Datuk Onn Jaafar was 66 years too ahead of the times, DAP was 51 years too ahead of the times, I had to be detained under ISA under Operation Lalang 30 years ago because too ahead of the times – Isn't it time now for Malaysians to unite as Malaysians?

When the Yang di Pertuan Agong in his Royal Address expressed displeasure at corrupt civil servants, how many Ministers and MPs from the Barisan Nasional were thinking of “MO1” and Malaysia new-found infamy as a global kleptocracy?

I am utterly shocked that the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Razali Ibrahim could give a “spin” to Malaysia’s second worst ranking for the past 22 years of Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perception Index – placed No. 55 with a score of 49 out of 100 - by claiming that Malaysia’s ranking was “good” and the country is still in the best group of the TI CPI 2016, the “best one third-group” of the 176 countries involved in the study.

I want to remind Razali that when Malaysia improved its ranking from 54th to 53rd position in the TI CPI 2013, the then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and CEO of Performance Management Delivery Unit (Pemandu), Datuk Seri Idris Jala was ecstatic and declared that Pemandu was aiming for Malaysia to be in the top 30 by 2020.

Now Malaysia has slipped down to No. 55, and the goal of Malaysia to be in top 30 countries in TI CPI in four years’ time in 2020 is nowhere in sight.

Razali’s “spin” to show that Malaysia’s TI CPI latest ranking and score was “good” for Malaysia is proof of the governments falling and failing expectations for the country – from aiming to be in the top 30 nations of TI CPI by 2020 to feeling comfortable, complacent and even proud that Malaysia is ranked No. 55 in 2016!

Malaysia was supposed to be among the top 30 nations in the TI CPI in 2008, but just as we failed the National Integrity Plan for Malaysia to be among the top 30 nations in the TI CPI in 2008, plunging to 60thplacing in 2011 TI CPI, we will fail a second time in achieve the “top 30-nation” mark in 2020.

This is indeed the first time that the Government has come to Parliament to boast about its TI CPI.

Razali is completely oblivious to the adverse commentary in the TI CPI about the corruption problem in Asia-Pacific and Malaysia, which said:

“Malaysia’s Prime Minister has long been embroiled in the 1MBD corruption scandal with an unexplainable US$700 million in his personal bank account, contributing to the country’s lacklustre score of 49 out of 100. The Prime Minister’s deficient response, and what role this will play in upcoming elections, is something to watch in 2017.”

Transparency International describes Malaysia’s CPI 2016 as “lackluster” but the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Departments struts around claiming it is “good”!

The government is also oblivious to the TI survey which found that Malaysians and Vietnamese viewed their respective countries as having the most severe corruption problem.

The survey, from July 15, 2015 to January this year, obtained the feedback of more than 20,000 citizens in 16 Asia Pacific countries.

The questions posed included if citizens believed the level of corruption has changed, how is the government fighting graft, how corrupt are the police and if people felt empowered to fight corruption.

The survey, titled "People and Corruption: Asia Pacific", also questioned respondents on whether they had given bribes themselves.

According to the survey, Malaysia and Vietnam performed the worst, with not a single positive rating to the questions.

“In these countries, the governments were rated poorly in their fight against corruption, people saw widespread corruption among the police, and many thought that corruption is on the rise.

“Fifty-nine percent of Malaysians think that the corruption level has increased,” said TI in its report.

I acknowledge that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has been very active and busy in the past six months, (not unusual in the run-up to an impending general elections, as Malaysians can still remember the promise to net 18 “sharks” just before the 2004 General Election but which later got away scot-free into the South China Sea), making many arrests and unveiling large hoards of ill-gotten gains, whether in Sabah or Johor.

But the question uppermost in the minds of Malaysians and in particular the 1.6- million-strong public service is: Where are the ikan yus – in particular, where is MO1?

Last week, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and former Minister for Housing, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan issued a statement that he wants to determine whether the MACC Act was breached in light of a report lodged with the MACC against him.

Has Abdul Rahman taken charge of MACC and has the last say whether there is a case of corruption against him?

