In a moving message posted on his Facebook page recently, ex-prime minister Najib Razak lamented that it was hard to find a “true friend” as those by his side may not necessarily be friends who are there during tough times; he then added that some friends put on a facade while “many show up only when they want wealth!”
He had penned those words following the High Court’s decision recently requiring him to defend himself in all 25 corruption and money laundering charges involving RM2.27 billion funds relating to 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB); this was after the prosecution had succeeded in proving a prima facie case against him.
But who was Najib refering to in that “cryptic” post when he decried: "many show up only when they want wealth (money)?"
Commenting on that episode, former DAP strongman Prof Dr Ramasamy claimed that though Najib was the principal actor in the massive heist, he was not alone as several others have managed to evade prosecution.
He stressed that in spite of the former Pekan MP's significant role in the multi-billion ringgit scandal, ultimately it was Umno’s entrenched culture of greed (money), power and arrogance that had caused him to get entangled in such a scandal.
The ex-Penang deputy chief minister II also echoed the country’s former law minister Zaid Ibrahim who had pointed out earlier that only by thoroughly “unearthing” and exposing the origins of 1MDB can Umno, once a powerful Malay political party, revive itself.
Unlike other Umno leaders, was “naive” Najib the “unfortunate” one to get caught…?
Furthermore, Prof Ramasamy had emphasised that the 1MDB scandal was by no means an isolated case, and that allegedly during the tenure of another former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad other corruption scandals had emerged; however, he never faced prosecution after leaving office.
He went on to highlight that Umno’s malaise is systematically rooted in its leadership from top to bottom; therefore, while understanding the “origins” of the 1MDB debacle is necessary its underlying “ills” such as money laundering, corruption and misuse of public funds cannot be resolved by addressing one high-profile case alone.
Not mincing words, the former Perai assemblyman then claimed that corruption seems to be inextricably woven into Umno’s fabric, making it virtually impossible to free itself from financial misconduct.
As some may be prompted to ask: isn’t the patronage system, a “proud” hallmark of Umno, together with nepotism and cronyism that allegedly started to flourish in this country in the eighties, all different versions of “corruption?” And what about its notorious culture of money politics?
Was “money politics” one of the root causes that led to the hatching of the 1MDB plot, although it cannot be denied that personal greed was also a major motivating factor?
In fact, in one of the court proceedings it was alleged that Umno was the political party that had received the most proceeds from 1MDB, which were misappropriated through the personal account of its former president.
Shockingly, in the submission by a deputy public prosecutor, the total amount of the largesse received by the party (through Najib), whether at the central, state or division level, was a whopping RM514.8mil!
Could all those be the reasons why Zaid Ibrahim had suggested for a Royal Commision of Inquiry (RCI) to be set up so that the people in this country can know exactly what transpired in the 1MDB scam in its totality?
In closing, perhaps, the outspoken former Umno MP for Kota Bharu may have a point when he questioned: how can one man steal so much in the world's biggest theft and no one else is guilty and responsible for it? Might he be refering to those in this country who had benefited in one way or another from the huge corrupted loot derived from 1MDB…?
Information source: Malay Mail, Prof Dr Ramasamy Facebook, FMT, The Vibes and Zaid Ibrahim “X”.
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