Are Johor voters going to approve the 1MDB scandal - which has been described as “perhaps the single largest heist in the history of the world”?

Last week, Malaysians heard of how one of the two protagonists of the 1MDB scandal spent millions of ringgit in one night from 1MDB funds throwing an extravagant 31st birthday party attended by superstars, who were paid “celebrity charges” for attending his lavish bash -: Leonard DiCaprio (US$250,000), Paris Hilton (US$100,000), Megan Fox ($US250,000) and Kim Kardashian (US$50,000).

Invoices were produced to show that Jho Low’s Las Vegas party costs US$3.6 million.

Major items include 65 bottles of Cristal Champagne for $100,000, a whopping $39,955 tip and fees for celebrities to participate in the party.

The Wall Street Journal described Jho Low’s birthday bash the “wildest party (Las) Legas ever saw”.

This week, we learnt that a former Goldman Sachs banker used money he received from 1MDB to buy a US$10 million home in London for his then lover, who was threatening to tell the authorities about his involvement in the 1MDB scandal.

All these stories came from the criminal trial in New York of a Malaysian banker, Roger Ng, for corruption in the billion-dollar 1MDB scandal, accused of pocketing US$35 million in “secret kickbacks”. The trial is expected to run for several weeks.

Whether Roger is guilty or not, or he is being made a scapegoat as his lawyer had submitted in the New York court, the fact is that it is Malaysian taxpayers who will have to pay for these 1MDB extravagances in these wild parties and other expenditures.

There is no denial whatsoever that the 1MDB scandal is a pure figment of imagination and never existed. In fact, the then US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions even described it at the time as “kleptocracy at its worst”.

It is therefore all the more shocking that the other protagonist in the 1MDB scandal has shown absolutely no compunction whatsoever over the 1MDB scandal and is campaigning in the Johore state general election to eventually return him as the 10th or 11th Malaysian Prime Minister in the 15GE.

This is why one of the issues before the Johor voters in the Johore general election on March 12 is whether they approve of the 1MDB scandal, which has been described as “perhaps the single largest heist in the history of the world” and whether they can differentiate between what is right and wrong, what is corruption and abuse of power and what is not.