Last week, the MACC revealed that 54 percent of civil servants found guilty of corruption are under the age of 40, and that that younger civil servants are more susceptible to corruption, to meet their lifestyle demands.

Junior government officers and clerks buy the latest iPhone models, drive expensive cars although their “flashy lifestyle does not match their measly pay as young officers and administrative assistants under the government pay scale”.

MACC deputy chief commissioner Azam Baki said 548 civil servants have been detained for corruption as of February this year.

Last year, a total of 665 civil servants were nabbed for graft-related offences.

Azam said MACC has set a three-year target to clean up the civil service.

Is this achievable?

I agree with the DAP National Deputy Publicity Secretary and MP for Kulai, Teo Nie Ching, that this is impossible to achieve unless we criminalise disproportionate and unexpolainable wealth and income not only among government officials, but also political leaders.

I had in fact in the early seventies, proposed in Parliament a private member’s bill to amend the then Prevention of Corruption Act 1975 to make it an offence for any public officer including Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, Chief Ministers, Mentri-Mentri Besar, Exco Members, MPs, State Assembly members or civil servants who have amassed property or pecuniary resources disproportionate to known sources of income and to provide powers for the forfeiture of such property or the value of pecuniary resources if the innocence of such disproportionate wealth or income could not be proved.

Malaysia would be among, not just the top 30, but probably top 10 of the annual TI CPI since it was started in 1995 if such a legislation had been adopted since the seventies!

Malaysia will never get out of the trap of world infamy and ignominy as a global kleptocracy unless we can lay the ghost of the international multibillion dollar 1MDB kleptocracy money-laundering scandal.

UMNO Ministers and leaders have been trying to exploit the four-day visit of King Salman of Saudi Arabia to Malaysia as proof that there was nothing hanky-panky about the RM2.6 billion in the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal banking account in 2013, and even claiming that Salman’s silence could only mean confirmation that the RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal banking account had come from Saudi Arab royal circles.

These claims are of course nonsensical and preposterous.

The most significant thing about King Salman’s visit to Malaysia was not what was said or done by the Saudis, including the signing of the US$7 billion (RM31 billion) agreement by Saudi Aramco to take a 50 per cent stake in Petronas’ Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project in Pengerang but what was not said about the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal bank accounts.

I am not surprised that an UMNO leader said that this was my most “dungu” (idiotic) remark to date, for what intellectual capability can one expect from the UMNO leadership when an UMNO Minister could tell ten lies in a short five-paragraph statement while the UMNO Information leader could tell more than eight lies in another short statement, and both of them dared not accept my challenge to a joint media conference for me to point out their lies one by one?

UMNO leaders who claim the Saudi Arabia’s King Salman’s visit to Malaysia is a sort of vindication of Najib’s innocence in the RM2.6 billion donation scandal have too low an opinion of both King Salman and the Malaysian public.

There is no way that the Saudi Arabian King is unaware of Najib’s RM2.6 billion donation and RM52 billion 1MDB scandal are Najib’s greatest Achilles’ heel. Just google-search “1MDB” and you will get 3.6 million results in 4.5 seconds.

The reason why Salman could not say RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal banking account was his donation is very simple – the Saudi Arabian king knows that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) legal suit to confiscate US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets, is a public document in black and white, and it had traced in detail the “to and fro” “money trail” of the so-called RM2.6 billion “donation”, establishing beyond a shadow of doubt that they could not be a donation from Saudi Arabian royal circles.

For instance, in Page 6 - 8 and Paragraphs 8 - 11 of the 126-page 512-Paragraph US DOJ kleptocratic suits for the seizure of US$1 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland, outlined the three “phases” of the “criminal conduct” of the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering:

1. the “Good Star” phase where the “fraudulent diversion of funds from 1MDB began approximately Sept. 2009, soon after 1MDB’s creation” involving more than US$1 billion;
2. the “Aabar-BVI” phase in 2012 where “1MDB officials and others misappropriated and fraudulently diverted a substantial portion of the proceeds that 1MDB raised through two separate bond offerings arranged and underwritten by Goldman Sachs International”– approximately $1.367 billion, a sum equivalent to more than forty per cent of the total net proceeds raised;
3. the “Tanore” phase in 2013, where “several individuals, including 1MDB officials, diverted more than $1.26 billion out of a total of $3 billion in principal that 1MDB raised through a third bond offering arranged by Goldman in March 2013”.

