A. Kadir Jasin's Blog, page 45

A Kadir Jasin
DARI cerita ikan Belida yang boleh dipancing kalau kita tahu kaedahnya kepada saat-saat terakhir Hitler, sejarah tidak putus-putus mengajar kita teladan dan sempadan.

[PERINGATAN: Komen guna “Anonymous” tidak akan disiarkan. Sila guna Google Account atau Name/URL. Boleh pakai nama samaran.]
Jadi izinkan saya bercerita mengenai saat-saat terakhir Adolf Hitler moga-moga kita mendapat pengajaran daripadanya.
Pada jam 12.10 tengah malam 29 April 1945, ketika di ambang kekalahan, Hitler melantik Robert Ritter von Greim sebagai Panglima Tentera Udara Jerman – Luftwaffe.
Luftwaffe adalah unit terakhir tentera Nazi Jerman yang masih beroperasi. Unit-unit lain sudah dikalahkan oleh Tentera Bersekutu yang sedang mara memasuki Berlin.
Von Greim cedera teruk apabila kapal terbang yang membawanya ke Berlin dibedil tentera Rusia.
Daripada bilik kebal bawah tanah di tengah-tengah kota Berlin, Hilter mengarahkan setiausahanya, Traudl Junge, menulis wasiat yang antara lain dia menyalahkan kekalahan Nazi kepada “pembohongan, rasuah dan pengkhianatan”.
Persembunyian Hitler:Tembok konkrit tidak boleh menyelamatkanKemudian beliau membuat beberapa pelantikan baru, antaranya Von Greim, setelah memecat ketua-ketua tentera dan anggota pemerintahannya.


Wanita Merosakkan Kata Hitler
Pada jam 1.30 pagi Hitler menikahi kekasihnya Eva Braun, walaupun dia pernah bersumpah tidak akan berkahwin kerana katanya, wanita mempunyai pengaruh yang merosakkan ke atas lelaki ternama. (Women have a destructive influence on great men.) Hitler dan Braun sudah berkenalan selama 14 tahun.
Hitler dan Eva Braun: Wanita merosakkan, katanyaPada saat itu, bukan sahaja gandum sudah menjadi bubur bagi Hilter tetapi bubur sudah tertumpah ke pasir dan tidak boleh dimakan lagi.
Kira-kira jam 4.15 pagi, Joseph Goebbels, Ketua Komunikasi Strategik Hitler, teresak-esak memberitahu Junge yang Hitler dan Braun telah membunuh diri dan dia diarahkan mengambil alih pemerintahan sebagai Reich Chancellor - Perdana Menteri.
Sehebat mana pun propaganda Goebbels dan taat setianya kepada Mein Fuhrer (Ketuaku), masa tidak lagi di sebelah beliau. Pelantikan sebagai Perdana Menteri tidak bermakna lagi. Parti Nazi sudah mati dan Jerman dalam acuan Hitler sudah ranap menyembah bumi.
Pada 1 Mei, Goebbels menghantar Jeneral Hans Krebs untuk menyerah kalah kepada jeneral Rusia, Vasily Chuikov.
Kemudian Goebbels membunuh diri bersama isteri dan anak-anaknya.
Von Greim menjadi panglima Luftwaffe yang tidak ada flugzeug (kapal terbang) kerana habis musnah dibom Tentera Bersekutu.


Pada 9 Mei, dia ditawan oleh tentera Amerika dan dua minggu kemudian membunuh diri dengan menelan racun sianida (cyanide) apabila mengetahui yang dia akan diserahkan kepada pihak berkuasa Rusia.
Moral cacatan sejarah ini adalah sekuat dan sehebat mana pun seseorang pemimpin, dia akan jatuh juga apabila kuasa dan kekuatan mula memakan diri dan dia lupa bahawa ada kuasa yang lebih hebat daripada kuasanya, iaitu kuasa takdir dan kuasa orang tertindas yang berjuang penuh keazaman berlandaskan kebenaran.
Lest We Forget
Khairy: Menanam tebu di tepi bibir mengenai rasuah"I can tell you there is political will to let [the corruption commission] to investigate as much as possible - without fear or favour - and for the Attorney General to prosecute should there be sufficient evidence." - Aljazeera.

Wallauaklam.

A Kadir Jasin
WE HAVE established beyond a shadow doubt that, with the right knowledge and perseverance, we could use the line to catch ikan belida – bronze leatherback.
[REMINDER: No anonymous comments will be published.  Please use Google Account, OpenID or Name/URL. Pseudonym is accepted. Please be respectful .. No swearing. Thank you]
It has also been established that Prime Minister (Datuk Seri) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, once had RM2.6 billion in his personal account at AmIslamic Berhad.
It was further established, albeit some doubt, that the US$700-million was not  from 1MDB.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission claimed that the money was “sourced from donations”.
Unfortunately not many people here in Malaysia and abroad believed the donation story.
Yet to be determined
1. The identity of the generous donor, who some speculated was a wealthy Arab royal or a hugely successful camel trader. There could be more than one and not necessarily an Arab or a Muslim.
2. Whether it is legal for the Prime Minister to secretly accept US$700 million in donations, which were credited into his personal account.
3. What did he used the money for? His spin-doctors are flogging the lore that it was used to fund Umno/BN and for the 2013 election campaign.

2013 GE: Did the "donations" pay for this poster? 4. If indeed the mind-boggling RM2.6-billion donations were used to fund Umno/BN and for the 2013 election campaign, would this be legal?
5. If the RM2.6 billion was distributed evenly among the 222 parliamentary seats, each should have received RM11.72 million.
6. Has all the RM2.6 billion been spent or has part of it been siphoned off and kept somewhere in one of the many offshore financial centers?Burn the House to Smoke Out the MosquitoIn their zeal to defend their boss, the PM’s “tukang cerita” (“tukang karut” in the Dikir Barat tradition) together with the “meanstream media” (yes, they are mean) and the “bangang” bloggers have gone absolutely off the rocker.
They are demonizing all and sundry who they think are a threat to or deemed to be a threat to Mohd Najib. They don’t give a hoot if they destroy state institutions like the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC), the Attorney General’s Chamber and Bank Negara. They have succeeded in discrediting, demoralizing and fracturing the AG's Chamber, the MACC and the police. Now they are attacking Bank Negara.
Yet by demonizing these institutions and their leaders, these spin-doctors acknowledge that these personalities and institutions are more credible and trustworthy than the government led by Mohd Najib.
Their slash and burn tactics affirms their suicidal temperament. To them, if Mohd Najib does not survive then nobody should – not even the country.
The Sang Kelembai Touch Continues

Post-GST nasi lemak bungkus in Kelana Jaya. Compare with the spoon and my ancient Nokia
In the meantime, all indicators point towards the growing contagion of 1MDB, aka the Sang Kelembai effects, and of a weak government:

1. The ringgit is in freefall – declining to a 17-year low against US Dollar on Aug 3.

2. The Bank Negara foreign reserves had declined by more than US$40 billion to just over US$100 billion - the lowest in 5 years – partly in support of the ringgit. That amount could have been better-spent pre-paying debts. Lower debts mean stronger ringgit.

