Many people are happy about the Citizen Declaration signed by Dr Mahathir, Muhyiddin, some Opposition and civil society personalities (Unfortunately, I have not yet come across the full list of signatories - Who signed? And in what capacity?). I have my concerns...
Who is to be BLAMED? Najib alone or the BN?
Malaysians are not fool to just blame one man, Najib Tun Razak, the current Prime Minister for all the problems that Malaysia is facing.
If Najib did not continue to enjoy the confidence of the majority of the Members of Parliament, especially the BN, he would no longer be Prime Minister. So can we excuse these MPs and also the people that voted for them...for whatever reason.
If Najib's Cabinet members had all resigned, Najib would have been embarrassed and may have long time ago ceased to be Prime Minister.
If the BN Component parties, stood up, voiced out and took action, then Najib would have again ceased to be Prime Minister.
If the UMNO did the needful, we would not be still facing such problems.
The problem is with the Barisan Nasional - and, I see this Citizen's Declaration as a creative move to simply shift all the blame to one man, Najib Tun Razak - suggesting that the removal of Najib as PM is the solution for all our problems....not the removal of the BN??
Look at the way the Citizens Declaration is drafted...no blame on BN, UMNO, MPs, and/or even the Cabinet Ministers...
Former or sidelined UMNO-BN leaders/members lead...
Guess what, who are seen as the leaders - look at the pictures - well it is former PM Dr Mahathir(now recently no more member of UMNO)...
Muhyiddin Yasin, the Deputy Prime Minister that was removed - not one who resigned as a matter of principle and because he disagreed with the actions of the Prime Minister. Lately, he was suspended as Deputy President of UMNO. He supported the re-introduction of detention without trial-POTA, the Sedition Act, the draconian MAS Act, etc...Now, if that 'monies' were used for the last General Elections, Muhyiddin, as Deputy PM, should have known...or he just 'closed his eyes and ears' not wanting to know where the money came from? See also Former BN MPs, Ministers are not blameless for actions of PM Najib? Change after being dropped is always questionable?
We have the removed Menteri Besar of Kedah, the son of Mahathir.
We have a former MCA President...
We have Azmin Ali, the Deputy President of PKR (the No.3), also long time ago, a former UMNO member...
Sadly, we also see Lim Kit Siang...
Invited does not mean they all supported...
Remember, many were invited to attend the event - does not mean that they who attended signed the Citizen's Declaration... or that they supported it...hence, it is important to see who exactly signed the said Declaration...
The Citizens Declaration is GOOD because finally we see so many present and former BN leaders and personalities finally come out and speak out...
With regard this issue, civil society, the Opposition political parties and others have really came out taking a STRONGER position - certainly a better position.
The Citizens Declaration places no blame on Barisan Nasional, UMNO and/or other component parties - and that is why it is just too narrow and incomplete.
For me, it may be best that civil society, Human Rights Defenders and other people be cautious about agreeing 100% this Citizens Declaration...
There are assertions in the statement (which really is not supported by evidence or sources of information). And, this is dangerous. Wonder who drafted it - and wonder whether those who signed it studied it thoroughly before signing it... Some people may be awed by the invitation of the 'big names', and will simply place their signature...remember this Declaration has about 36 points???
HAVE SOME OF OUR 'OPPOSITION' LEADERS/PARTIES, HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS BEEN COMPROMISED BY THE SIGNING OF THE SAID CITIZENS DECLARATION?
The problems Malaysia and Malaysians are facing is never the fault of Najib Tun Razak alone....So, if Najib steps down as PM, and a new BN PM is appointed - is that all we want?? I do not think so...
The position taken by the Citizens Declaration is also dangerous because it suggest that all will be well if Malaysia has another Prime Minister, if UMNO has a new President, if BN has a new Chairperson?
Even if we get another PM, we do not want him/her to be any of the BN MPs... we do not certainly want it to be any of the Cabinet Members(present or immediate past who was 'kicked out' of Najib's cabinet and not who resigned on principle...Now, we may also not want it to be Azmin, or any of those who signed the said Declaration???
Citizens' declaration spells out demands for removal of Najib
Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, ex-deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, opposition and NGO figures have inked a declaration for the removal of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and to institute reforms.
Below is the list of demands contained in what is described as the Citizens’ Declaration:
1.
We, the undersigned citizens of Malaysia, append below our concerns
over the deteriorating political, economic and social conditions in the
country.
2. We wish to draw the attention of the
people of Malaysia to the damage done to the country under the
premiership of Najib Abdul Razak.
3. Under his
administration, the country has ascended to become one of the 10 most
corrupt countries in the world according to Ernst and Young in their
Asia Pacific Fraud Survey Report Series 2013. The 2015 Corruption
Perception Index showed Malaysia has dropped four places from 50 to 54.
