What has Tengku Razaleigh done to stop the 1MDB scandal during the Najib premiership and what has he done in the past 14 months to cleanse UMNO of global kleptocracy?
At the Rumah Terbuka Aidilfitri “Meraikan Penggiat Seni dan Sastera” in Sentul last night hosted by Pak Samad and myself, I was asked by media to comment on Tengku Razaleigh’s call on the government to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Bank Negara’s foreign currency dealings in the 1990s.
I declined as I told the media that the event was a night of “seni dan sastera” and not a suitable place to comment on other matters.
The event saw the presence of four Sasterawan Negara – as apart from Pak Samad (Datuk Seri Abdul Samad bin Mohamad Said), three other Sasterawan Negara also graced the occasion, namely Dato Dr. Ahmad Khamal Abdullah, Dato Dr. Zurinah Hasan and Professor Emeritus Dr. Mohd Haji Salleh.
It was DAP’s first “Seni dan Sastera” event, for among the guests were Mazmi bin Kamal, Pengerusi Lembaga Pengatah ITBM, Sakri Abdullah ITBM General Manager, Dr. Mohamad Saleeh Rahamad, President PENA, Saifulizan Yahaya PENA Secretary-General.
Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Steven Sim, recited two poems he composed to start off the night, and other DAP elected representatives who attended were Johore State Exco, Sheikh Omar Ali, Kluang MP Wong Shu Qui, Sandakan MP Vivien Wong, Selangor Assembly members Edry Faizal (Dusun Tua) and Lim Yi Wei (Kampung Tunku), Penang State Assembly woman (Seri Delima) Syerleena Binti Abdul Rashid and Pahang State Assemblywoman (Ketari) Young Syefura binti Othman.
My political secretary, Syahredzan Johan also recited a poem of his own composition for the evening.
As I said last night:
“Mana-mana bahasa, tanpa sastera dan seni, akan menjadi bahasa yang layu dan lama-lama mati. Sastera dan seni menjadikan sesuatu bahasa itu indah dan kaya.
“Keindahan dan kekayaan bahasa Melayu, sama seperti semua jenis bahasa lain yang wujud di dunia ini, terbit daripada karya-karya yang dihasilkan sejak zaman-berzaman.
“Kita rakyat Malaysia perlu memberi sokongan kepada sastera dan seni untuk memastikan ia terus mekar.
“Kerajaan dan parti politik juga tidak terlepas daripada tanggungjawab ini.
“Dengan kesedaran ini, saya dan parti menyokong penuh keputusan Kerajaan untuk memberi pengiktirafan sewajarnya kepada para Sasterawan Negara baru baru baru ini.
“Kami juga berharap Kerajaan akan terus memberi sokongan dan dorongan kepada penggiat seni dan sastera dalam pelbagai bentuk selepas ini. Usaha memartabatkan seni dan sastera Melayu tidak wajar terhenti di sini.
“Ini tanggungjawab kita bersama dalam membina sebuah Negara bangsa Malaysia.”
As for Tengku Razaleigh’s comments on the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Bank Negara’s foreign currency dealings in the 1990s, I stand by what I said on December 2, 2017 on the RCI Report, that it was clearly motivated by the impulse “not to seek justice but the 3Vs of vengeance, vindictiveness and vendetta to target Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim with the impending 14th General Election”.
I had said then:
“One sad outcome is the besmirching and devaluation of the institution of Royal Commission of Inquiries – as evident by the dishonourable manner in which the RCI Report on Bank Negara Forex Losses in the 1990s was surreptitiously circulated to Members of Parliament on the last day of Parliament, without any notice whatsoever and without any opportunity for MPs to debate it!”
I had asked why two internal reports of Bank Negara at the time, the “Audit Report on Foreign Exchange Operations Division of Banking Department and Processing Section of Accounts Department As At December 31, 1992” dated 21st January 1994, which was prepared by Bank Negara’s Internet Audit Department (IAD) for Bank Negara’s top management and Audit Committee and the “Accounting Treatment of Losses Arising from Active Reserve Management 1988 – 1994” dated 18th April 2007, prepared by Bank Negara in 2007 upon instructions of the then Bank Negara Governor, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, had not been made public by the RCI.
I pointed out that In contrast, the Najib Cabinet – which carried out a continuing charade pretending that the 1MDB scandal which catapulted Malaysia into a “global kleptocracy” did not exist – acted with unusual speed on the former Bank Negara assistant governor’s complaint in January 2017 resulting in a RCI on Bank Negara’s forex trading losses in the 1990s – for which I mysedlf had appeared to testify.
I had asked why in presenting the top political leaders and public servants in the 1990s as a cast of villains because of Bank Negara’s forex losses, the role of Najib Razak who was then a Cabinet Minister was omitted and whether the top political leaders and public servants for the day were prepared to answer why they aided and abetted the public charade that the greatest corruption scandal in the nation’s history, the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal, did not exist although Malaysia was regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.
May be, Tengku Razaleigh should explain what he had done to stop the 1MDB scandal during the Najib premiership and what he had done in the past 14 months to cleanse UMNO of global kleptocracy?