Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 3rd November 2020
Najib given 72 hours to clarify his appointment as BNBBC Chair as Malaysians do not want Malaysia to return to the trajectory towards a kleptocracy
On Sunday, it was reported that former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been appointed the Chairman of the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers’ Club.
I responded by asking Parliament not to recognise Najib’s appointment as BNBBC Chair as it would plunge the Malaysian Parliament into a new shame and infamy.
I said Najib’s appointment was doubly shocking and shameful it was continuing proof that public integrity and anti-corruption were furthest from the principles and vision of UMNO, MCA and MIC.
What made Najib’s appointment as BNBBC Chairman most unacceptable was that it was made three months after his July 28 conviction and sentence to 12 years jail and fines of RM210 million for corruption, money-laundering and abuse of power on charges in connection with the RM42 million SRC-1MDB case, and a week after Goldman Sachs pleaded guilty in the United States to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars U.S. companies from paying bribes to government officials abroad.
Although the United States Department of Justice spokesman said that Goldman Sachs’ plea of guilty to the “massive global scheme to loot billions of dollars” from 1MDB and “the subsequent use of those funds by senior Goldman bankers and their co-conspirators to pay billions of dollars in bribes to senior government officials and others around the world” was to make the people of Malaysia “whole”, Najib’s appointment as BNBBC Chairman in the Malaysian Parliament would have the opposite effect.
Najib had been indulging in his “Malu Apa Bossku” new persona and very quick to comment on anything under the sun but he had been uncharacteristically quiet on the controversy over the unfitness of his appointment as BNBBC Chairman in Parliament.
Malaysians have made it very clear in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 that they are not prepared to remain silent while the Malaysian Prime Minister was accused as the chief “looter” of billions of US dollars in the 1MDB financial scandal, where the Prime Minister was shamed worldwide by the infamous moniker of “Malaysian Official 1 (MO1)”.
At that time, even the Malaysian Parliament was banned from debating the 1MDB scandal.
High Court judge Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali who convicted Najib of abuse of power, money-laundering and corruption in the RM42 million SRC-1MDB case, and jailed Najib for 12 years and imposed fines of RM210 million, characterised Najib’s conduct as the “worst case of abuse of position”.
As the judge pointed out, Najib did not express any remorse for his abuse of power, corruption and money-laundering, and even maintained his defence of no knowledge of the RM42 million from SRC in his mitigation speech.
Despite his silence in the last 48 hours since news broke that Najib had been appointed as BNBBC Chair in the Malaysian Parliament, I am giving Najib another 24 hours to clarify his appointment which is clearly an unacceptable affront to the dignity and reputation of the Malaysian Parliament — especially as Parliament was previously manipulated to ban debate on the 1MDB scandal during his tenure as Prime Minister.
If Najib remains silent on the issue for a consecutive 72 hours, patriotic Malaysians who do not want to see Malaysia’s international reputation to continue to be sullied by the 1MDB scandal and do not want to see Malaysia return to the trajectory towards a kleptocracy should speak up on the next course of action.
