“It was a put-up job, to say the least, and that was and still remains my first impression. The second impression I got was that Najib was more of “a textbook idealist,” while Anwar was the “grounded practicalist” – for the lack of a better term”
Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen
امت جلس انور چوبا ليندوڠي نجيب، تاڤي نجيب ماسيه كنا سمبليه
(Watch also the video below article)
When I tuned in to watch the much-anticipated debate between Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, I was expecting no less than a “no holds barred, at daggers drawn” battle that would help establish once and for all how the Najib administration plundered the nation.
But not only was I left feeling disappointed, the few analysts I spoke to agreed, that Najib and Anwar portrayed themselves as two overly cautious charlatans, holding many punches along the way as they tactfully skated over the RM2.6 billion elephant in the room – the 1MDB scandal.
It was a complete and ignominious failure, to say the least, and the first impression I got was that Anwar and Najib had come to some sort of a gentlemen’s agreement, the terms of which probably required both sides to ‘ignore’ the 1MDB scandal, described as “the world’s greatest financial scandal to date,” and declared by the United States Department of Justice to be the “largest kleptocracy case in history.”
Seriously, how can Anwar not talk about 1MDB – the scandal that rocked Najib’s and Rosmah’s ‘yacht’ and shooed off many, many investors – when the one-time minister of finance (Anwar) rattled on and on about the need to conduct “forensic auditing” on companies alleged to have been involved in corrupt practises?
And tell me, why would Anwar and Najib train their guns on scandals nearly half a century old (Perwaja steel and forex), when the whole purpose of the debate was to address current issues, pivoted on Najib’s desire to bail out Sapura Energy, a crony-centric outfit said to be associated with him?
It was a put-up job, to say the least, and that was and still remains my first impression.
The second impression I got was that Najib was more of “a textbook idealist,” while Anwar was the “grounded practicalist” – for the lack of a better term.
Let me give you a few examples to make my case:
1. On Mega projects
According to Najib, infrastructural mega-projects centric to the rakyat such as the ECRL, the HSR, the Pan-Borneo Highway, LRT 3, Pengerang, TRX and Bandar Malaysia will benefit the country, as these projects have the potential of generating a lot of money and presenting jobs to millions of people.
Millions of people?
I highly doubt that, and the fact that Najib is talking about so many mega-projects hinged merely on ‘potential’, at a time of crisis, suggests that he is not grounded in reality and is more of “a textbook idealist.”
As a matter of fact, I highly doubt that textbooks would advise governments to invest in too many mega-projects during times of crisis, as opposed to the idea of cutting back on mega-projects and gathering focus on strengthening the country’s fundamentals.
Anwar did reasonably well in this department, stressing that the mega-projects Najib listed would make a lot of sense if they were able to bring benefits directly to the rakyat, the condition being that the issue of integrity needed to be addressed first.
According to Anwar, if he was in charge, he would conduct forensic audits on all troubled ventures to find out what went wrong, so that the government could do better in the future and run enterprises more efficiently.
But Anwar kept using the near-half-century-old Perwaja Steel scandal as example, when in fact, the scandal is peanuts compared to the recent multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal that, according to the FBI, earned Najib and his stepson over RM4 billion in stolen funds.
Did Anwar forget this?
Why did Anwar fail to point out the obvious, that Najib does not have a single successful mega-project venture to his credit, only a colossal failure that cost the nation billions of dollars, described as “among the world’s greatest financial scandals?”
Najib actually gave Anwar the cue to point this out when the former claimed that the ECRL was delayed by Pakatan Harapan, stopping short of elaborating the reason the delay was necessary.
Had I been Anwar, I would have made it clear that the delay was to facilitate detailed probes into agreements entered between the Najib administration and the Chinese government, given that Najib was accused of misappropriating billions of dollars from 1MDB.
It follows, Pakatan Harapan was duty bound to renegotiate these agreements to weed out all possible roots of corruption that could have led to Najib or his associates, in the wake of the 1MDB scandal.
I would also have pointed out that the delay allowed the Government of Malaysia (GoM) to reduce ECRL costs by a whopping RM21.5billion, a reduction that went a long way in reducing the country’s projected debt.
But Anwar said nothing.
2. Political stability
Najib pointed out that political stability was a necessary premise for the successful implementation of people centric projects, stressing that we cannot afford to see a repeat of the current situation where the government changed three times in four years.
Is that not a stupid thing to say?
I mean, isn’t Najib directly responsible for the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan led-administration and the Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin led-government, and isn’t the rakyat well aware of this?
Wasn’t it the Court Cluster that colluded with team Datuk Seri Azmin Ali from PKR and team Muhyiddin from PPBM to pull the rug from under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s feet via Langkah Sheraton?
Wasn’t it also the Court Cluster that touched off Langkah Royale Chulan, a move that resulted in Muhyiddin losing his post as Prime Minister and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri being ushered in as the ninth prime minister?
And tell me, isn’t the Court Cluster now pressuring Ismail Sabri to call off any arrangement the GoM has with Pakatan Harapan and trigger the dissolution of parliament, despite the fact that the 14th Malaysian Parliament can still function for another year?
Again, Anwar said nothing.
To be continued…