4. This is because he believes that money can ensure his position as prime minister of Malaysia. He believes that "Cash is King".
5.
Allocations to all ministries and public institutions including
universities have been reduced because of shortages of funds. Even when
allocations are budgeted for, no money was available.
6. In 2009, he decided to set up a sovereign wealth fund to earn income for the government.
7.
He created the 1MDB which became indebted with RM42 billion of loans
which it is unable to repay. It is no longer a sovereign wealth fund. It
is a sovereign debt fund.
8. 1MDB borrowed
approximately RM20 billion to acquire three power plant companies for an
over-priced (sum of) RM12.1 billion. Despite being awarded new power
plant contracts and extensions to the expiring power-producing
concessions, the 1MDB power companies were sold for RM9.83 billion, or a
loss of RM2.72 billion.
9. 1MDB invested or lent
a total of US$1.83 billion to Petrosaudi International (PSI) Limited
between 2009 and 2011 under the pretext of bogus projects or
non-existent assets. Bank Negara Malaysia had demanded 1MDB return the
above money to Malaysia as its approval was given based on
misinformation submitted by 1MDB. Of this sum, a total of US$1.4 billion
was directly and indirectly siphoned off to Good Star Limited and other
companies controlled by Low Taek Jho.
10. To
hide the missing funds, 1MDB "disposed" of its investments and loans to
PSI for US$2.318 billion, claiming to have made a profit of US$488
million. However, no money was returned to Malaysia. Instead, 1MDB
claimed it invested the funds in Cayman Islands that was subsequently
found to be an unlicensed investment manager. KPMG was sacked as 1MDB's
auditors for refusing to confirm the value of the investment in the
mysterious Cayman fund.
11. 1MDB claimed that the
Cayman Islands investment has been fully redeemed. (A sum of) US$1.22
billion was reportedly redeemed on Nov 5 2014 but was substantially
utilised on the very same day to compensate Aabar Investments PJS for
the termination of options granted to Aabar to acquire 49 of 1MDB's
power companies. This is a lie because the parent of Aabar,
International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC), did not mention
receipt of any such payments in its audited accounts published on the
London Stock Exchange. Instead, the accounts stated that 1MDB owes IPIC
the sum of US$481 million for the termination.
12.
1MDB also took another loan of US$975 million from a Duetsche Bank-led
consortium in September 2014, for the very same purpose of compensating
Aabar for the terminated options. The Wall Street Journal has
exposed the fact that this money may have been paid to a different
British Virgin Islands entity with a similar name, "Aabar Investment PJS
Limited", whose beneficial owner is completely unrelated to IPIC. The
simple scam has fooled even the 1MDB auditors, Deloitte Malaysia, into
believing that the payments were indeed received by IPIC's Aabar.
13.
1MDB announced that it made a second and final RM1.1 billion redemption
of the Cayman Islands investment in January 2015. Initially the PM told
Parliament that the sum was held in cash in BSI Bank, Singapore.
However, two months later in May 2015, he informed Parliament that it
was not in cash but "assets". Subsequently, it was explained that these
assets were "units" which meant that they were never redeemed in the
first place. This proved that 1MDB and the PM have been consistently
lying to the Malaysian public. It also means that the money invested in
Petrosaudi, which was reinvested in Cayman Islands, is still missing and
unaccounted for.
14. A former Umno vice-head of
the Batu Kawan division made a police report on the loss of large sums
of money by 1MDB. No investigations were carried out by the police.
Instead, he was interrogated by police, detained and charged under
anti-terror law (Sosma) for sabotage of the Malaysian economy. His
lawyer was also arrested and charged under the same law. This has the
effect of frightening people from making police reports on the 1MDB.
15. The Wall Street Journal reported that Najib had US$681 million in his private account at Ambank.
16.
Najib denied this at first but later admitted he had the huge amount of
money in his account. He claimed that it was a gift from an Arab; then
that it was a donation to help him win GE13 in Malaysia; then that it
was given because of his dedication to the fight against Islamic
terrorists. He then claimed to have received the money from a Saudi
prince, then from the King of Saudi Arabia who had passed away.
17.
Later a Saudi minister stated there was no record of such a gift by the
Saudis. He suggested it was probably a Saudi investment. The amount was
small.
18. Najib expressed his intention to sue the Wall Street Journal. But he did not. Instead, he asked his lawyers to ask the Wall Street Journal why it published the report.
19.
To this day the WSJ continues to report more and more details about the
US$681 million he has in his private account. He has not sued WSJ,
which he can do in the country the WSJ is published.
20.
