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Tag: Dr Mahathir Mohamad

  • Najib: RM42 Bilion Tidak Hilang Dari 1MDB, Dakwaan Mahathir Tidak Betul

    Najib: RM42 Bilion Tidak Hilang Dari 1MDB, Dakwaan Mahathir Tidak Betul

    Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak hari ini (7 Apr) berkata laporan Jawatankuasa Kira-Kira Wang Negara (PAC) mengenai 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) menunjukkan RM42 bilion tidak hilang daripada syarikat itu.

    Mantan Perdana Menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad sebelum ini membuat dakwaan tersebut.

    Perdana Menteri berkata di samping menunjukkan bahawa dakwaan dibuat oleh Dr Mahathir itu adalah tidak betul, laporan itu mengenal pasti kelemahan-kelemahan dalam struktur modal dan pengurusan 1MDB.

    “Kami akan teliti dan bertindak ke atas syor-syor dalam laporan itu.

    “Kami akan memastikan pengajaran diambil daripadanya, dan tindakan akan diambil jika terdapat sebarang bukti kesalahan telah dilakukan,” katanya dalam kenyataan bagi mengulas laporan itu, yang dibentangkan di Dewan Rakyat hari ini.

    Datuk Seri Najib berkata kini sudah jelas bahawa dakwaan dilemparkan Dr Mahathir terhadap 1MDB didorong oleh kepentingan peribadi, “bukan kepentingan negara, dan hasrat untuk menjatuhkan kerajaan”.

    Perdana Menteri berkata beliau sudah mengarahkan Kabinet pada Mac 2015 untuk meminta Ketua Audit Negara menjalankan siasatan bebas ke atas akaun kewangan 1MDB susulan pelbagai tuduhan dilemparkan terhadap 1MDB, seperti dakwaan Dr Mahathir bahawa RM42 bilion sudah hilang.

    “Untuk memastikan ketelusan proses ini, kami juga telah mengarahkan supaya dapatan-dapatan itu dihantar untuk semakan oleh Jawatankuasa Kira-Kira Wang – sebuah badan dwipartisan yang turut dianggotai anggota Parlimen pembangkang,” katanya.

    Datuk Seri Najib berkata selepas melalui proses yang lengkap dan menyeluruh, PAC hari ini mengeluarkan laporan mengandungi dapatan-dapatannya di Parlimen.

    “Laporan ini mewakili konsensus oleh anggota PAC, dan dapatan-dapatannya adalah berdasarkan fakta dan beratus-ratus jam menyemak dan menyiasat.

    “Saya ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Jabatan Audit Negara dan PAC kerana mengeluarkan laporan yang komprehensif, konklusif dan muktamad.

    “Selepas membacanya, saya mendapati laporan PAC menunjukkan bahawa RM42 bilion tidak hilang daripada 1MDB, seperti didakwa oleh Tun Mahathir,” katanya.

    Datuk Seri Najib berkata kerajaan akan terus memberi tumpuan terhadap “pelan ekonomi dan memperkukuhkan ekonomi – yang terus menunjukkan daya tahan dalam berdepan cabaran-cabaran global”.

    Source: Berita Mediacorp

  • Despite 1MDB Woes, Najib Now Unassailable After The Cabinet Purge

    Despite 1MDB Woes, Najib Now Unassailable After The Cabinet Purge

    KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 ― With the strategic removal of potential challengers from within his Cabinet, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is likely to remain prime minister until the next election despite his troubles with debt-riddled 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), political observers said.

    With a specific reference to his deputy in government as well as in Umno, Tan Sri Muhyiddin, the analysts said the prime minister has effectively neutralised dissent within his party at the risk of enlarging the rift between the camps of both leaders.

    “Najib will stay as PM, what he has done is standard textbook on political survival, a carrot-and-stick approach where you get rid of your detractors and reward your loyalists,” Universiti Malaysia Sarawak political scientist Dr Faisal Hazis told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday.

    “Najib is flexing his muscles, this move will consolidate and strengthen his position.

    “I don’t see how Muhyiddin can unseat Najib, or anyone else. Najib’s actions are in line with Umno’s culture of patronage (and) sends a strong message to critics to not mess with him,” Faizal added.

    Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian said Muhyiddin could have challenged Najib while he was still deputy prime minister, but likely did not have enough backing to make a move.

    “I am not sure that Muhyiddin has the support to muster a serious challenge towards Najib. If he did, he would have already made his move,” he told Malay Mail Online.

    Such an overt move by Najib, however, will likely lead to a clash between Najib and Muhyiddin, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia political analyst Prof Shamsul Adabi Mamat said.

    Shamsul stressed that what Najib did was necessary to keep his ministers in line and to send a strong message that they should not criticise him publicly.