3. Capital flight in full swing. Locals and foreigners are taking their money out. For 14 consecutive weeks foreign capital flowed out of Bursa Malaysia. Last week alone foreign fund managers sold RM845-million worth of Malaysian stocks. So far this year an estimated RM11.7 billion had departed the Bursa compared to RM6.9 billion for the whole of last year.
5. GST, the falling ringgit and weak commodity prices are playing havoc with the livelihood of the people. Household income of palm oil and rubber smallholders falls, prices of good and services have gone up and inflation is on the rise.

6. And the empire is striking back as typified by the holding of a nationwide special prayer (solat sunat hajat) by the MACC officer, seeking Allah’s guidance and blessings. MACC has been the target of intimidation for its unflinching investigations into the 1MDB affairs and the Prime Minister’s RM2.6-billion private account. At the MACC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, the prayer was led by former MACC deputy chief commissioner (Management and Professionalism), (Datuk Seri) Zakaria Jaffar and was attended by some 100 staff members.

MACC staffs sought devine guidanceAnd about crime and punishment, poet Kahlil Gibran, in part, wrote:

“It is when your spirit goes wandering upon the wind,
That you, alone and unguarded, commit a wrong unto others and therefore unto yourself.
And for that wrong committed must you knock and wait a while unheeded at the gate of the blessed...”
Do we look like a blessed country now?


Dan Sejarah Saksiku
24. Sebagai langkah proaktif, demi meningkatkan ketelusan dan keyakinan rakyat terhadap pertubuhan-pertubuhan politik di negara ini, kerajaan akan memperkenalkan satu lagi inisiatif di bawah GTP yang bagi tujuan mengawal “political financing”. Inisiatif ini akan beri penekanan bahawa setiap sumbangan yang ingin diberikan kepada mana-mana parti politik sama ada di peringkat pusat atau negeri hendaklah disalurkan melalui akuan rasmi parti. Ini bagi mengelakkan ahli-ahli politik menyalahgunakan nama parti untuk meminta atau menerima apa-apa sumbangan yang kemudiannya diselewengkan untuk kepentingan persendirian.
25. Setiap sumbangan yang dihulurkan perlulah dikemukakan resit penerimaan dan dimasukkan ke dalam akaun parti. Menerusi rekod penerimaan yang teratur ia boleh diaudit pada tiap-tiap akhir tahun kewangan. Kerajaan percaya inisiatif seumpama ini akan mengelakkan sebarang bentuk perbuatan rasuah dan penyelewengan di peringkat akar umbi dan manfaat kepada sumbangan dapat disampaikan kepada segenap peringkat parti dan seterusnya rakyat.
(www.sprm.gov.my/.../Majlis_Pegawai_Integriti_Bertauliah.pdf)Mohd Najib speech at Program Pegawai Integriti Bertauliah, Putrajaya, 27-02-2012.
 
Wallahuaklam.

A Kadir Jasin ACCORDING a Star online report, quoting the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the whopping RM2.6-billion allegedly channelled into personal account/s of the Prime Minister, (Datuk Seri) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, was sourced from donations.
[REMINDER: No anonymous comments will be published.  Please use Google Account, OpenID or Name/URL. Pseudonym is accepted. Please be respectful .. No swearing. Thank you]
 It was not from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
As my mother would say in this situation: “Awat la cik tak bagi tau awai-awai?”
In plain English: Why don’t you say so from the start?
Why did Mohd Najib and his entire brigade of spin masters have to beat around the senduduk bush?
Why can't they flog this donation story from the start?
Days before today’s MACC announcement, rumours were rife that one or several super rich Arab princes and sheikhs had “admitted” to donating a huge sum of money to Mohd Najib.
That was why in the posting entitled “Hikmah Di Sebalik Pemecatan Muhyiddin” on July 31 I made the following remark in the comment column:
“Saya pun dengar cerita seribu satu malam daripada Ali Baba Bujang Lapok yang kata, ada seorang saudagar yang sangat kaya yang ada ribu-ribu unta dan tikar terbang dari negeri Autastan, jiran Tipustan, bagi sadakah bilion-bilion dirham kepada DS Najib. Masya-Allah, banyaknya duit Sheikh unta itu. Alhamdulillah murahnya rezeki DS Najib. Shukran!”
[I had also heard the story of 1001 nights from Ali Baba Bujang Lapok, saying that there was a very rich trader with thousands of camels and a magic carpet from the nation of Autastan, neighbouring Tipustan, had presented DS Najib billions of dirhams of sadakah (alms). Masya-Allah, so wealthy is the Sheikh. Alhamdulillah, so bountiful is DB Najib’s rezeki. Shukran.]
With the turn of events being so unbelievably fast, dramatic and fantastic since the backdated termination of the services of Attorney General (Tan Sri) Abdul Gani Patail on July 27 and the cabinet reshuffle on July 28, it is hard to force the people not to speculate.
Who are these donors and why did it take such a long time for the MACC and the 1MDB Taskforce to discover that the US$700 million was from donations?
With the benefit of hindsight, the donations story and the talk about the generous Arab benefactor/s could be wholly possible. It has been publicly announced that Mohd Najib’s wife, (Datin Paduka Seri) Rosmah Mansor, is very close to the wealthy Arabs, including members of royal families.
The question is: If the unaccounted 1MDB money or debts did not go to the Prime Minister’s private account, why did it go?
Many more questions about 1MDB's modus operandi and dealings remain unanswered. 
If the money in the Prime Minister’s account/s was not from 1MDB, why didn’t Jho Low say so or why did people linked to the account/s had to run away from the country?
People who were sought by the Taskforce, including Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil and (Datuk) Suboh Mohd Yassin, should now come forward to clear the Prime Minister’ name.
As for the MACC, the whole bunch of its top echelon, starting with Chief Commissioner (Tan Sri) Abu Kassim Mohamed, should resign voluntarily for failing to discover earlier that the US$700 million in the PM’s personal account/s at AmIslamic was from donations, failing which they should be sacked!
How can they play play with the Prime Minister like that?
Hopefully we are not being presented with yet another round of silap mata and sihir in the 1MDB saga.
In Saudi Arabia, if you are found guilty of practising sihir (black magic), you can be put to death. For stealing you will have your hand chopped off.
Lying is “dosa besar” (capital sin). Wallahuaklam.