Page 67 of the DOJ lawsuit on “IV. THE TANORE PHASE: MORE THAN $1.26 BILLION IS MISAPPRORIATED FROM 1MDB”, in “A. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE TANORE PHASE”, as follows:

“229. Funds transferred to the Tanore Account were distributed for the benefit of at least one public official associated with 1MDB. More particularly, very shortly after the bond offering closed, between approximately March 21, 2013 and March 25, 2013, $681,000,000 was transferred from the Tanore account to an account belonging to MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1. Of this amount, approximately $620 million was returned to the Tanore Account on or about August 26, 2013.”

Then we come to page 75 of the DOJ lawsuit on “D. $681 MILLION WAS TRANSFERRED FROM THE TANORE ACCOUNT TO AN ACCOUNT BELONGING TO MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1”, which said:

“259.Shortly after proceeds of the 2013 bond sale were diverted to the Tanore Account, $681,000,000 was sent from the Tanore Account to a bank account belonging to MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1.

“260. On or about March 21, 2013, Tanore transferred $620,000,000 into an account in AmBank in Malaysia, whose beneficiary was listed as “AMPRIVATE BANKING-MR.”. On or about March 25, 2013, an additional $61,000,000 was wired from the Tanore Account to the same account at AmBank, for a total of $681,000,000.

“261. This account belonged to MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1 and is the same account that in 2011 received $20 million from the PETROSAUDI CO-FOUNDER that was traceable to the Good Star Account, as set forth in Section II.G. It is also the same account that in 2012 received at least $30 million from the Blackstone Account that was traceable to the Aabar-BVI Swiss Account and the 2012 bond proceeds, as set forth in Section III.E.3.

“262. On or about August 26, 2013, $620,010,715 was wired from a different account at AmBank to the Tanore Account. This AmBank account also belonged to MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1, and the transfer represented funds from $681 million payments that were being returned to Tanore.”

The ensuing two paragraphs are even more interesting, viz:

“ 263. The Attorney-General of Malaysia publicly stated that he conducted an inquiry into the $681 million in payments. In a press release issued on January 26, 2016, the Malaysian Attorney-General confirmed that, “the sum of USD681 was transferred into the personal account of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1 between 22.3.2013 and 10.04.2013,” and that, “in August 2013, a sum of USD620 million was returned by MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1...” The Malaysian Attorney-General ultimately characterized the payment of $681 million as a “personal donation to MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1 from the Saudi royal family which was given to him without consideration.”

“264. Bank records associated with Tanore Account show that TAN was the beneficial owner of the Tanore account, from which the $681,000,000 payments to the account of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1 were made, and that 1MDB OFFICER 3 was added as an authorized signor of the Tanore Account roughly one day before the first wire of $620,000,000 was sent from the Tanore Account to the account of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1.”

“1MBD OFFICER 3” described in the DOJ lawsuit as “a Malaysian national who served as 1MDB’s general counsel and executive director of group strategy during at a minimum, 2012 and 2013” has been identified as Jasmine Loo – like Jho Low, another international fugitive from justice for kleptocracy.

Nothing could be clearer, in black and white!

The US DOJ had called the bluff in Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali’s claim that the US$681 million in Najib’s personal banking accounts were “donation from Saudi royal family given without consideration”, as the DOJ had traced in detail the money trail of the RM2.6 billion ringgit “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts in AmBank in Kuala Lumpur, from the originating accounts from where US$681 million in Najib’s accounts came from and to where the US$621 million was returned to.

The US$681 million came from Tanore Account in March 2013 and USD620 million was transferred back to Tanore Account in August 2013, which had nothing whatsoever with any Saudi Arab royalty.

