?

What is this money to be spent on that it is justified for a Prime Minister to just hand it over to his old political chum…?

Corruption : You can't be a little pregnant! You are either pregnant or not!

Sometime in the early hours of this Wednesday morning - possibly at around 4.45AM  - the answers to the question that I have been asking myself for so long finally hit me. But I am getting ahead of myself here...so let us back track. 

From the time that Najib grasps the rein of power from Abang Lah in April 2009 I have waited and waited and waited for this son of Tun Razak to become the leader I had thought he was capable of becoming given his pedigree and the grounding he had from the time he became the youngest Member of Parliament ever, the youngest Menteri Besar ever and his political rise and rise through the ranks of public office culminating in his appointment as deputy to Abang Lah after Mahathir left office. 

There have been questions surrounding Najib re his ability to be decisive when it matters and where his loyalties lies when push comes to shove whenever political factions within Umno agree to disagree - as they will usually do from time to time. And then there were the rumours, gossips, controversies and unsavory tales surrounding his wife, Rosmah - but all that became history when he became prime minister in April 2009.  

Since then, and now into his second term as prime minister, Najib Razak has disappoint me...and I am sure a few others too...but clarity hit me at 4.45AM this Wednesday morning.

Eureka!

It hit me when that phrase "You can't be just a little pregnant" drifted through my still sleepy self while I lay in bed....you are either pregnant or not!

you can't be just a little bit pregnant

 

"It means that the situation that is being described is a binary. It is something that is either IS or ISN'T. Such as is the case when one is pregnant. One either "is" pregnant or "is not", there is no in between or partial pregnancy. It means it is a situation in which there is no ambiguity or no gray area. You can't be "just a little bit" of certain things.

You can't be just a little bit pregnant when you are talking bankruptcy. You can't be just a little bit bankrupt. You are either bankrupt or not bankrupt".

And for Najib Razak and Rosmah...they are either corrupt or not! Again I am getting ahead of myself here...let us back up a bit through time.

That word "corrupt" really came to my consciousness when the iconic Harun Idris was charged and convicted of corruption relating to the Muhammad Ali-Joe Bugner boxing match in Kuala Lumpur in 1975. 

Then there were other corruption related cases involving Anwar Ibrahim, the BMF scandal, the Selangor MB caught carrying more cash than was allowed into Australia...and from then it snow balled culminating in October 2006 with the murder of Altantuya. 

Altantuya was a watershed because her murder could be linked to corruption at the highest level  - directly to the prime minister, Najib Razak.

Which takes me back to that "you can't be just a little bit pregnant" phrase. 

There have always been corruption, money politics...call it whatever you want....there has always been corruption among Malaysian politicians and even prime ministers. Mahathir and Abang Lah made their siblings insanely wealthy....but it was all done with that "close one eye nudge nudge wink wink scratch my back" sort of mentality. An "acceptable" perks of political office frown upon by many but one indulged in by many. All done with no overt criminality (well not much anyway!) with some grace and decorum....a few hundred thousands here and there and when the "business" opportunity arises maybe a few hundred millions here and there. A Harley Davidson or a Porsche in the garage, an up market condominium in Bangsar and a mistress or two here and there...and maybe an apartment in London.

Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor changed all that. 

Remember again that phrase "you can't be just a little pregnant"...well what Najib Razak and Rosmah did was to embrace the culture of corruption wholeheartedly, without grace, without decorum and without limits. They were doing what Mahathir and Abang lah was doing only better, overtly and with all the resources, political power and gumption at their disposal. And that is where we are at today!

Folks we have a prime minister and a wife who have decided that if there is money to be made in politics...they will make as much as they can, while they can and when ever they can. And damm the consequences!

And that my friends was the thought that struck me when I had my "Eureka"moment at 4.45 AM this morning. Kapish?

These two First Couple have become very good at doing this. They rake in Ringgits by the billions and have set no limits to what they will do and continue to do and what they are prepared to do in their greed for more and more money. Now it is no longer what they need or want the money for...now they are doing it because they can and for the thrill of the money chase...all now in the billions!

Of course Daim, Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Ku Li and the slew of Malays and Malaysians all lined up to do battle with Najib because he is corrupt have also been the recipient of questionable Umno inspired "business opportunities."