A Kadir Jasin
PEMBAHAS RD – orang Baling kahwin wanita Kubur Panjang – mengulas: “Dr.M sudah agak lama mendiamkan diri. Yang paling saya risau dan hairan, mengapa JebatMustDie terus juga mendiamkan diri.”

[PERINGATAN: Komen guna “Anonymous” tidak akan disiarkan. Sila guna Google Account atau Name/URL. Boleh pakai nama samaran.]
Saya amat biasa dengan Baling dan Kubur Panjang; membuat liputan lawatan Almarhum Tun Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra ke Baling pada tahun 1969 dan kakak saya berkahwin orang Kubur Panjang.
Berkenaan Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, khabarnya beliau ke Jepun. Untuk JebatMustDie pula kita berdoa agar beliau sihat wal afiat dan akan kembali berkarya.
Dalam keadaan laut yang bergelora. Ombak dan badai menggila. Bahtera kita patah kemudi, terkoyak layar. Nakhoda cemas. Anak-anak kapal mengganas.
Orang yang arif mengenai hukum lautan berkata, siapa yang menabur angin dia akan menuai badai. He who sows the wind shall harvest the waves.
Siapa yang menabur angin akan menuai badaiKetika bahtera merdeka kita dilandai badai, kemudi patah layar berkecai, nakhoda cemas anak kapal mengganas, tentulah ada pendeta dan tukang cerita yang buntu akalnya dan tumpul mata penanya.
Saya pun sekali sekala berasa terancam juga. Maklumlah kita mentimun mereka durian. Kita menggolek kita kena, mereka bergolek kita kena.
Namun saya bersyukur. Alhamdulillah dengan sokongan dan doa para pembahas serta pembaca mata pena tua saya masih tidak kering dakwatnya.
Ini ceritera kaedah berperang. Musuh kita tidak kuat tetapi kita lemah, kita kalah. Musuh kita kuat tetapi kita pintar belum tahu mereka menang. Kita kuat kerana azam. Kita berani kerana benar. Inilah peperangan mutakhir yang dinanti-nantikan pendekar dan pahlawan sebenar.
Jadi, mari menyusun seroja bunga seroja. Hiasan sanggul remaja puteri remaja. Rupa yang elok dimanja jangan dimanja. Pujalah ia sekadar sekadar saja. Sekarang bukan bermenung, zaman bermenung. Marilah kita bersama
Memetik bunga.
Memancing Belida Ikan Belida
Dan kepada yang berminat memancing, biar saya ceritakan cara memancing ikan belida. Orang Kedah kata ikan selat. Orang putih kata, bronze featherback. Ada beberapa jenis ikan belida.
Ikan belida boleh dipancing Ada orang kata, belida tidak makan pancing. Itu tidak tepat. Dengan cara yang betul, belida boleh dipancing. Ini cara yang diajarkan oleh Allahyarhamah nenek saya – tok, kata orang Kedah – masa saya kanak-kanak dulu.
Guna mata kail yang paling kecil sebab mulut belida sempit. Umpan cacing atau anak sepilai jeruk. Ketika banjir sedang naik, tengok di mana ikan keli dan baung mengorek cacing di gigi air. Turunkan mata kail lima atau enam kaki dari gigi air kerana di situ belida berenang. Kerana bentuk badannya, belida tidak boleh berenang di air tohor. Itu kerja keli dan baung. Turunkan mata kail sekaki atau dua kaki dalam. Insya-Allah dapat ikan belida.
Natijahnya, apa pun yang hendak kita lakukan mesti berbekalkan ilmu, pengetahuan dan pengalaman. Dimulakan dengan bismillah dan niat yang baik, Insya-Allah berhasil.
Bahtera kita kukuh dan laju. Kemudi teguh kayu jati. Layar kuat diikat tali pedati. Tiangnya tinggi menjulang. Panji-panjinya Jalur Gemilang.
Tetapi kalau nakhoda kita “landlubber” - orang yang tidak berpengalaman di laut – takut-takut bahtera kita pecah berderai dihempas badai.
Manalah tahu, nakhoda terabai meninjau ufuk kerana memantau anak kapal sudah dirasuk. Andai tidak dipantau, dipujuk dan disogok, takut-takut mereka belot, derhaka dan terjun kapal.
Wallahuaklam.

A Kadir Jasin
MUTAKHIR - Yang terbaru menjadi "viral" - tersebar luas - di media sosial ialah gambar apa yang kelihatan seperti kertas tuduhan (charge sheet) yang melibatkan Perdana Menteri dan seorang lagi dalam kes RM27 juta duit SRC International, anak syarikat Kementerian Kewangan. Wallahuaklam.

POSTING ASAL

MOHON sabar kalau cerita ini panjang. Sukar hendak dipendekkan. Jadi saya mulakan dengan membuat kesimpulan iaitu:
Penyingkiran (Tan Sri) Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin pada 28 Julai dan penamatan undur tarikh (back-dated) perkhidmatan Peguam Negara (Tan Sri) Abdul Gani Patail 27 Julai tidak menyelesaikan apa-apa masalah sebaliknya memburukkan lagi keadaan negara dan imej (Datuk Seri) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak.

[PERINGATAN: Komen guna “Anonymous” tidak akan disiarkan. Sila guna Google Account atau Name/URL. Boleh pakai nama samaran.]