As pointed out in Paragraph 248 (page 73) of the DOJ suit, the Tanore Account in Singapore was opened by TAN (ERIC Tan Kim Loong) on or about November 2, 2012 and TAN was originally its sole authorized signatory.

Tanore is one of the multitude of shell companies which Jho Low used for his “heist of the century” in his international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal.

Where has the USD620 million which Najib’s account in Ambank in Kuala Lumpur had returned to the Tanore Account in August 2013 gone to, as it is as clear as crystal that the money had not gone back to any Saudi Arab royalty as it had never originated from Saudi Arabia in the first place.

Would King Salman be so stupid as to admit that he had donated US$681 million to Najib, who had returned US$620 million to him, when all these are totally fictitious accounts to hide the money trail of the original sum of US$681 and the subsequent transfer to Tanore Account of US$620 million?

No one really believes that King Salman of Saudi Arabia is so stupid as to take the rap for the multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal on behalf of Najib when there is no evidence that the Saudi royal family was any way involved in the 1MDB kleptocratic scandal.

More than seven months have passed since the US DOJ lawsuit tracing the money-trail of the 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal, including the so-called “donation” to Najib’s personal banking accounts, but neither Najib nor Apandi had been able to challenge the veracity of the DOJ accounts of 1MDB money trails.

Najib and Apandi cannot continue to run and hide – for there is no place in the whole wide world for them to run and hide. Their only option is to tell truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the 1MDB global kleptocratic scandal.

May be they are hoping that they will be saved by President Trump and the US DOJ kleptocratic action on 1MDB would be stymied in the wake of the March 10 firing by Trump of the country’s 46 US Attorneys.

Whether Trump will save Najib and stymie the US DOJ legal suit, we will have to wait and see. But the 1MDB developments making waves and headlines all over the world will not stop whether it be the imprisonment and criminal prosecution of former bankers involved in 1MDB money-laundering, or closing down of banks and hefty penalties in foreign countries for involvemernt in 1MDB money-laundering – or recent developments including:

1. Singapore bans former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner for 10 years for 1MDB money-laundering activities;
2. Singapore seizes Bombardier Global 5000 jet of Malaysian tycoon Jho Low in the centre of the 1MDB scandal;
3. Swiss authorities ordering private bank, Coutts, to pay back SFr6.5 million of profits over 1MDB as numerous 1MDB “high risk” transactions were processed through a Coutts account, including the use of US$35 million for visits to casinos and the purchase of luxury services such a chartering yachts;
4. Jho Low is ramping up his fight to get back assets like New York's Park Lane Hotel and a Van Gogh artwork. Newly-installed trustees are striking a fiestier tone than previous steward, Swiss bank Rothschild;
5. US court gives nod for sale of Jho Low's NYC hotel;
6. Talks by UAE fund seeking $6.5 billion from 1MDB deadlocked – the Abu Dhabi state fund International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) took its case to the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) last June but the two state-owned investment companies have been trying to thrash out a private settlement since then, the sources said.

We are celebrating our 60th National Day celebrations but Malaysia has nothing to be proud about that the sixth Prime Minister has achieved in eight years what none of the five previous five Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah, had done in 52 years – Malaysia becoming a global kleptocarcy.

I had put a question at the current meeting of Parliament asking the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, as to what steps the government has taken to cleanse and restore the good name and reputation on Malaysia from being regarded as a global kleptocracy.

Unfortunately, instead of answering one of the most important questions confronting Malaysians today, my question was rejected by the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia as violating Standing Order 23(1)© which states that “a question shall not contain any argument, interference, opinion, imputation, epithet or misleading, ironical or offensive expression nor shall a question be frivolous or asked seeking information on trivial matters”.

I do not agree with the Speaker as my question as to what steps the government had taken to cleanse and restore Malaysia’s good name and reputation as a result of being regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy” is a very valid and pertinent question – as this is the reason why Malaysians going abroad are ashamed of identifying themselves as Malaysians when asked which country they come from. It is not argumentative, offensive or frivolous, but a question being faced by 31 million Malaysians, whether abroad or within the country.

