Lesson from first day of Parliament – no way the 1MDB scandal can be swept under the carpet as it will continue to haunt and hound Malaysia until there is full accountability releasing the country from the infamy of a global kleptocracy

The lesson from the first day of the 25-day Budget 2018 parliamentary meeting is that there is no way the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal can be swept under the carpet as it will continue to haunt and hound Malaysia until there is full accountability releasing the country from the infamy of a global kleptocracy.

Parliament can pretend that the 1MDB scandal has ceased to exist, rejecting questions from Members of Parliament relating to the 1MDB scandal and Malaysia as a global kleptocracy and stopping MPs from demanding accountability for the 1MDB scandal from the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Ministers, with Ministers having to undergo political acrobatics and contortions like the one performed by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi yesterday both during and after Question Time on the 1MDB scandal, particularly with reference to the whereabouts of major 1MDB scandal mastermind, Jho Low, but the monstrous 1MDB scandal will not go away.

Just like three days ago, at the dialogue of the Prime Minister with the Chinese Youths organized by the Federation of Chinese Association Malaysia (Huazong), the question that received the most attention was the question that was not asked and not the questions that were answered.

Those who attended the dialogue were asked to send in their questions through social messaging app WeChat, which then appeared on a large screen behind the stage. The organisers then scrolled through the list in real-time to pick the questions.

One of the questions asked: “Abdul Rahman Dahlan, our senior government minister in cabinet, said ‘I agree that MO1 is the prime minister’. Is that true?”

The person behind the question, using the pseudonym ‘MO1’, appeared to have sent in the same question several times, but it was not entertained.

The question was not posed to the Prime Minister for answer, but like what happened in Parliament yesterday, the 1MDB scandal will not fade away.

The question is whether the Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has the courage and commitment to the principles of good governance to address the 1MDB scandal in his 2018 Budget on Friday, and inform the country what steps he proposes to take to clear and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy – or the continuing charade that the 1MDB scandal does not exist will be one of the highights of his 2018 Budget.