Implikasi dua peristiwa itu serta perubahan-perubahan lain yang menyusurinya di Jabatan Peguam Negara, PDRM, Suruhanjaya Pencegah Rasuah Malaysia (MACC) dan PAC adalah seperti berikut:-
1.Perdana Menteri terselamat daripada kemungkinan diheret ke mahkamah bersabit 1MDB dan SRC International. Satu “donia” sudah dengar cerita duit SRC International yang nawaitunya untuk kegiatan CSR (tanggungjawab sosial korporat) tetapi masuk akaun peribadi Perdana Menteri.
2.Menyiasat dan merangka pertuduhan melibatkan wang CSR SRC International lebih mudah kerana jumlah yang lebih kecil dan melibatkan hanya dua buah bank tempatan berbanding 1MDB yang membabitkan AS$700 juta.
3. Mohd Najib berjaya mengekalkan kuasa eksekutif tetapi di mata khalayak yang mengerti beliau telah hilang kuasa moral (moral authority) untuk memerintah.
4. Kuasa eksekutif beliau menjadi semakin kukuh kerana pengkritik beliau dalam Umno dan kerajaan telah disingkirkan atau digula-gula dengan pemberian jawatan menteri dan timbalan menteri.
Pasukan Petugas Lumpuh
5. Sekali gus pemberhentian undur tempoh Abdul Gani memporak-perandakan penyiasatan Pasukan Petugas 1MDB. Penyiasat akan terhenti atau dialih matlamatnya, pegawai ditukar dan fail-fail hilang atau dibakulsampahkan. (TI Malaysia berkata, Pasukan Petugas itu boleh dianggap terkubur tetapi MACC berkata ia akan meneruskan penyiasatan).
6. Tetapi maklumat berkaitan dengan penyiasatan 1MDB akan terus tersebar kerana banyak pihak dalam dan luar mempunyai maklumat dan dokumen mengenainya. Sudah terlambat menimbus bangkai gajah kerana sudah ditokak-tokak dan cebisannya dilarikan singa, cheetah, harimau bintang, dubuk (hyena), rubah, hereng, biawak dan helang.

1MDB ibarat bangkai gajah7. Dengan melantik pembesar-pembesar Umno yang kemaruk kuasa dan bermuka-muka menjadi menteri dan timbalan menteri, Mohd Najib boleh mengarahkan mereka mengesan dan membinasakan pencuri-pencuri bangkai gajah itu. Inilah yang sedang berlaku dengan rancak sekarang iaitu mengalihkan perhatian daripada menyiasat jenayah kepada memburu pihak-pihak yang mendedahkan jenayah.
8. Gerakan taktikal Mohd Najib juga melumpuhkan PAC. Hatta pengerusi PAC, Nur Jazlan bin (Tan Sri) Mohamed Rahmat, yang bunyi begitu komited, ikhlas dan berani sebelum ini tetapi dengan riang rianya menerima jawatan timbalan menteri.
9. Speaker Dewan Rakyat sudah pun berkata anggota baru PAC tidak akan dilantik (sehingga Dewan bersidang Oktober ini). Namun Timbalan Pengerusi PAC, Tan Seng Giaw, wajib meneruskan tugas dengan ahli yang tinggal sekali pun tidak mendapat kerjasama pengurusan Parlimen atau hasil siasatan mereka tidak diiktiraf.
Agen Bebas Muhyiddin Yassin
10. Dengan penyingkirannya daripada kabinet, Muhyiddin boleh bertindak sebagai free agent mewakili Umno akar umbi kerana beliau adalah Timbalan Presiden Umno.
Muhyiddin boleh jadikan Umno kembali terangkun11.Tetapi beliau harus berhati-hati meniti buih kerana Majlis Tertinggi yang berada dalam poket Presiden boleh menyingkirkan beliau atas alasan melanggar disiplin.
12. Muhyiddin boleh menjadikan Umno terangkum (inclusive) sekali lagi dengan berinteraksi dengan akar Umbi walaupun percubaan sudah mula dibuat bagi menyekat beliau mendampingi ahli.
12. Muhyiddin dan para penyokong beliau mungkin tidak berupaya mengubah keadaan di peringkat atas sama ada dalam Umno atau kerajaan tetapi mereka boleh mengubah persepsi dan sokongan rakyat jelata dan pengundi.
13. Mohd Najib mungkin telah berjaya berpaut kepada kuasa tetapi setiap hari berlalu ekonomi bertambah goyah, ringgit dibedal, pasaran modal lesu dan Malaysia menjadi bahan ketawa satu dunia.

Menara Dua Bukit Aman dijilat api14. Sebagai renungan, apakah berkat apabila, sebaik sahaja menteri polis ((Datuk Seri) Ahmad Zahid bin Hamidi) dinaikkan pangkat menjadi Timbalan Perdana Menteri, menara dua Bukit Aman tiba-tiba dijilat api? Satu kebetulan yang sangat menakjubkan!
Wallahuaklam.

A Kadir Jasin
IN times like these, it’s understandable for the majority of the rakyat to feel despondent and pessimistic.
[REMINDER: No anonymous comments will be published.  Please use Google Account, OpenID or Name/URL. Pseudonym is accepted. Please be respectful .. No swearing. Thank you]
It is the heavy duty of the optimistic few to keep the spirit up and the struggle for truth alive.
The hasty removal of (Tan Sri) Abdul Gani Patail as  Attorney-General yesterday, according to legal experts, tantamount to constructive dismissal.
In their opinion, he is still legally the AG. The law of natural justice was ignored. He was removed on the presumption that he is not in good health.
That he is not in the pink of health is an open secret. But why now and with such a haste that he was removed?
It is the case of the Malay proverb “kalau tidak ada-ada masakan tempua bersarang rendah”?
Is it because he is about to charge the 1MDB perpetrator or perpetrators in court that his tenure was prematurely terminated?
The scrambling for cover was such that it creates the impression that the charging was to happen today or tomorrow.
Assuming that the case in such an advanced stage, would the “sacking” of the AG and the dismissal of Deputy Prime Minister and a couple of ministers seal the boiling cauldron?
Would it not leak or, worse still, explode and spill the 1MDB muck for the whole world to see?
The potency of the executive power may be able to stop the 1MDB muck from being exposed in the court of law, but it has no power to stop it from being tried in the court of public opinion.
So I am still optimistic that the truth about 1MDB and who is or are responsible for its unexplainable business activities and the massive flows of fund, i.e. its debts, would eventually be known.
On his part, (Tan Sri) Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin, has to act fast and furious if he does not want to disappoint the rakyat. If he buckles, the cause is lost for the majority of the people, for Umno and the Barisan Nasional.
And it will be a double whammy for the country if the oppositions, because of their internal squabbles, are unable to take over the torch.
Following is Muhyiddin full press statement:
“Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
Alhamdulillah, saya mengucapkan terima kasih kepada YAB Perdana Menteri kerana telah memberikan peluang kepada saya untuk berkhidmat dalam pentadbiran kerajaan persekutuan sebagai Timbalan Perdana Menteri bermula 10 April 2009.
Saya juga mengucapkan terima kasih kepada semua ketua-ketua jabatan, pegawai-pegawai kerajaan, pemimpin pertubuhan bukan kerajaan dan semua pihak yang telah menyokong saya sepanjang saya menjalankan tugas sebagai Timbalan Perdana Menteri.
Saya menerima keputusan YAB Perdana Menteri untuk menggugurkan saya daripada kabinet dengan hati yang terbuka. Saya menghormati kuasa prerogatif YAB Perdana Menteri untuk melantik dan menggugurkan mana-mana anggota kabinet.
Sebagai Timbalan Perdana Menteri, saya telah terlibat secara langsung dalam pembuatan dasar-dasar kerajaan dan melaksanakan tugas-tugas yang dipertanggungjawabkan kepada saya dengan penuh amanah.
Selama saya berkhidmat, saya sentiasa mendokong semua dasar kerajaan dan menyokong kepimpinan YAB Perdana Menteri.
Kecuali dalam isu 1MDB, saya mempunyai prinsip dan pendirian saya sendiri dalam mempertahankan hak rakyat, nama baik parti dan kepentingan negara. Jika kerana pendirian saya dalam isu ini menyebabkan saya digugurkan daripada kabinet maka saya redha.
Saya akan sentiasa setia kepada perjuangan UMNO. Sebagai Timbalan Presiden UMNO, saya akan terus melaksanakan amanah yang telah dipertanggungjawabkan kepada saya dan mencurahkan khidmat bakti saya demi memperkukuhkan parti serta mengembalikan keyakinan orang Melayu dan rakyat kepada UMNO.
Kepada Allah saya berserah.
TAN SRI DATO' HJ MUHYIDDIN HJ MOHD YASSIN 28 Julai 2015
[In gist, he said: “Except on the 1MDB issue, I hold a different principle and stand in defending the right of the people, the good name of the party and the interest of the country. If because of my stand on this issue that I was dropped from the Cabinet, I am willing (redha).]
Wallahuaklam.