    “But the controntation between Najib and Muhyiddin will be unavoidable. It depends on Muhyiddin’s next move on whether he wants to challenge Najib.

    “But I predict camps from both sides will clash,” he said.

    Professor Shaharuddin Badaruddin of Universiti Selangor believes that Muhyiddin does not have enough influence or support within Umno to mount a credible challenge against Najib.

    “As for what can Muhyiddin do, I think he does not have any strength since he’s only a regular MP.

    “He can move a motion of no confidence against the Cabinet but he would need the support of all Umno MPs first. Given the culture of political patronage in the party, I do not see this happening,” he told Malay Mail Online.

    “Remember that the culling is meant as a warning to all Umno leaders at all levels to tow the line or face the consequences,” the academic added.

    In a hastily called news conference held in Putrajaya yesterday, Najib announced that Muhyiddin was dropped from all Cabinet posts ostensibly for publicly questioning the prime minister’s alleged links to the 1MDB financial scandal.

    Muhyiddin had during the weekend urged Najib to satisfactorily explain the 1MDB controversy, claiming that he and other ministers were unaware of the “real facts”.

    This resulted in a rare public rebuke from the Prime Minister’s Office Monday, which urged Muhyiddin and other members of the administration not to pre-judge the ongoing investigations on 1MDB.

     

    Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

  • Dr Mahathir: Yes I’m Behind ‘Crisis’ But Najib Can End It By Resigning

    Dr Mahathir: Yes I’m Behind ‘Crisis’ But Najib Can End It By Resigning

    KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Undeterred by Datuk Seri Najib Razak blaming him for creating the current 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) “crisis”, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad lobbed the ball back in the former’s court by accepting the blame.

    But Dr Mahathir also offered Najib a solution to end the “crisis”, saying the best option would be for the latter to resign as prime minister and return only when 1MDB is thoroughly investigated and cleared of any wrong.

    Dr Mahathir added that although he admits to being the person behind the “crisis”, it was Najib who had caused it by “borrowing huge sums of money and losing billions of ringgit”.

    “I will admit that I am behind the ‘crisis’. I am behind it because there is a climate of fear in this country.

    “Lots of people know about the loss of billions of ringgit by 1MDB. These people are in a position to know because they have seen evidence of this loss.

    “But they are afraid because of actions which the government can take against them. They may lose their jobs, or contracts or expectations of titles etc,” Dr Mahathir wrote in his latest blog post today.

    He said these critics of 1MDB approached him for help but he desisted for a long time, knowing full well that any move on his part to reveal the alleged misdeeds of 1MDB would eventually lead to Najib being questioned.

    Dr Mahathir said he first tried to resolve the matter quietly by telling him in private that he no longer supports his leadership.

    “But there was no result,” he claimed. “So I had to go public. Najib has destroyed Umno and BN.

    “I know he would lose the next election. And then the whole country will see turmoil as no party, would have the majority to run the country,” he said.

    “So I decided to expose the wrong-doings of 1MDB of which the Prime Minister is effectively the head.

    “Is there a crisis? There is. It is caused by the Prime Minister creating 1MDB borrowing huge sums of money and losing billions of Ringgit,” Dr Mahathir added.

    He urged Najib to step down to allow a full investigation on 1MDB’s reported RM42 billion debt pile, insisting that with the prime minister still in power, the probe would not be carried out thoroughly.

    “If no crimes can be detected and all the money is returned, Najib can come back as Prime Minister and lead BN in the next election,” Dr Mahathir said.

    He said by accusing him of starting the so-called crisis, Najib was as good as saying the alleged disappearance of billions of ringgit should be accepted and ignored as though no wrong had been committed.

    But from the public’s interest in the controversy, Dr Mahathir said the matter cannot be ignored and those guilty of any wrongdoing must be brought to book.

    “A crisis may be the result but should we allow thieves to steal billions of ringgit in order to avoid a crisis,” he said.

    On his blog on Monday, Najib accused Dr Mahathir of causing the “mess” in the country that he now has to bear the brunt of the blame for, amid the ongoing controversy surrounding 1MDB.

    Najib also said in the Frequently Asked Questions section on his blog that the former prime minister did not have to face endless allegations during his time in office, from 1981 to 2003, as social media was not developed then.

    “The ‘mess’ that Tun refers to, is largely of his own making as a result of his attacks and his echoing of Opposition lies and slander,” Najib wrote.

    Dr Mahathir has been calling openly for Najib’s resignation, citing the controversy surrounding 1MDB that is currently being investigated by the Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee.

     

    Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

  • Dr Mahathir Slams Zeal To Impose Dress Code

    Dr Mahathir Slams Zeal To Impose Dress Code

    KUALA LUMPUR — The rift in Malaysian society over a spate of dress code enforcement actions by government agencies and public buildings on non-Muslim women has widened, with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad saying that Malaysia is now sliding backwards and is acting like Saudi Arabia in its zeal to impose a dress code on the public.

