1MDB scandal and Malaysia as global kleptocracy are potent signs that something is very wrong and even rotten in Malaysia and that the nation has lost its moral moorings of its founding years of Merdeka and Malaysia

Yesterday was the eighth anniversary of the murder of an idealistic young Malaysian, Teoh Beng Hock in Shah Alam, who died because of a baseless allegation of corruption involving RM2,400 for 1,500 Malaysian flags used in the Merdeka celebrations in 2008, where the institutions of state were misused by the powers-that-be to persecute political opponents.

If a RM2,400 case could cost a life to be lost, how many lives should be lost over the 1MDB financial scandal?

The 1MDB scandal, which catapulted Malaysia into stratospheric infamy as a global kleptocracy, is one of astronomical proportion and could involve RM50 to RM55 billion – which means that some 100 million people (more than three times the population of Malaysia) would have to die if a person’s life could be lost over a RM2,400 allegation.

This highlights the monstrosity of the 1MDB scandal!

Recently, there were glowing reports about the benevolence of one 1MDB mastermind, Penang billionaire Jho Low, who donated hundreds of millions of ringgit to charitable foundations.

This was also about the time when the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak declared that “Not everything about the 1MDB is bad or negative” and lamented that many Malaysians were unaware that 1MDB had contributed a lot of good in many ways, like spending RM57 million since 2011 to finance 5,700 Malaysians to perform the haj.

Nobody knows what are the total debts which had been piled up by 1MDB, which eventually would have to be paid by future generations of Malaysians.

This is because the last accounts of 1MDB to be audited and published was up to the end of March 2014, with three years of outstanding 1MDB accounts from 2014 to 2017 a mystery even to Cabinet Ministers!

The total debts of 1MDB could be in the region of RM50 – RM55 billion, which would put the RM56 million allocated by 1MDB to sponsor pilgrims to Mecca in the past six years since 2011 a mere drop in the ocean as it represents only a paltry 0.1 per cent of the total 1MDB debts.

If 1MDB had allocated 1% of its total debts to sponsor pilgrims to perform haj in Mecca, then 57,100 Muslims and not just 5,711 persons would have benefitted, with the total allocation in the region of RM560 million and not just RM56 million.

In fact, the RM117 million (US$27.3 million) 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace stolen from 1MDB funds by Jho Low and given to the “wife of MO1” would be able by itself to immediately sponsor over 11,000 haj pilgrims from Malaysia – not just 5,711 pilgrims in six years!

Today, another Minister, Datuk Seri Nazri bin Aziz claimed ignorance of the identity of “MO1”, asking “Who the hell is MO1?”

Asked about another Minister, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan’s open admission at a BBC interview last September that “MO1” is none other than Najib, Nazri said “as far as we know, MO1 is nobody. Even that (Rahman saying Najib is MO1) is just speculation. It’s not factual.”

Nazri is not the only Minister who had publicly declared ignorance about the identity of “M01”.

Last month, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein cast doubts when asked about Rahman’s claim that “MO1” was Najib, saying: “For all we know it could be anyone. ‘MOI’ could be (second Finance Minster) Johari Ghani.”

Everybody in this ceramah of over a thousand people know who is “MO1” and “wife of MO1”, and Malaysians must ask why there are so many “idiots” in the 35-strong Cabinet – as many Ministers have claimed such ignorance like the Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the Minister for Housing and Local Government, Tan Sri Noh Omar and the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong.

These Ministers have publicly stated that they did not know who is “MO1” despite Rahman’s categoricial statement that “only an idiot doesn’t know who that person was”.

Malaysians must ask why, by Rahman’s own definition, there are so many “idiots” in the Malaysian Cabinet, and why there is a higher proportion of “idiots” in the Cabinet as compared to the population at large!

The international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal and Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy in a short span of a few years are the most powerful evidence that something is very wrong and even rotten in Malaysia, as they are potent signs that the nation has lost its moral moorings of its founding years of Merdeka and Malaysia.

Malaysians have betrayed both the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukunegara principles or Malaysia would not have become a global kleptocracy.

How could Malaysia become a global kleptocracy if Malaysians had stayed true and loyal to the Malaysian Constitution, where Islam is proclaimed at the official religion with freedom of religion for the great religions which have found a home in Malaysia – Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikkhism and Taoism?

How could Malaysia become a global kleptocracy if Malaysians had stayed true and loyal to the five principles of Rukunegara, in particular on Belief in God, Upholding the Constitution, Rule of Law and Good Behaviour and Morality?

In the 13th General Election in 2013, the majority of Malaysian voters wanted a change of Federal government in Putrajaya, and if the electoral system had been democratic, fair and just effecting a change of Federal Government in accordance with the democratic will of the majority of 53% of the electorate, Malaysia would not have landed up as a global kleptocracy today.

In the past four years, the hopes and confidence of Malaysians that the electoral system is capable of effecting far-reaching political change fell to a low-point, with the results of the 13GE, the disintegration of Pakatan Rakyat with the betrayal of PAS in deviating from the Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework and the seeming inability of the rest of the Opposition Parties to present a united and cohesive front.

All this pessimism have dissipated in the past four days with the resolution of the differences in Pakatan Harapan and the announcement of the structure, logo and leadership line-up of the Pakatan Harapan coalition of DAP, PKR, Amanah and Pribumi Bersatu.

In the last four days, there is a new air, hope and confidence among Malaysians, who have re-ignited hope and confidence that the 14th General Election is capable of installing in Putrajaya a new Federal government from Pakatan Harapan to replace UMNO/Barisan Nasional as well as to replace Najib as Prime Minister.

Malaysians owe it to our children and children’s children, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans or Orang Asli, to unite as one as Malaysians and to tell the nation and the world that Malaysia does not want to be a global kleptocracy, but to reclaim our heritage as declared in the Merdeka and Malaysia Proclamations in 1957 and 1963 that we “shall be for ever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations”.