A Kadir Jasin
IN times like these, it’s understandable for the majority of the rakyat to feel despondent and pessimistic.
[REMINDER: No anonymous comments will be published.  Please use Google Account, OpenID or Name/URL. Pseudonym is accepted. Please be respectful .. No swearing. Thank you]
It is the heavy duty of the optimistic few to keep the spirit up and the struggle for truth alive.
The hasty removal of (Tan Sri) Abdul Gani Patail as  Attorney-General yesterday, according to legal experts, tantamount to constructive dismissal.
In their opinion, he is still legally the AG. The law of natural justice was ignored. He was removed on the presumption that he is not in good health.
That he is not in the pink of health is an open secret. But why now and with such a haste that he was removed?
It is the case of the Malay proverb “kalu tidak ada-ada masakan tempua bersarang rendah”?
Is it because he is about to charge the 1MDB perpetrator or perpetrators in court that his tenure was prematurely terminated?
The scrambling for cover was such that it creates the impression that the charging was to happen today or tomorrow.
Assuming that the case in such an advanced stage, would the “sacking” of the AG and the dismissal of Deputy Prime Minister and a couple of ministers seal the boiling cauldron?
Would it not leak or, worse still, explode and spill the 1MDB muck for the whole world to see?
The potency of the executive power may be able to stop the 1MDB muck from being exposed in the court of law, but it has no power to stop it from being tried in the court of public opinion.
So I am still optimistic that the truth about 1MDB and who is or are responsible for its unexplainable business activities and the massive flows of fund, i.e. its debts, would eventually be known.
On his part, (Tan Sri) Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin, has to act fast and furious if he does not want to disappoint the rakyat. If he buckles, the cause is lost for the majority of the people, for Umno and the Barisan Nasional.
And it will be a double whammy for the country if the oppositions, because of their internal squabbles, are unable to take over the torch.
Following is Muhyiddin full press statement:
“Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
Alhamdulillah, saya mengucapkan terima kasih kepada YAB Perdana Menteri kerana telah memberikan peluang kepada saya untuk berkhidmat dalam pentadbiran kerajaan persekutuan sebagai Timbalan Perdana Menteri bermula 10 April 2009.
Saya juga mengucapkan terima kasih kepada semua ketua-ketua jabatan, pegawai-pegawai kerajaan, pemimpin pertubuhan bukan kerajaan dan semua pihak yang telah menyokong saya sepanjang saya menjalankan tugas sebagai Timbalan Perdana Menteri.
Saya menerima keputusan YAB Perdana Menteri untuk menggugurkan saya daripada kabinet dengan hati yang terbuka. Saya menghormati kuasa prerogatif YAB Perdana Menteri untuk melantik dan menggugurkan mana-mana anggota kabinet.
Sebagai Timbalan Perdana Menteri, saya telah terlibat secara langsung dalam pembuatan dasar-dasar kerajaan dan melaksanakan tugas-tugas yang dipertanggungjawabkan kepada saya dengan penuh amanah.
Selama saya berkhidmat, saya sentiasa mendokong semua dasar kerajaan dan menyokong kepimpinan YAB Perdana Menteri.
Kecuali dalam isu 1MDB, saya mempunyai prinsip dan pendirian saya sendiri dalam mempertahankan hak rakyat, nama baik parti dan kepentingan negara. Jika kerana pendirian saya dalam isu ini menyebabkan saya digugurkan daripada kabinet maka saya redha.
Saya akan sentiasa setia kepada perjuangan UMNO. Sebagai Timbalan Presiden UMNO, saya akan terus melaksanakan amanah yang telah dipertanggungjawabkan kepada saya dan mencurahkan khidmat bakti saya demi memperkukuhkan parti serta mengembalikan keyakinan orang Melayu dan rakyat kepada UMNO.
Kepada Allah saya berserah.
TAN SRI DATO' HJ MUHYIDDIN HJ MOHD YASSIN 28 Julai 2015
[In gist, he said: “Except on the 1MDB issue, I hold a different principle and stand in defending the right of the people, the good name of the party and the interest of the country. If because of my stand on this issue that I was dropped from the Cabinet, I am willing (redha).]
Wallahuaklam.

A Kadir Jasin
CLOSING down newspapers, attacking websites and the IGP’s failed mission to interrogate Xavier Andre Justo in Thailand and the emerging attacks on 1MDB Task Force members are the distractions – a subplot from the movie “Wag the Dog”.

[REMINDER: No anonymous comments will be published.  Please use Google Account, OpenID or Name/URL. Pseudonym is accepted. Please be respectful .. No swearing. Thank you]

In the movie, starring Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman, the President of the United States was caught making advances on an underage girl less than two weeks before election day. Conrad Brean (De Niro), a top-notch spin doctor, is brought in to take the public's attention away from the scandal. He decides to construct a diversionary war with Albania with the hope that the media will concentrate on this instead. Brean contacts Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Hoffman) to create the war, complete with a theme song and fake film footages.
I would not put the Prime Minister’s communication chief, Abdul Rahman Dahlan in the same league as the film’s director Barry Levinson but the plot is near enough – to drive attention away from the tightening noose of 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s Task Force.
But what a slap in the face it was for the government when the Thais refused access to Justo to the IGP team but allowed a journalist of the Singapore Straits Times to interview him instead (Read here). As if the Thais were telling our government, if you want to know about Justo read the Straits Times.

