“The debate shows clearly that Anwar let Najib off the hook on many occasions, just to avoid giving praise to Mahathir for doing what was necessary to regain investor confidence”
Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen
بده سياست ديبت ڤردان: انور ايلق سراڠ نجيب ترلالو تروق هاڽ اونتوق ايلق ڤوجي محضير
The following is part 2 of an ongoing mini-series that analyses the recently concluded debate between Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. For part 1, click the link below and watch also the video below this article:
PART 1: ANWAR WAS CLEARLY PROTECTING NAJIB
Continued from part 1…
3. On the economy
In trying to assure the audience that the people’s concerns were priority, Najib claimed that the Government of Malaysia (GoM) should always strive to increase the size of the economic pie, so as to present the rakyat with more opportunities.
To this, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that merely increasing the size of the pie is not good enough, as one also needs to ensure that the country’s wealth is fairly distributed.
According to Anwar, there is the question of who gets to determine the distribution, as the people controlling the pie – or, as he quite aptly put it, the political elites – happen to be the richest people in the country.
As such, he added, there is a pressing need to resolve all managerial and accountability related issues, and he probably meant this to be a measure of security to prevent large chunks of the pie from being stockpiled in the corridors of power.
Although he made perfect sense, he was holding back a lot of punches.
For instance, when Najib went off on a ‘campaign-tangent’ about the “longest ever bull run” during his administration, Anwar should have shot him down then and there or the first chance he got.
Had I been Anwar, I would have noted how Pakatan Harapan was committed to saving the country from going to the dogs, that maintaining a bull-run was akin to “taking the country down a suicide spiral.”
Anwar is well aware that Najib buried Malaysia under a trillion-ringgit debt pile by mismanaging the country and failing to put in place proper contingency measures.
Anwar also knows that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was forced to reevaluate the agreements Najib and his team had negotiated with the Chinese government, given that Najib himself was accused of misappropriating billions of dollars from 1MDB.
It follows, Mahathir was duty bound to either halt temporarily or do away with many mega-projects initiated by Najib, to facilitate “a transitional phase” that involved multiple probes into government linked contracts.
Naturaly, such a phase would be detrimental to the economy, but the impact was small as many of the contracts were eventually reaproved, while others were renegotiated.
Mahathir needed to assure investors that he was serious in weeding out the roots of corruption that may have been sprawling from Najib’s camp.
Investors needed assuring, as the American Department of Justice had shattered their confidence following the explosive details the then Attorney General of the United States revealed to the world regarding 1MDB.
So you see, not only did Mahathir have his job cut out for him, his administration bore the brunt of Najib’s misgivings.
The Rakyat is also bearing this brunt and will do so for the next two decades or so due to the need to service all 1MDB related obligations.
But Anwar said nothing of all this and kept using the near-half-century-old Perwaja Steel scandal as a case in 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.
It is quite obvious that Anwar is willing to forget many of Najib’s misdeeds despite the damage the latter caused the country, and I’m inclined to think that Anwar is open to the idea of working with Najib instead of Mahathir towards the 15th general election.
The debate shows clearly that Anwar let Najib off the hook on many occasions just to avoid giving praise to Mahathir for doing what was necessary to save the country from going to the dogs.
To be continued…
