"The periodic power struggles within Umno have often produced unexpected revelations of great interest to the people."

– Kua Kia Soong

COMMENT | What a wonderful mess Pakatan Harapan is in now. The catfight between former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and former prime minister (twice) Dr Mahathir Mohamad over who is more corrupt is indicative of how Malaysians need to move on.

Like the Covid-19 pandemic, when the mainstream Malay establishment is in convulsions, it ruthlessly points out the deficiencies of the system. In this particular instance, the systemic corruption that plagues the Malaysian political and economic systems.

As Kua Kia Soong reminds us in a press statement titled 'Malaysia's financial scandals - memory jolt for forgetful politicians', one example (of systemic corruption) is of how politicians were benefiting from preferential share allocations originally designed to help “ordinary Malays” under the NEP.

“Thus, in November 1994 it was revealed that relatives of prominent Umno politicians had been profiting from the preferential share-allocation scheme originally designed to help ordinary Malays under the NEP. Among these were Mirzan Mahathir, son of the prime minister; Marzuki Ibrahim, brother of the deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim and Fazrin Azwar, son-in-law of International trade and industry minister Rafidah Aziz, who happened to chair the allocation committee. This information was only leaked to the public by ...