Clearly the Thais are more willing to work with Singapore than with Malaysia on this matter. Secrets and blackmails are an evil necessity in international relations.
The IGP could have sent a wrong signal to the whole national by his instance to interrogate Justo and his dismal failure. It gave the impression that he was more interested in the Justo sideshow than in the matter at hand – the Task Force investigation – and was not influential enough with the Thais.
It may have been too late for any one member Task Force to sabotage or pervert the investigation in favour of any party. They have to play the team game or risk being exposed as renegade.
The police sudden shift of attention from the 1MDB investigation to the allegation of conspiracy to topple the PM and the role of Justo had raised concern that it was more interested with the political rather than criminal aspect of the case.
The suspicion arose out of the fact that among the four members of the Task Force, the police are the easiest to the influenced because its ultimate boss, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, is seen as the last few remaining supporters of the Prime Minister.
In fact Ahmad Zahid is seen as the man most likely to be promoted should Mohd Najib Abdul Razak decide to reshuffle the cabinet in the coming days and the most likely casualties are the Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin and Rural Development Minister Shafie Apdal.
Could Attempts Have Been Made?
Attempts might have been made to force the police to act contrary to the interest of the Task Force but could not be executed because the force itself was against such an interference or because the investigation had gone to far ahead to be effectively sabotaged.
The test to this theory is to see whether the police will work with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Bank Negara to track down and arrest the people wanted for the Task Force.
The Police are yet to make their own arrest. That could be because the investigations expose abuse of power and corruption rather than crimes that the police are familiar with. The MACC has more expertise in handling abuse of power and corruption cases.
Sources said one of key suspects whom the police “were supposed to hide from the MACC” was handed over to the Commission soon after he was located. It means that political influence is waning as the noose tightens on the 1MDB perpetrators.
It might have been too late for any single person, including the Prime Minister, to divert the direction of the investigations.
A former top law officer told me a couple of nights ago that he believed the Task Force had discovered and established more than sufficient evidence to charge those responsible for the crime.
He said, the law on corruption as it applies to public servant is pretty straight forward. What he or she earns that is not her salary and allowance raises the spectre of corruption and abuse of power. Mohd Najib is a public servant.
He noted that PM has not denied that he once had a personal bank account at AmBank that, which at one point, held RM2.63 billion.
The 1MDB is no longer in the political realm and the telltale signs are clear. Mohd Najib’s defenders are reduced to junior spokesmen like Abdul Rahman and Salleh Said Keruak, Lester Melanyi and Ramesh Rao.
The video man: Lester Melanyi Ramesh Rao: Bankrupt has money to fund Melanyi
The likes of Puad Zarkashi, Musa Sheikh Fadzir and Ahmad Maslan have not been heard from for quite some time while the heavyweights like Hishammuddin Hussein and Mohd Nazri Aziz have been largely silence. Or are they preserving their last silver bullets?
Attacks On Task Force
This does not mean that Mohd Najib’s propaganda war has come to a halt. The suspension of the Edge group newspapers could be the beginning of kill-the-messengers strategy.
The attacks can be expected to become more vicious and might even target members of the Task Force. This could be the hara-kiri act of devotion by Mohd Najib’s cyber troupers – the very people he last year called “bangang” (stupid). In fact they have started.
If in Thailand the IGP was refused access to Justo, over in Singapore two bank accounts related to1MDB were frozen.
A former Singapore state minister told a former Malaysian minister in Kuala Lumpur a few days ago that that while Singapore “loves” Mohd Najib, it would not compromise on anything that smells money laundering.
The former law officer said everyday that passes and no charge is laid against the suspect or suspects, the Task Force is making a mockery of the law.
A point of history. When he was Deputy Prime Minister, Mohd Najib outlined six approaches that the civil servants must practise and he stressed that top level civil servants should “reduce their discretionary power in their action in order to avoid corrupt practices.” (Read here)
Yet what has been made known so far about 1MDB shows just the opposite. The PM runs the Finance Ministry, which owns 1MDB, and he is also its de facto chief by the virtue of his chairmanship of its advisory board – the highest policy making body.

And as Muhyiddin was quoted of saying on Sunday night at the Umno Cheras division’s annual general meeting that no one know about 1MDB other than Mohd Najib. (Read here)

A footnote of history: Almarhum Sultan Azlan Shah, when sentencing Allahyarham (Datuk) Harun Idris for corruption in 1976, said, inter-alia:
“It is painful for me to have to sentence a man I know. I wish it were the duty of some other judge to perform that task. To me this hearing seems to reaffirm the vitality of the rule of law. But to many of us, this hearing also suggests a frightening decay in the integrity of some of our leaders. It has given horrible illustrations of Lord Acton's aphorism 'power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely', and has focussed concern on the need of some avowed limitations upon political authority.
“...the law is no respector of persons. Nevertheless it will be impossible to ignore the fact that you are in a different category from any person that I have ever tried. It would be impossible to ignore the fact that, in the eyes of millions of our countrymen and women, you are a patriot and a leader. Even those who differ from you in politics look upon you as a man of high ideals. You had every chance to reach the greatest height of human achievement. But half-way along the road, you allowed avarice to corrupt you.

“It is incomprehensible how a man in your position could not in your own conscience, recognise corruption for what it is. In so doing, you have not only betrayed your party cause, for which you have spoken so eloquently, but also the oath of office which you have taken and subscribed before your Sovereign Ruler, and above all the law of which you are its servant".
Full article by Sultan Nazrin Shah (Read here) . Harun was given royal pardon in 1981.

Wallahuaklam.