Why they begrudge Najib and Rosmah for doing what they did, but only better, is explained by their insistence that they are doing so for the survival of Umno and the good of King, country and countrymen....if you want to believe in such things!  

So go get your teh tarik, a few packets of Kuachi or whatever snacks that strikes your fancy...sit back and enjoy the wayang or sandiwara that is now unfolding within Umno and BN. It will be a show to end all shows and what I hope for is that at the very end of it all.......morality and ethics can start to make their way back into politics and into government. 

For now, those with large armies and deep pockets will rule the roost.

   
 
 

The Fall and Fall of Malaysia

First Posted Saturday, November 14, 2009 - read it just now and nothing has bloody changed! Nothing!

Prime Minister's Gallery, Perdana Leadership Foundation.

In his first few days in Office I watched Najib with detached amusement of his first “turun padang’ in Brickfields and then Chinatown and my thoughts went back to Pak Lah and his “unannounced” visit to the Immigration Department in Damansara and Mahathir with his name tags and clocking-in antics. All show and no substance but good photo opportunity sessions. 

Maybe amusement would not be the most appropriate response with Najib because by then we were acutely aware of what UMNO has become and we have the right to feel anger at the way the past three Prime Minister have collectively managed to mismanaged and consigned our country to audacious levels of corruption in government and an orgy of conspicuous consumption amongst the political elites (and I use the term elites loosely here!)

It has been a challenging five decades after Merdeka for us Malays. If the Malays have not existed UMNO would have to invent us because without the Malays UMNO would not have survived the May 13^th incident in 1969.  

Then after the Malays came the Bumiputra and now Ketuanan Melayu! UNNO had always had the interest of the Malays at heart in everything that they do and this interest were conceptionalized into massive and grandiose master plans and projects that benefited, in reality, UMNO rather then the Malays. 

Let no one be under the illusion that the blame for the situation this country now finds itself in can and should be laid at the door of UMNO.

It would seem that taking a lesson from the May 13 riots of 1969, UMNO would again happily reduce our country to chaos in order to remain in power. Racial issues, even in the best of time are notoriously difficult to manage and regulate and what regulations artificially put in place to induce its growth will fail without the political will to make it happen. And this political will was conspicuously missing in the 50 years that UMNO has ruled.

Time and time again the parroting of the Rukun Negara and various racial harmony programs was suppose to bring a new era of One Malaysia but have resulted instead in miserable failure. It would indeed be sad if these failures were to be exploited by UMNO and interpreted by them as the Malays still needing time to come to par with the others and in so concluding UMNO would then happily roll back to those post May 13^th days of 1969. 

Grim as the conditions are now it must not be forgotten that greater and more prolonged problems resulted from the years of strong government intervention in business during Mahathir’s time. What we are facing now has its roots during those days where Mahathir ruled the land in splendid isolation without the benefit of checks and balances to counter his excesses. What ISA problems we now have is nothing compared to the 106  arrested under the ISA on October 27 1987 by PDRM under Ops Lalang and the revoking of the publishing of two dallies The Star and SinChew Jit Poh and two weeklies The Sunday Star and Watan.

Then, as now, the problems of the Mahathir years resulted from the awakening of the political elites and preferred cronies to the possibilities of accumulating richness sans borders. 

Everything was fair game. utilities, health, race, age, national pride, national unity, royalty, Petronas, Tabung Haji, EPF, PDRM, Mindef the Judiciary  – anywhere where a Ringgit could be made was fair game. All this was done with the enthusiastic connivance of the powers that be – from the Prime minister down! Pillage and plunder when done by the rich and powerful devastates a country resources. It involves the populace as the actions of its leaders seemingly give legality to the very act of corruption. Corruption dictates a mentality that breaks down all previously existing sentiments which holds a decent society together. Corruption became the norm. Its insidious entry into the Malay psyche has taken roots where it damages its own race most – within its own political leaders.

For now what has awakened the people in the last General election is the fear of failure. 

By declining to give UMNO carte blanc to rule Malaysia again for the next five years the Malaysian People made an important statement: that no one, not even UMNO will be allowed to fail us again  - we now give Pakatan Rakyat  the opportunity to get part of our house back in order before it fails completely.

steadyaku47 comment : Has Pakatan Rakyat failed us to?

Pal Lah on Muhyiddin. Najib watch your Back!