Free
Malaysia Today’s columnist Scott Ng has today published an article (refer
below) criticizing the Prime Minister with respect to the allegations by Wall
Street Journal that 1MDB funds were transferred to the Prime Minister account.
However, I would like to correct some facts provided by Scott Ng which is not
only inaccurate, but bordering on blatant lies to tarnish the leadership of the
Prime Minister. My responds are marked in “red”.
Prime Minister Najib Razak
probably thought he was in the clear, finally, after postponing the Umno party
elections till 2018. It was time to breathe deep and deal with the already
formidable mountain of scandals demanding his attention and to work on making
his administration look competent after years and years of being lambasted from
all quarters. Sadly, fate is a capricious thing, and Najib now has to deal with
what may be the biggest scandal ever to hit a sitting Malaysian prime minister.
Scott Ng
starts of his article by saying that the Barisan Nasional government is full of
scandals. However, he has conveniently neglected to name any of these so called
“scandals”. In addition, he accuse the leadership of the Prime Minster as “incompetent”
but he purposely ignores the steady economic growth figures that the country
has seen since 2008. Since the Prime Minister took over the leadership of the
country, the World Bank stated that even though Malaysia was hit by the Global
Financial Crisis in 2009 it recovered rapidly, posting growth rates averaging
5.7 percent since 2010.
(http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malaysia/overview)
By now, most of us must have read
the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report which claims that some RM2.6 billion was
transferred into Najib’s personal bank accounts just before GE13. It has been
all that anyone is talking about in the past week, and the general feeling that
Najib is on his way out has never been stronger. After all, presidents and
prime ministers all over the world have resigned or been made to resign for
much less.
Scott Ng
has now accused the Prime Minster of misappropriating RM 2.6 billion. This
accusation from Scott Ng merely comes from a newspaper which has lost numerous
libel suits in the past decade and has proved to be unreliable in its news
coverage. Since Scott Ng is adamant of accusing the Prime Minister of such
crime, he shall also bear in mind that One of the most sacred principles in the
American criminal justice system, holding that a defendant is innocent until
proven guilty. In other words, the prosecution must prove, beyond a reasonable
doubt, each essential element of the crime charged.
It is up
to the prosecution, in this case WSJ to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, each
essential element of the crime charged against the Prime Minister.
Perhaps the most preposterous
aspect of the controversy is the way Najib tries to defend himself. The sounds
coming out of his camp are incredibly coarse, to say the least. In an
information war, it is important to discredit your opponent by making it seem
that your side of the story is more plausible. But Najib and his cohorts’
tendency to belittle WSJ – whether by questioning its credibility, or implying
that it is unprofessional in depending solely on Mahathir Mohamad’s word for
its report, or claiming that the expose was part of a Jewish master plan to
bring down Islamic countries – is laughable at best. The allegation of a Jewish
conspiracy comes to us courtesy of FT Umno Youth chief Mohd Razlan Muhammad
Rafii. No wonder we have a leadership crisis in this country.
Scott Ng
does not address the response by the Prime Minister but merely laugh of the
response. This shows that Scott Ng itself is prejudice and is not independent
in his decision making. He has clearly assume
the Prime Minister is guilty without an iota of credible evidence has been put
on the table, not only by WSJ but also by the special taskforce led by Attorney
General Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Patail. The threat of a conspiracy by international
players with help of local traitors clearly hold water. What has WSJ got to
benefit from bringing down a democratically elected Prime Minister of the
country?
The Wall Street Journal is
nothing like a mosquito newspaper. It is published by a global behemoth, with
offices throughout the world, a highly reputable media organisation that prides
itself on excellence in reporting. Of course, it has occasionally made mistakes
in its long history. Which media organisation hasn’t?
Thank you
for admitting that WSJ has made mistakes.
In the current case, however, it
has firmly stood its ground against the accusations of Najib’s supporters,
claiming that the evidence it has shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that funds
from 1MDB were indeed transferred into the Prime Minister’s personal accounts.
To accuse the leader of a country of corruption, and to the magnitude of RM2.6
billion at that, is no small matter. It is a huge risk that no reputable media
organisation would take unless it had a high level of confidence that it could
defend itself.
 |
| WSJ has a reputation for tarnishing the image of democratically elected governments in South East Asia |
Again
Scott Ng clearly seem oblivious the fact that WSJ had been sued by the
Singapore government a couple of times due to their irresponsible and
defamatory commentary on the PAP government. Some of the facts can be found
here:
In fact,
in 2008, WSJ had refrained from publishing The Wall Street Journal Asia,
which circulates in Singapore for legal reasons due to their irresponsible reporting.
The accusation is extremely
serious, and Najib must be able to give a clear yes-or-no answer when
questioned whether funds were indeed transferred to his accounts. Anything else
just weakens his position both as a leader and as a person. His argument that
he has “never taken funds for personal gain” sounds deceptive under the
circumstances. He was never accused of taking the funds for personal use. Most
observers have deduced that the funds were channelled into BN’s war chest.
There is
no requirement for the PM to give a Yes or No answer. By demanding the PM to
give a yes or no answer, it shows that even Scott Ng is not confident with the
so called “expose” by WSJ. He is purposely trying to “fish” the PM by admitting
his guilt or deny the allegations outright. My question is, why you need the PM
to give a clear yes – or – no answer unless of course the so called evidence by
WSJ is fabricated and not reliable.
This is not something Najib can
just shrug off his shoulders like so much dust, as he has with most of the
accusations thrown at him so far. In many other countries, the people would
have started a revolt. But Najib must not take the peaceful reaction to the
expose to mean that Malaysians are not paying close attention.
Exactly.
That is why there is no revolt in the streets. The people themselves are not
confident and just do not trust the so-called expose by WSJ. If they did, they
would have started a revolt days ago asking the Prime Minister to step down.
Period.
Written by,
Mohd Razlan Muhammad Rafii
Federal Territories UMNO Youth Chief
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