 
A Kadir Jasin 


MUTAKHIR  Pelik dan hairan. Macam mana orang yang dikehendaki oleh Suruhanjaya Pencegah Rasuah Malaysia dan Bank Negara tiba-tiba menghilangkan diri dan PDRM belum membuat sebarang tangkapan.
Daripada laporan media massa, khususnya media arus perdana, PDRM sangat beriltizam mahu mengorek berita daripada Andre Justo yang dalam tahanan Polis Thai. Apakah Justo begitu tahu mengenai 1MDB?
Apa matlamat  Pasukan Petugas Khas – nak siasat ke mana duit 1MDB lesap atau nak dengar cerita Justo? Boleh dengar cerita Justo. Tapi duit yang lesap wajib dikesan. Itu bukan duit rakyat jelata Malaysia. Ia bukan modal Pak Arab atau duit sadakah Putera Puteri Arab.
Kita berdoa kepada Allah agar memberikan petunjuk dan kekuatan kepada pegawai-pegawai MACC, Bank Negara, Pejabat Peguam Negera  dan kepada pegawai-pegawai PRDM yang berjuang atas dasar kebenaran.
Cukuplah kita berselindung di sebalik “conspiracy theories” dan menghukum pihak-pihak yang tak sebulu dengan kita. Kalau mereka salah, kita tidak semestinya benar.
Jangan sangka rakyat jelata tidak tahu. Jangan sangka semua orang boleh dibeli atau diancam. Dan yang berkuasa juga jangan sangka mereka tidak ada musuh dalam selimut.
Wallahuaklam.
ORIGINAL POSTING NAK salahkan orang kita naik angin, emosional dan jadi tak tentu arah pun tak boleh juga. Memang keadaan dalam negara kita kacau-bilau. Politik huru-hara dan ekonomi tak tentu hala.
Tapi, alhamdulillah ada lagi orang kita yang boleh buat jenaka dan gelak ketawa. Orang Utara kata, buat lawak atau kelolo.
Kelolo, bukan koro. Koro penyakit yang serang orang lelaki sampai hilang kejantanan dan segala keberanian (Baca di sini).
Semalam saya minum teh dengan seorang ahli parlimen pembangkang. Mulai 26 Jun lalu, saya boleh minum teh dengan semua orang politik tanpa rasa ragu sebab saya tidak ada afiliasi dengan mana-mana parti politik lagi. Saya sudah jadi non-partisan.
Lagi pula, mulai 1 Julai saya tidak ada kerja atau jawatan lagi. Sudah tutup kedai. Nganggur. Orang Utara kata, sepak kertas. Orang putih kata, jobless. Selama 46 tahun makan gaji – mulai 16 Jun 1969 sampai 1 Julai 2015.
Ahli parlimen bekas Pakatan Rakyat itu bagi tahu saya, bulan puasa dia menjelajah Sulawesi - negeri orang Bugis - selama dua minggu. Dia nak belajar macam mana wilayah Indonesia itu selesaikan pertumpahan darah Islam-Kristian.
Mangsa pergaduhan agama di SulawesiDia kata, orang Bugis bukan lanun seperti yang sering diandaikan, tapi satu bangsa yang sangat utamakan kebenaran.

Saya kata: "Ya lah, mana ada orang Bugis di negeri Bugis nak mengaku ada orang Bugis zaman dulu kala jadi lanun."
Itu zaman dulu. Sekarang, kalau melanun orang Somalia di Afrika Timur nombor satu. Tapi lanun boleh kata ada di semua benua. Di mana ada laut, ada lah lanun. Di darat dipanggil pencuri, perompak, penyamun, perampok dan sebagainya. Sekarang ada perampok kolar putih.
Ahli parlimen itu adalah antara yang kena sekat daripada pergi ke luar negara.
Saya kata, susah juga nak fikirkan apa alasan sebenar mereka dihalang daripada meninggalkan tanah air. Fikir punya fikir, saya mendapat ilham berikut:
1. Sekarang musim durian. Kerajaan mahu mereka tinggal dalam negara dan bantu lariskan jualan durian supaya pemilik dusun, peraih dan peruncit durian boleh cari makan, menjana ekonomi dan memacu transformasi.
2. Sekarang Tahun Melawat Malaysia. Jadi kerajaan mahu seramai mungkin rakyat jelata ambil bahagian dalam Cuti-Cuti Malaysia.
3. Sekarang nilai ringgit merudum. Kalau ramai rakyat Malaysia mengembara ke luar negara, lagi teruklah kejatuhannya.
4. Rizab luar pun merosot. Khabarnya kerana mempertahankan nilai ringgit. Kalau ramai orang kita mengembara ke luar negara dan bawa keluar duit yang banyak, lagi teruklah kejatuhan rizab dan kadar tukaran duit kita.
5. Tapi saya rasa para YB itu tidaklah kaya. Jadi banyak mana sangat yang mereka nak bawa keluar. Lagi pun elaun baru mereka, khabarnya, belum lagi dibayar. Perbendaharaan tak cukup duit kot!
6. Dalam suasana ada macam-macam teori persekongkolan (conspiracy theories) boleh jadi juga pihak berkuasa takut para YB itu pergi ke luar negara untuk sertai IS.
7. Mungkin kerajaan tidak mahu mereka ke luar negara sebab mereka akan disiasat berkenaan dakwaan konspirasi nak jatuhkan Perdana Menteri.
8. Yang lawaknya, dua orang yang Pasukan Petugas 1MDB nak tangkap dah cabut lari ke luar negara. Seorang namanya Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil (peguam) dan seorang lagi Suboh Mohd Yassin, bekas pegawai tinggi kerajaan.
Nik Faisal (atas) dan Suboh9. Atau boleh jadi juga pihak berkuasa tak mahu mereka ke luar negara pasal takut mereka dapat lagi banyak maklumat dan dokumen berkenaan 1MDB.

Wallahuaklam.
Nasihat saya, janganlah gundah gulana sampai makan tak lalu, tidur tak lena, mandi tak basah, resah gelisah tak tentu arah. Meminjam lingo kontemporari anak-anak muda, jangan emo sangat!
Jangan risau sampai sasau. Jangan tidak ketahuan sampai kena sawan. Lagi teruk kalau kena sawan babi. Tak ada ubat. Kita emo dan susah hati pun belum tentu ada orang peduli.
Ambil iktibar daripada sejarah. Bila pembesar Perancis bagi tahu Marie Antoinette yang rakyat jelata Perancis tak ada roti nak makan, bini raja Perancis itu kata: "Biar mereka makan kek!"
Marie Antoinette amat berpengaruhTak lama lepas itu rakyat Perancis bangkit memberontak. Marie Antoinette dan laki dia, Raja Louis XVI kena pancung.
Dua puluh sembilan tahun lalu, Presiden Marcos lari tinggalkan negara kerana diburu rakyat jelata. Nasib baik Amerika tolong seludup. Sekarang ada muzium kasut Imelda Marcos di Manila.
Muzium Kasut Imelda Marcos di ManilaAkhir kalam, dalam kita berjenaka melegakan sesak di dada, eloklah kita fikir-fikirkan siapa yang kita mahu terajui negara di masa akan datang. Itu saja yang kita boleh buat. Kita hanya boleh berfikir dan bagi pendapat. Kuasa melantik bukan di tangan kita. Kita ada kuasa hanya waktu pilihan raya.

