Charging of Najib and Arul Kanda over tampering with Auditor-General’s 1MDB Report highlights the role of PAS leadership in aiding and abetting the 1MDB scandal

The charging of the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former 1MDB Chief Executive Officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy with tampering of the Auditor-General’s 1MDB report in 2016 has highlighted the role of the PAS leadership in aiding and abetting the 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal.

In April 2017, the PAS Central Working Committee publcily gave approval to the 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda who briefed it for more than two hours about the 1MDB.

No wonder that that there won’t be a joint UMNO-PAS anti-1MDB Rally where the respective UMNO and PAS Presidents, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Hadi Awang will condemn Najib, the 1MDB scandal and grand corruption in Malaysia, which reached such stratospheric heights as to make Malaysia a global kleptocracy under Najib’s premiership.

The PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang may be able to square Islam with kleptocracy, but I am sure that the majority of Muslims and non-Muslims cannot accept any equation of Islam or any of the great religions of the world with corruption and kleptocracy.

It has been reported that the fear of UMNO becoming too Islamic-centric and getting closer to PAS were the main reasons for the exodus of its Sabah members.

A stronger reason would be the axis between UMNO and PAS to defend Najib’s kleptocracy and the 1MDB scandal.