Concerned over the huge sum of money in Najib's private account, a task
force was set up in Malaysia to investigate the origin of the money.
Four government institutions became members of the task force. They are
the police, the attorney-general, Bank Negara and the Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission.
21. Before the task
force was able to finish its work, the attorney-general was removed by
Najib claiming that he was sick and could not continue to work.
Basically Najib had misrepresented to the king to get the
attorney-general to be replaced. The Public Accounts Committee was
basically paralysed by Najib removing its chairman and members to
prevent its investigations of the 1MDB. A new chairman, friendly to
Najib, was appointed and he promptly declared that Najib had done
nothing wrong.
22. He then appointed a new
attorney-general. Shortly thereafter the new attorney-general dismissed a
recommendation by Bank Negara for action to be taken, claiming that
nothing in the report showed Najib had done any wrong.
23. Bank Negara appealed but this was brushed aside.
24.
The new attorney-general also dismissed another report by the MACC. The
contents of the report are not revealed and threats are made against
revealing its contents.
25. The new
attorney-general has, without valid explanations, dismissed the
recommendations of the two institutions that possess the powers and
expertise in their areas.
26. That dismissal
prevented the matter from being determined by a court of law after all
the evidence was evaluated. By doing that, the attorney-general has
acted as prosecutor and judge. Due process and the rule of law has been
denied.
27. The sacked deputy prime minister
later revealed that the former attorney-general has shown him proof of
Najib's wrongdoings relating to the scandals. At the same time, various
foreign government agencies, namely from Switzerland, the United States,
Hong Kong and Britain have initiated investigations on the 1MDB.
28. The
press in Malaysia is heavily censored so that Malaysians have to rely
on the foreign press. Yet when Malaysians discuss or write about the
foreign press reports, the government (inspector-general of police)
invited people to make police reports so that the police can carry out
questioning and investigations against the person concerned.
29. This
is in contrast to the failure of the police to investigate the police
report formally made against Najib, Jho Low and the reports to the
attorney-general by Bank Negara and MACC. The attorney-general even
threatens to amend the law to provide for jail for life with 10 strokes
of the rotan against anyone "leaking" government papers. This means that
crimes committed in the administration can be hidden from the public.
30. The
attorney-general claims that a part of the RM2.6 billion (about RM2.3
billion) has been returned to the donor or donors. Apart from this
statement, no proof has been provided.
31. The people are suffering.
32.
Najib's GST and increases in toll rates have increased the cost of
living, forcing some businesses to close down and also causing
foreign-owned industries to stop operations and relocate to other
countries, creating unemployment.
33. Despite
protests by the people, Najib joined the US-sponsored Trans Pacific
Partnership (TPP) which erodes our freedom to make policies and laws
suitable for our country.
34. Today Malaysia's
image is badly tarnished. Apart from being classified as one of the 10
most corrupt countries, Malaysia is now regarded as undemocratic. There
is denial of freedom of speech and freedom of the press and people live
in fear of arrest and detentions. Security laws are enacted to allow the
prime minister (and not the king) to declare security areas where
anyone could be arrested and detained without trial and tried under
procedures that violate normal and fair criminal justice standards.
35.
On the other hand, where errors are made in applying these laws by
government officers, or where there is a blatant abuse of that power,
the people are unable to hold them accountable. Whistleblowers are
harassed and punished instead of being protected. Other repressive laws
are used to stifle free speech and the legitimate comment about
wrongdoings. The fundamental rights enshrined under the federal
constitution have become meaningless.
36. For all these reasons, we, the undersigned citizens of Malaysia agree and support:
a) The removal of Najib as PM of Malaysia through non-violent and legally permissible means.
b) The removal of all those who have acted in concert with him.
c)
A repeal of all recent laws and agreements that violate the fundamental
rights guaranteed by the federal constitution and undermine policy
choices.
d) A restoration of the integrity of the institutions
that have been undermined, such as the police, the MACC, Bank Negara and
the PAC.
37. We call upon all Malaysians,
irrespective of race, religion, political affiliation, creed or parties,
young and old to join us in saving Malaysia from the government headed
by Najib, to pave the way for much-needed democratic and institutional
reforms, and to restore the important principle of the separation of
powers among the executive, legislature and judiciary which will ensure
the independence, credibility, professionalism and integrity of our
national institutions. - Malaysiakini, 4/3/2016
4.05PM: Mahathir is the first to sign the declaration, followed by his wife, Muhyiddin, Ling and Azmin. Following them, the rest are expected to ink the document....
4.05PM: Mahathir is the first to sign the declaration, followed by his wife, Muhyiddin, Ling and Azmin. Following them, the rest are expected to ink the document....
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