Kita fikirkanlah yang terbaik di kalangan yang kurang baik. Kita memilih manusia bukan malaikat. Fikirkanlah yang tahu agama dan moral, yang tidak terlalu kontroversi, tidak terlalu kaya raya dan yang anak bininya tahu tempat masing-masing.
Wallahuaklam.

A Kadir JasinI BELIEVE the chips are falling in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.
[REMINDER: No anonymous comments will be published.  Please use Google Account, OpenID or Name/URL. Pseudonym is accepted. Please be respectful .. No swearing. Thank you]
I believe too, albeit with slight reservation, that the 1MDB Task Force is serious about uncovering the truth and acting, without fear and favour, against the guilty parties.
My slight reservation is based on my observation of media statements that suggest a certain member of the Task Force is still playing "kayu tiga".

But with two arrests in two days, the Task Force cannot be engaging in play acting or an act of deceit involving the Attorney General, the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency and Bank Negara. They have to be serious.
On July 20, an executive director of a publicly traded construction company was arrested at KLIA as he was about to board a plane bound for Taiwan.
The 39-year old is believed to be a Chinese Malaysia. He has been variously identified as Jerome Lee Tak Loong and his company is Putrajaya Perdana Berhad.
If the information is correct, his arrest has another twist to it. According to the company’s official website, its chairman is (Datuk Panglima) Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, the Barisan Nasional MP for Baling and the chairman of Tabung Haji. Tabung Haji is one of the many government agencies embroiled in the 1MDB debt saga.
The 39-year old must be a very important person in the 1MDB saga because his lawyer is the high-profiled (Tan Sri) Muhammad Shafee Abdullah. Not every Dollah, Tong and Harishan (the Malaysian version of Tom, Dick and Harry) can afford or would need his services.
So logically Lee’s arrest must have been very significant to the case so as to warrant Muhammad Shafee’s services.
Media reports quoted Muhammad Shafee as saying that his client was remanded for fours day for investigation under Section 17 (a) of the MACC Act. He said he did not know the grounds for his client's arrest but was told it was on "investigation on national grounds". 
Then yesterday afternoon a high level executive identified as (Datuk) Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman was also arrested and was this morning remanded for five days in relation to the same investigation.

He is the managing director of Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd, the company that undertakes corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes for 1MDB's charity foundation, the Yayasan 1MDB.
Ihsan Perdana was one of the entities mentioned in the Wall Street Journal expose of July 2 as being part of the money trail involving billions of ringgit that led to Mohd Najib's personal accounts.

The MACC prosecutor Ahmad Sazilee Abdul Khairy today said  that Shamsul, 54, was met at The Curve and taken to the agency's headquarters where he was arrested under Section 17 (a) of the MACC Act.

Is the PM’s Propaganda Backfiring?
Sources said the arrests were partly hastened by the heightened campaign to discredit the investigation by Mohd Najib’s propaganda machine.
Mohd Najib’s propaganda outfit, led by his Strategic Communications Chief, MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan, had gone on high gear to discredit the Prime Minister's critics and to create doubt about official and unofficial investigations into the 1MDB scandal and its link to Mohd Najib.
The latest to be rolled in the offensive was a little known Sarawak reporter by the name of Lester Melanyi who “confessed” that he knew about the “falsification and adulteration” of 1MDB documents by Sarawak Report (SR), a claim which had since been rubbished by the latter. In addition, SR is taking legal action against Abdul Rahman, the New Straits Times and others for malicious falsehoods.
The emergence of Abdul Rahman and the rolling out of Melanyi and other unknowns coincided with the news that the high-profiled public relations man, (Tan Sri) Lim Kok Wing had hastily resigned as Mohd Najib’s media adviser.
Lim’s resignation is telling. It appears that even he could not burnish Mohd Najib’s sagging reputation. I have known Lim since the 1970’s. He was involved in the advertising aspect of Barisan Nasional’s election campaign over several general elections. In my days, editors did not always agree with him or his role. Some barely tolerated him.
In joining Mohd Najib he must have thought he could repeat and replicate what he did for (Tun) Dr Mahathir. But even in the worse of circumstances, Dr Mahathir’s problems were pale by comparison to what Mohd Najib is going through now. Even the flamboyant Lim could not burnish Mohd Najib’s image and reputation.
Lim is wealthy and has reputation to protect. He could easily say no to Mohd Najib’s money or, maybe, he was doing it for free.
Before Lim jumped onto Mohd Najib’s media bandwagon, many seasoned media and PR personalities had tried to build and burnish his image. They failed and gave up. (Tan Sri) Jalaluddin Bahaudin aka Jalal was one of them. He was Dr Mahathir’s former Press Secretary and Special Assistance.Medium Is The MessageNow the PM and his protectors (the likes of Abdul Rahman and Ramesh Rao Naidu) had to rummage through the woodwork to find people who would be willing to play the roles once performed by Jalal and other seasoned media people like (Datuk) Khalid Mohamad (former editor-in-chief of Utusan) and (Datuk) Hardev Kaur (the former group editor of NST).
Mohd Najib’s predicament reminded me of the final days of Almarhum Tunku Abdul Rahman in the early 1970’s when chief editors, news editors and senior journalists progressively stopped covering his functions and leaving the task to junior reporters.
I was one of those greenhorns assigned to cover him. It was an honour for me to cover him although I was once threatened with a sack by his Political Secretary, the late Tan Sri Shariff Ahmad, for not following his instruction on how to report Tunku’s speeches.
What is happening to Mohd Najib’s media campaign today defies the very core of journalism and communication as taught by the great journalism guru, late Marshall McLuhan.
This Canadian writer, communicator and philosopher was the originator of the terms “Medium is the Message” and “The Global Village” back in the 1960’s.
He argued that the message is embedded in the medium. If the medium is credible, the message it carries will be believed. On the other hand, if the medium is not credible, even a truthful message will not be believed.
So who is a more credible medium, Dr Mahathir or Abdul Rahman, Melanyi or Clare Rewcastle-Brown, Ho Kay Tat or Ramesh Rao Naidu?


FOOTNOTE: I am  sorry I forgot about the Singapore Police freezing two bank accounts relating to an investigation into 1MDB in the republic. In a statement today it said: “On 15 July 2015, we issued orders under the Criminal Procedure Code to prohibit any dealings in respect of money in two bank accounts that are relevant to the investigation.” I think the door is also closing in Singapore.

Wallahuaklam.