It is for this reason that I welcome the Mahathir-Nazri debate on the 1MDB in Padang Rengas on March 23, as it will break the enforced firewall to prevent a healthy and democratic debate and people’s demand for accountability for the mother of all government scandals in the nation’s history.

I do not understand what the second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghaniis talking about when he claimed that that 1MDB scandal had been “debated extensively in Parliament” when MPs are not even allowed to ask questions about the 1MDB scandal although almost every other day, the 1MDB scandal is making headlines in other parts of the world!

For the record, Parliament has never conducted any debate on the 1MDB scandal.

Yes, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had conducted a probe into the 1MDB, but this was before the PAC had access to the latest information about the 1MDB scandal, in particular the US Department of Justice (DOJ) largest kleptocratic lawsuits to forfeit over US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from over US$3 billion ill-gotten gains from 1MDB international money-laundering.

Even on the PAC Report, Members of Parliament was never given an opportunity to debate it in Parliament.

The Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB had been classified under the Official Secrets Act and denied access to all MPs, except PAC members.

Furthermore, the PAC recommendations based on preliminary investigations into the 1MDB scandal had been ignored for almost a whole year – and the PAC Chairman dared not pursue the matter. Why?

I call on the Minister for Multimedia and Communications, Datuk Salleh Said Keruak to arrange for the Mahathir-Nazri debate in Padang Rengas to be telecast live so that Malaysians all over the country can follow the latest developments of the the mother of all government scandals in the nation’s history.

I welcome the government setting up of a website to help the public detect fake news, which does not belong to the government but belongs to the people so everyone one can use it to the fullest.

I welcome the assurance by the Minister for Communications and Multimedia that the setting up of such a “one stop centre” to check fake news has nothing to do with the upcoming 14th General Election.

DAP had fully supported the Prime Minister in the fight against spread of fake news, but just by those who want to topple the government but also those who want not cling on the power although they have lost all credibility and legitimacy.

It must be clearly understood that there is nothing criminal or treasonous in wanting to topple the government in a parliamentary democracy – but this must be done through the democratic process, either by way of a no-confidence motion in Parliament or through the ballot box during a general election.

In fact, there is nothing nationalistic or patriotic in wanting to cling on to power by all undemocratic and criminal means – such as perpetuating an undemocratic electoral system or violating the laws of the land resulting in Malaysia regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy” and guilty of the politics of money to undermine the popular will.

Let me ask Najib and Salleh a straightforward question – whether they will equally fight against the spread of fake news whether the purpose is to topple the government in the 14thgeneral election or to cling on to power by whatever means.

I pledge full support to Najib to fight against the spread of fake news by those who want to topple Najib and UMNO/Barisan Nasional from Putrajaya, but will he pledge full support against those who spread fake news so that UMNO/BN can cling on to power in Putrajaya although the ruling coalition has lost all credibility and legitimacy?

Najib is himself the worst offender in the spread of fake news, especially in his UMNO Presidential speech on Nov. 30 last year, where he spread three “Big Nazi Lies” and fake news:

1. That the 14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP;
2. That the DAP is anti-Malay or anti-Islam;
3. The “nightmares” Malay will suffer if UMNO loses power in the next general elections.

These are three “Big Lies” which fit the Hitler/Goebbels definition that “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

These are “Three Big Lies” and fake news because:

1. 14th General Election not a battle UMNO vs DAP. It will be a battle between the Barisan Nasional led by UMNO and the Pakatan Harapan coalition of DAP, PKR and Parti Amanah together with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) to save Malaysia from a kleptocracy by defending the founding Constitutional principles of a democratic, just and united plural Malaysia.
2. DAP is not anti-Malay or anti-Islam. DAP is not a Chinese party as right from the beginning of our formation 50 years ago, we were committed to the principles and vision of a Malaysian party, led by Malaysians and serving the interests of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.

This was why in the very first general election contested by DAP in 1969, two Malay State Assemblymen were elected, and down the decades, there had been Malay Members of Parliament and State Assembly representatives under the DAP banner.

3. Malays will not have “nightmares” if UMNO loses power in 14GE, as Najib tried to create scare and panic among the Malays that they will lose political power to the Chinese.

