Now that Mahathir has got his wish granted – to have ex-PM Najib labelled as a convict – shouldn’t he be sleeping well and snoring as we speak? I doubt it, because doer of evils can never be satisfied!
People of my age group grew up during Malaysia’s 4th premier Mahathir Mohamad’s era. We were pretty awed by the developments that took place during his tenure then – we saw Malaysia transformed from the backwaters into a sparkling modern city.
Only much later we were informed about the shenanigans that came with those mammoth projects – the enriching of cronies via the award of the various projects, the bailouts, the cracks and holes found in the projects as a result of poor construction. Well, you know the usual stuff that comes with direct nego projects.
I also grew up thinking that I have never seen any movie, television series or news coverage worldwide about having to drag a king-sized mattress into the courtroom as evidence to put your then Deputy behind bars. Or was it queen-sized? Like, who cares?
In other countries, I think even in third-world or poverty-stricken countries, the forensics experts would just get a sampling of the part of the mattress that would supposedly contain the semen. As my Father In Law said when he recounted the incident to us: Apa kejadahnya nak kena bawa tilam gedebab tu ke mahkamah (what is the purpose of having to drag that giant mattress to court?)
Only now we know, after having lived all over the world and now back in Malaysia since 2018 after the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government took over, that Mahathir is not only the master of manipulation and deception, he is the King of perception. And he has minions in all the right places, domestically and worldwide – both in the government and private sectors – even in the courts and the judiciary, to do his dirty work for him.
Mahathir At His Best
Fast forward 20 or so years and 4.5 prime ministers later (that 0.5 bit is for his return to the premiership for 22 months but he and his Cabinet failed miserably), we see Mahathir at his best performance yet.
No, there was no giant mattress and no anal check for semen. But there is a whole lot of perception gaming, false tears, and international manipulation of the highest order via 1MDB and SRC projects of which he was willing to go to bed with his arch enemies for yonks, just so he can use their network to take down the most successful prime minister Malaysia has ever had.
The paper and money trails pertaining to 1MDB, SRC, Tanore, Abrar, KWAP, Goldman Sachs, Jho Low and many more are so complex and convoluted that even educationists, legal eagles and the DOJ themselves had problems deciphering some of the money flow and opening and transferring of accounts. Add to that the donations from the Arab King, the contributions to the political parties and CSR activities, and the whole web of deceit spun by Mahathir, Daim Zainuddin and his other cronies, was like the Lord of the Rings multiply by 50.
So the easiest thing would be for them to point their fingers at the sitting PM at that time, Najib Razak, who happens to be on the US ‘wanted list’ for being good friends with China and bringing Malaysia’s status up to a level that left many countries in the region behind.
Actually, I erred a bit there, my apologies. He did not just depend on the PH network to disseminate the lies, the spins, the slanders and the misinformation – he had his cronies acquire shareholdings in the various media organisations in the country.
This was prevalent when Mahathir was the Prime Minister for 22 years, but with the change of prime ministers throughout the years, some of these media organisations had a change of shareholdings. But being true to form, when he took over the country again in 2018 for the second time, holding hands with his previous arch enemies, he had his cronies bought back some of the shareholdings, and then some.
Fast forward, fast forward, now we know that he not only has his finger in almost every other media pie, he makes his mark with the judiciary too. Yes, he ruled with his iron fist. Even no longer in power, he has a network of puppets that he can pull strings with and their tracks are covered.
However, even though there are damning evidence that points to them, like Justice Nazlan who was involved in the proposal to set up SRC when he was in the legal department of Maybank and thereafter became the judge to sentence Najib, no one was allowed to touch Nazlan.
And then there’s the former Central Bank chief, Zeti Aziz whose husband and son have been receiving funds in their bank accounts in Singapore from Jho Low, the person most responsible for siphoning the 1MDB funds via the various international network. Files and police reports, even Interpol and the banks in Singapore have given all the damning reports against the trio. Alas, this was not allowed to be presented as evidence, as in the evidence on Nazlan.
Everyone Got Away Scot-Free, Except Najib
To make things more readable, let me list out the SRC case key persons in the simplest of terms:
Mastermind: Jho Low – Not charged, cannot be located and DID NOT testify.
The person who forged 20 bank transfer signatures: Person unknown, Not charged, cannot be located, no attempt to identify who was it and DID NOT testify.
The person who managed Najib’s accounts: Nik Faizal. Not charged, cannot be located and DID NOT testify.
The person who allegedly instructed for money from Ihsan Perdana (ultimately from SRC) to be deposited into Najib’s account: Datuk Azlin. Dead, DID NOT testify.
The person who recommended and tabled paper in the cabinet to be given RM4b govt guarantee – Nor Mohd Yaacob but allegedly paid RM85mil by Jho Low: Not charged, listed as a prosecution witness but pulled back and DID NOT testify. Evidence not allowed to be admitted to court.
The person who recommended Najib to open an account under his own name and to monitor Najib’s account for suspicious transactions but her family took close to RM700mil from Jho Low: Not charged, listed as a prosecution witness but pulled back and DID NOT testify. Evidence not allowed to be admitted to court.
The lawyer who prepared the agreements and was paid money by Jho Low: Not charged, cannot be located and DID NOT testify.
The entire board of directors and all management of SRC who approved payment to Ihsan Perdana: Not charged, DID NOT testify.
Bankers who broke the banking code by dealing with non-authorized personnel as well as not sending account statements to Najib: Testified but not charged.
So much evidence in this trial is hearsay and cannot be verified.
The chain of evidence is long broken. But somehow, the trial could proceed and judged by a newbie judge with zero criminal court experience.
At the end of the day, the person who has to pay a heavy price for just being a prime minister had his hands and legs literally tied. His mouth literally plastered and he was not given a chance for just an extension of one or two months for his new legal team to prepare four years’ worth of work and the Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat could not even wait ONE more day to pass the Ruling and arbitrarily sent him to be incarcerated immediately.
So, Mahathir, let me ask you this:
Najib is now literally a free man, even though he is behind bars. He does not have to worry about answering all the slander and lies against him. He does not have to worry about his appointments and who he needs to help, even though for the four years that Najib was not the prime minister, he was the saviour to so many people, especially those in the B40 category.
He can now sit down and write his memoirs about how he turned the country around after the destruction wrought by you during your 22 years of service and you plundered the country via all your cronies and your children who became millionaires and billionaires overnight.
He can now get closer to Allah and speak night and day to Him. He can go beyond and above his perfunctory five times a day prayers.
What About You?
You are still working out deals with your enemies to try and regain power for GE15, trying to glue together the fractured opposition bloc which may not even have your party as part of them as they remembered what you did two years ago when you took the whole sorry lot down with you. You are still figuring out how to get that elusive premiership position for your son who, based on his past credentials, is not even qualified to be a School Headmaster, let alone a prime minister.
Of course, you are still trying to get your minions to block any possibility of a pardon from the Agong for Najib.
Yes, despite all your ill-gotten wealth and parties with your friends and cronies who were most affected when Najib became PM for nine years cos he never bothered to give more projects and wealth at the expense of the people’s money to these rich billionaires, I think your pants are getting prickly.
At 97 years, that is certainly not a nice feeling to have and be bothered about. Only time will tell what is going to happen in the near future, because once Najib has proven the injustice thrown at him, life for you, or whatever is left of it will never be the same again. Mark my words. – NMH
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