    “We are now sliding backwards. Soon, not only shorts will be an issue. If a woman leaves a house without a burqa, it will be considered wrong,” he said yesterday, adding that dress codes in government buildings should only apply to its employees and not to visitors, especially those who are not Muslim.

    Earlier yesterday, Cuepacs, an umbrella group of 140 civil service unions, spoke up for civil servants who have been criticised for directing women to wear sarongs before entering government buildings.

    Many of the civil servants had used their own money to buy sarongs for visitors who were improperly dressed.

    “The aim of the dress code is get people to dress modestly, it is applicable to everyone. You cannot just go to someone’s house dressed however you want,” Cuepacs president Azih Muda told reporters yesterday.

    “But no one is to blame in these incidents. The personnel are not wrong for following the rules and the client (visitor) is also not wrong as they may have forgotten about the dress code.”

    “The people who are wrong are those who are posting comments (on social media) and sensationalising something that should not be sensationalised in the first place,” he said.

    Mr Azih said that Cuepacs would be sending out a certificate of appreciation to a People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) officer who on June 16 generated controversy for stopping a woman wearing shorts and making her wrap a towel around her waist before allowing her into Sungei Buloh hospital.

    Meanwhile, an ethnic Chinese opposition lawmaker and a columnist engaged in a war of words after the latter labelled the lawmaker an “enemy” to her own race for donning a headscarf while in a mosque last week.

    In a Facebook post, Ms Lim Fang, who is a columnist with Sin Chew Daily and China Press criticised Selangor state Speaker Hannah Yeoh of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) for allegedly giving a chance for Malay government officials to impose dress codes on Chinese women.

    “If DAP’s Hannah Yeoh can assimilate into Malay society why should Chinese women be different from Malay society? The DAP should discipline the enemy within,” the columnist wrote on Wednesday.

    Ms Yeoh, who is ethnic Chinese, retorted on Facebook yesterday that “extreme views exist in every faith and race” and called on fellow Malaysians to reject such mindsets if they hoped to move the country forward.

    The appreciation letter signed off by Cuepacs follows a similar letter of appreciation issued by Rela to one of its security guards working at a Road Transport Department (RTD) office on Wednesday.

    The guard caused an uproar in Parliament and social media earlier this month by making a middle-aged ethnic Chinese women wear a sarong over her knee-length skirt before being allowed to access the Department.

    Rela had issued the letter despite Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai clarifying that there is no “sarong policy” at the RTD and the department issuing a public apology to the woman.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Former Malaysian Minister Zaid Ibrahim: Can’t Wait for Malaysian Malays To Become Like Singapore Malays

    Former Malaysian Minister Zaid Ibrahim: Can’t Wait for Malaysian Malays To Become Like Singapore Malays

    KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 ― Calling it “absolute nonsense”, former minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim rubbished claims that Malays in Malaysia were marginalised, saying the race formed the biggest demographic group in the country and have “full control” of the government and its machinery.

    The lawyer-turned-politician compared Malaysia’s treatment of Malays to those in Singapore and said those in the island republic did not receive any “special treatment” but seemed to enjoy a better qualify of life because their leaders practised transparency and meritocracy.

    “In Malaysia, Malays are happy to let their leaders make all the money as long as they promise to ‘defend’ bahasa, bangsa and agama,” he said in a blog post yesterday, using the Bahasa Malaysia words for “language, race and religion” respectively.

    “I can’t wait for Malays here to be like Singaporean Malays,” he added.

    Zaid’s latest post was in response to a report by a news portal which he said had incorrectly interpreted his tweet last week suggesting that he did not mind Malays here being marginalised like in Singapore, as long as they do not become extremists like the Taliban.

    He clarified that he meant Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is making Malays to be like the Taliban, but if Malays here grew to become like Malays in Singapore, then Zaid said he would be happy to support the embattled prime minister.

    Zaid also said that Malays here are “first-class citizens at least on paper” but many have not been able to reap the benefits of first-class treatment because they do not have a good government with honest leaders.

    “Our leaders are free to sell government assets cheaply or expensively depending on how they have arranged the ‘take out’.

    “If discovered, they can say it was for the party, for elections or even fisabilillah (“for the sake of Allah”),” he said.

    He conceded that in some ways Singaporean Malays are “worse off than” their counterparts in Malaysia as they are not accorded “special treatment.

    However, he said their leaders are clean and the transparent system of government there means it is a lot more difficult to siphon off public money for private use.

    “That’s what Malays here need. Good government with good, clean and honest leaders,” he said.

     

    Source: www.themalaymailonline.com