Whatever happens in the 14GE, whether Najib is toppled as Prime Minister or UMNO loses the Federal Government, the Malays in Malaysia will continue to exercise political power in the country as there is no way they will lose their political power. If Najib is toppled in the 13 GE, the Prime Minister will be a Malay and Muslim and not a non-Malay or non- Muslim.

The demographic reality is the surest guarantee that the Malays will not lose political power whatever happens to Najib or to UMNO in the next general elections.

In 1970 Malaysia’s population comprised 44.32% Malays, 34.34% Chinese, 8.99% Indians, 11.89% non-Malay Bumiputeras, 0.67% others.

In 2010, the percentage of Malays in the Malaysian population increased to 55.07%, Chinese reduced to 24.34%, Indians dropped to 7.35%, non-Malay Bumiputeras maintained at 11.94% and 1.3% others.

During the 13th general election, 52.63% of the voters were Malays, 29.68% Chinese, 7.31% Indians, 8.96% non-Malay Bumiputeras and 1.43% others.

Out of the 165 Parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia, 114 are Malay majority seats representing some 70%, 22 Chinese majority seats (13%) and 29 mixed seats. There is not a single Indian majority seat.

With the triple factors establishing overwhelming Malay predominance in the Malaysian political scene – the demographic make-up of the general population, the electorate and the parliamentary constituencies – can Najib and UMNO propagandists explain how the Malays will lose political power, whatever the scenario in the 14GE?

How Malays who dominate in 70% of the parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia will lose political power to the Chinese, who are in the majority in only 13% of the parliamentary seats?

Will these special site set up by the government for “fake news” expose the three “Big Lies” concocted by Najib in his UMNO Presidential speech on Nov. 30?

Another “fake news”, lies and falsehoods are UMNO accusations that former Prime MinisterTun Dr. Mahathir have become my stooge while MCA/Gerakan accuses me of being Mahathir’s puppet.

Will the “one stop centre against fake news” debunk such lies and falsehoods?

Can UMNO/Barisan Nasional make up their mind as to who is whose stooge and puppet?

For some 50 years of my political life, I have virtually been blacked out in the UMNO-owned and controlled mainstream media, whether New Straits Times, Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian or TV3, becoming a “non-person” like Stalin’s Soviet Union.

But in the past three months, a new phenomenon occurred in the Umno owned/managed mainstream media, where I appear almost daily, if not in New Straits Times, then in Utusan, Berita Harian or TV3, even with pictures although for the past few decades there had been a standing directive in the UMNO/BN mainstream media not to use my photograph – but there were no news, facts or truth, but downright lies, falsehood and fake news to demonise me, describing me as a devil, an hantu, puaka or even jembalang, as if I breathe fire or eat babies for breakfast, that I am a communist, anti-Malay, anti-Islam, that I was the cause of the May 13 racial riots in 1969 although I was never in Kuala Lumpur during that period and was in fact in Kota Kinabalu on that tragic day of May 13, 1969, that I am stooge of Singapore PAP.

What was the reason for this new phenomenon, to change tactics from “blacking out” all references including photograph of me in the UMNO mainstream media to daily staple of lies and falsehoods about DAP leaders and me?

The reason is simple – Najib and his UMNO “braintrust” strategists and advisers are worried that UMNO/BN can lose the 14GE, and they are doing their utmost to frighten the Malay voters from supporting the DAP, Pakatan Harapan and Pribumi Bersatu by escalating and intensifying their demonization of DAP and myself.

If Najib and his UMNO advisers are fully confident that they will win in the 14GE, there is no need for them to manufacture fake news and escalate and intensify their demonization of DAP and myself, to the extent of reversing their 50-year policy of blackout of all references to DAP leaders and myself to one of daily publication of fakes news and lies about DAP leaders and me.

But Najib and the UMNO propagandists and strategists are out on a fools’ chase, for it would benefit them more if they address the real political and economic reasons why there is such a great and unprecedented restiveness and unhappiness among traditional UMNO ground and even among the 1.6 million government servants because of the corruption, misconduct and abuses of power of UMNO national and state leaders.

