Is the 15GE about freeing Najib from jail or freeing Malaysians from poverty, exploitation, inequalities and injustices and position Malaysia to become a world-class plural nation?

Yesterday, one of the Barisan Nasional parties was said to have put forward a resolution to free former prime minister Najib Razak from imprisonment.

Although the party president concerned has issued a denial, there is no doubt that this is one explicit or implicit objectives of UMNO and Barisan Nasional in the 15th General Election.

In Singapore, the authorities have taken action against the former deputy chief executive officer (CEO) of BSI Bank Ltd, Singapore Branch (BSIS) for his contribution to the bank’s failure to file suspicious transaction reports (STR) regarding 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)-related transactions.

Raj Sriram, who is also the former head of Private Banking of BSIS was issued a 24-month conditional warning from the Singapore Police’s commercial affairs department (CAD) and a 10-year prohibition order (PO) by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

“BSIS, of which Sriram was deputy CEO and head of private banking, was a key conduit for tainted funds in the 1MDB debacle,” said MAS’ deputy managing director (financial supervision), Ho Hern Shin.

MAS withdrew BSIS’ licence in May 2016 due to serious and repeated breaches of anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements.

At least 10 countries in the world have taken action on the 1MDB scandal but it is significant that neither the leaders of UMNO nor the other Barisan Nasional parties have ever condemned the 1MDB scandal whether now or in the past decade, while one of the explicit or implicit objectives of UMNO and Barisan Nasional in the 15 GE is to free Najib Razak and the other protagonists of the 1MDB scandal from criminal liability.

Neither UMNO nor the other Barisan Nasional parties are concerned that Malaysia is known worldwide as a kleptocracy because of the 1MDB scandal.

The valid question that must be asked by Malaysians is whether the 15GE is about freeing Najib from jail or freeing Malaysians from poverty, exploitation, inequalities and injustices and position Malaysia to become a world-class great plural nation?

The 15GE will elect the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The Pakatan Harapan Chairman and the Pakatan Harapan candidate to be Prime Minster, Anwar Ibrahim, has made the clarion call to Malaysian voters to fix the “mess” after 65 years of Malaysian nationhood, reclaim the country from two “backdoor” governments and fight for a future that is sustainable and prosperous which shows care and compassion to all people.

The Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri, was not being truthful when he claimed in his live telecast yesterday that the country was recognised as the best in South-East Asia in dealing with Covid-19 pandemic.

How can we make this claim when we have the highest death per million of population in ASEAN – in fact, we are almost double that of the second ASEAN nation in Covid-19 death per million of population, as follows: 1. Malaysia 1,097 2. Indonesia 567 3. Philippines 563 4. Brunei 505 5. Thailand 468 6. Vietnam 436 7. Myanmar 352 8. Singapore 275 9. Cambodia 178 10. Laos 101

Will Malaysia have UMNO President, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as the 10th Prime Minister? Will Najib Razak return as Malaysia’s 11th Prime Minister?

If Malaysia wants to make a mockery of the world which regards Malaysia as a kleptocracy and Najib as a thief, vote for UMNO, Barisan Nasional, Zahid and Najib.

If we want Malaysia to reset and return to the original nation-building principles and policies which was sabotaged by the Sheraton Move political conspiracy which toppled a democratic, lawful and constitutional government and brought in two “backdoor” governments, then vote for Pakatan Harapan and Anwar as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The 15GE will be a test of whether we care for Malaysia and future generations, regardless of race, religion or region, so that Malaysia can stand tall in the world during Malaysia’s Centennial as a world-class plural nation.

Malaysians must have the stamina, guts, gumption and vison to continue the long, hard and unfinished work of creating a Malaysia that can fulfil the Malaysian Dream and in Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman’s words be a “beacon of light to a difficult and distracted world”.