The Sorry State of the Nation.

The tightening noose.

A few words about the noose that is tightening around PM Najib’s neck. The noose of course is the 1MDB issue. It is now at the stage where money actually flowed from business surrounding or originating with 1MDB, through various stages to finally go into Najibs’ personal accounts.

Today we learn that 6 accounts were frozen and 3 of those belonged to Najib. The IGP, MACC, AG and BNM signed documents to have the banks accounts frozen. Najib can’t suspend all of them.

At the end of the day, these servants to the government cannot fend off the demand by the people. They must eventually surrender to the wishes of the people. As I have said in my earlier article, when a government betrays its trust, it has to prove itself innocent. How? by carrying out acts of redemption. The court of public opinion is not the same as the legal court.

I am glad Saleh Said Keruak responded to the article. I assume he meant the article that appeared in Free Malaysia Today which published a version of my article. 

Obviously he did not read my original article in my blog preferring instead to read the version done by FMT. I am not responsible for that. In my own blog, I reasoned out the circumstances whereby, the government must prove its innocence.  

I say it again, in the court of public opinion, the government must prove it is innocent. Any person out there, will hold the government guilty of a wrong until the government proves otherwise. That is the only time the common man gets even with big and powerful government.  Public opinion is that which keeps the government on an even keel.

But even in a court of law, what’s so strange about reversing the protocol? In French courts, the accused is presumed guilty until proven innocent.

Let the public adopt this attitude. Then the government, any government will know they cannot play play. 

Yes Najib will bring hari raya goodies- first to Pekan.

He has always done that. That is his 'creative' way of solving problems. I am no longer interested to write on his version of pork barrel politics. The people, the Malays especially must have an open mind.

Looks that Najb has can be deceptive. He can appear before the surau congregation and the gathering before breaking fast with a nonplussed demeanor to gain support. That is to his credit. 

But I am asking the people, especially those in Pekan to also act equally stoical by not giving in to Najib’s pretensions. 

He has done a great wrong to the country.Indeed since assuming the office of PM since 2009, what has he accomplished really?

We have made him PM and then he became Finance Minister which caused the man to think he is invincible. More so when he is surrounded as one former finance minister said to me- by a bunch of stupid people.

These stupid people talk down on people because of their position and with the aura of officiousness surrounding them. Neither they nor Najib can arouse conviction in people.  They all become cocky and bullying.

He became greedy. He thinks he can do anything without any censorship on his actions.

An open mind means to accept that the PM is a mortal man capable of doing bad things.  He is greedy and thinks he is unassailable. The freeze on his account shows he is a normal person.

Number two, the people must be open minded enough that when a PM is found guilty he can be sent to jail.

In the past, the late Dato Harun Idris, a powerful politician, ex chief minister and Youth Chief plus ex-officio vice president of UMNO and leader was sent to jail. Anwar Ibrahim a former deputy PM was sent to jail. It’s a progression; after DPM, the PM can also be jailed. Get used to this idea.

When and if he is sent to jail, the Malays do not have to throw themselves on the highways and roads and fight for this man. Accept the possibility of sending him to jail as an object lesson to future PMs. If they commit crimes, they can be sent to jail.

If the crimes committed are the most heinous and gravest such as murder, then even if the perpetrator was once a PM he can be sentenced to the severest of punishment the courts think fit.   

The thieving minds do not understand.

The people with thieving minds still cannot get it. A wrong, corrected after the fact, does not render it annulled. For example, if you buy a property on behalf of MARA for RM100 million, when the actual cost is RM60 million, you have embezzled and stolen money. You are a thief. You have committed theft.

Now, if the price of the property appreciates by 45% to become RM145 million, you have made a profit of RM45 million which also covers the RM40 million you stole. The correction by way of a 45% appreciation covers up your theft as a result of fortuitous market conditions, but does not cancel out the theft. The act of thievery remains.

For to accept the narrative given by the minister in charge of MARA would mean that, every agent acting on behalf of the government can steal money in this way and hope the property market will cover up the theft and he or she is forgiven.

So, it’s not open to Shafie Apdal to now say, never mind if my officers took away RM40 million, that theft is now recovered because the property has appreciated by 45%. This is the kind of weak reasoning you get from a person defending an indefensible wrong.

Similarly when Isa Samad bought properties in the UK on behalf of FGV at an inflated price. The inflated portion represented the sum embezzled. When the price of the property later appreciated as a result of again, fortuitous market development, the embezzlement still remains a wrong.People will just tiu you.

In the case of government’s money (because it all started as 1MDB) being laundered through a few stages to finally end up in Najib’s account, a crime has already been committed. It’s not cancelled out, later when the accused in this case, the PM says the money wasn’t used for private purposes. That is irrelevant. It does not matter because a wrong has been committed ab initio.