In fact, I will not be surprised if for the first time, the majority of the civil servants vote against UMNO in the 14th general election, although publicly they must be seen as faithful supporters of UMNO.

Cabinet Ministers and UMNO/BN leaders are major manufacturers of fake news.

The Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, sets a dubious record of telling more than ten lies in a short five-paragraph statement attacking me last month and I have challenged him to appear in a joint media conference with me for me to prove that he had told more than 10 lies in a five-paragraph statement attacking me.

The same applies to the UMNO Information Chief, Datuk Seri Annuar Musa who had told at least eight lies about me in a short statement about my offer to speak at the UMNO/BN nation-wide roadshow on the Cabinet’s decision to set up a special task force to probe Bank Negara’s forex losses more than two decades ago.

Will at these lies, falsehoods and “fake news” created by UMNO/BN Ministers and leaders be ventilated at the “one-stop centre” against fake news?

Lies, falsehoods and “fake news”had been generated against the DAP-led Penang Government, including the following:

• Ada setengah pihak yang mendakwa behawa 'regim' DAP telah memberi tekanan terhadap Jabatan Hal Ehwal Agama Islam agar melarang azan melalui pembesar suara pada waktu subuh.
• Dakwaan bahawa Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang menindas kaum Melayu.
• Kerajaan Pakatan Harapan Pulau Pinang dituduh tidak prihatin terhadap rakyat kerana tidak membina rumah mampu milik. Sebenarnya, kerajaan negeri berjaya membina sebanyak 20,887 unit rumah mampu milik sejak 2008. Malah, jumlah itu terus meningkat apabila sebanyak 65,796 unit lagi akan dibina dalam tempoh dalam masa depan. Malangnya, tidak ada satu unit rumah mampu milik pun dibina di bawah skim perumahan kerajaan Persekutuan, PR1MA dan PPA1M di Pulau Pinang walaupun ia dijanjikan berulang kali oleh BN sejak 2013.

Will these lies, falsehoods and “fake news” be debunked on the government's “one-stop centre” against fake news?

The biggest lies, falsehood and “fake news” is that Malays will be oppressed if Najib and UMNO lose power in the next general election.

Najib personally alleged, for instance in his UMNO Presidential speech on Nov. 30, 2016, that institutions like MARA, FELDA, RISDA, FELCRA and TERAJU will “become and disappear” if UMNO loses and the DAP, PKR, AMANAH and Pribumi Bersatu win the next general election.

In Pahang last week, Najib said that if UMNO loses the next general election and DAP is in power, the Malays and bumiputeras will lose out in education and economic opportunities for advancement.

In fact, Najib had as good as said that if UMNO loses power, I will become the Prime Minister!

All these are untrue. Firstly, if UMNO loses, the Prime Minister will continue to be a Malay and Muslim as that is the political reality in Malaysia.

Let me declare that if UMNO loses in the 14GE and Pakatan Harapan comprising DAP, PKR and Amanah together with Pribumi Bersatu form the new government, we will compete with UMNO’s 60-year record to demonstrate that the new government can do better to serve Malays and all Malaysians – that we can do more to uplift the educational and economic positions of the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Ibans, i.e.e all Malaysians than the UMNO/BN coalition in the past 60 years.

If DAP, PKR, Amanah and Pribumi-Bersatu fail to show we can do better than the UMNO/BN coalition in uplifting the economic and educational standards of Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Ibans, we will be voted out of Putrajaya five years later in the 15th General Election as every five years, the government must go back to the electorate for a fresh new mandate.

The possibility that the Malays will be oppressed and marginalized does not exist at all, as the government that replaces the UMNO/BN government would want to continue to be re-elected to Putrajaya and not just be a one-term Federal Government – which means we must be able to prove to all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Dayaks, that we are a better government than UMNO/BN!

Too ahead of the times

Sixty-years ago, on 26th August 1951, the founder of UMNO Datuk Onn Jaafar became disgusted with what he considered to be UMNO's race-based communalist politics and his call for the UMNO party membership to be opened to all Malayans was rejected. He was considered too ahead of the times.

Fifty-one years ago, on 18th March 1966, when DAP was registered as a political party dedicated to towards a goal of a democratic, prosperous and just Malaysia for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, we were considered to ahead of our times.

Thirty years ago, in December 1987, a top official visited me somewhere in Batu where I was held in solitary confinement for for 60 days during the ISA custodial detention in my second ISA detention under Operation Lalang, to tell me that I would be served with formal ISA detention order and be sent to Kamunting Detention Centre, I was told that the DAP principles and polices might be right and correct, but we were too ahead of our times although it might be suitable for the next generation of Malaysians.

This is 2017, sixty years after Merdeka in 1957 and 57 years after the formation of Malaysia – three generation of Malaysians. Isn't it time for all Malaysians to stop thinking of themselves as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Ibrans and to start thinking of themselves as Malaysia, and as the first take, to unite and Save Malaysia from a global kleptocracy and caught in a tracjectory hurtling towards a failed and rogue state?

Election Commission Chairman and Members should have their salaries and perks slashed by 25 per cent as they are unable to register 25% of the eligible voters on the electoral roll

The Election Commission Chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah said in Lundu, Sarawak on Sunday the Election Commission is always ready to hold a general election.

He said this when commenting on a viral message on the social media that the Information Department had issued a circular freezing leave for personnel and personal trips abroad from May 1 because of impending 14th General Election.

How can the Election Commission claim that it is ready to hold the 14GE when some 25 per cent of the eligible voters are not registered on the electoral roll and cannot cast their vote in the 14GE if held in September unless they register as voters in the next fortnight – making the current voters’ registration the final voters’ registration exercise if the 14GE is held by September as the Election Commission requires some six months before they could process and finalize a voter on the electoral roll?

There are 17.6 million eligible voters but over four million of them are not registered on the electoral roll which comes to some 25 per cent of the eligible voters not able to cast their vote if 14GE is held in September unless they are registered in the next two weeks.

The Election Commission Chairman and Members should have their salaries and perks slashed by 25 per cent as they are unable to register 25% of the eligible voters on the electoral roll. This is indeed shocking incompetence and ineptitude.

Since I was first elected into Parliament in 1969, one of the issues I had raised was for the automatic registration of voters, which is quite commonplace in other countries but seems impossible in Malaysia.

Some 48 years have passed but automatic registration of voters is still as distant as ever.

It would appear that we have one of the most incompetent and inefficient Election Commissions in the world which is incapable of have an efficient and up-to-date voters’ registration system.

Other countries can have a system where a voter can register today and vote tomorrow, but in Malaysia, the Election Commission needs some six months before it could process the registration and placed on the electoral roll to allow a voter to cast his or her vote – resulting in a scandalous situation where over four million out of 17.6 million eligible Malaysian voters are not on the electoral roll with the right to vote in elections.

I cannot understand why it is not possible for the Election Commission to have an efficient and up-to-date voters’ registration system whereby a person can vote after one week, or at least after one month, of registration – instead of taking six long months. This should be the KPI for the appointment of Chairman and members of the Election Commission.

I had wanted to have the opportunity to meet the Election Commission Chairman and officials to find out why the Election Commission could not have a system where voters can vote after registering for one week, or at most after one month, and not six months at present, before they could cast their vote.

But the Election Commission Chairman is the most unco-operative Election Commission Chairman in Malaysian history, as the request of DAP MPs to have a meeting and discussion with him and other Election Commission officials on the electoral system have been turned down.

The Election Commission seems to be the most busy institution in the country, where they don’t even have time to meet MPs and Opposition parties – but they are unable to register over four million eligible Malaysian voters!

I do not know whether the Election Commission Chairman will tell the Prime Minister or UMNO Ministers and leaders that he is too busy to meet them.

No Election Commission Chairman in the past had refused to meet DAP leaders and MPs to discuss the Election Commission’s constitutional duties on the conduct of elections, which is most regrettable, for it seems to indicate that the 14GE is going to be most unfair and undemocratic in the nation’s history.