YOURSAY ‘When you are guilty, you fear even your own shadow.’
Possible 'hostile reception' cause for PM’s absence at IACC
Odin Tajué: Integrity Minister Paul Low, what you are saying, in plain language, is that PM Najib Razak was afraid to go to the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) due to the presence of, in your own words, fearless activists.
It so happened that most (or was it all?) of those activists were not only fearless but were also foreigners.
These two elements formed a deadly combination for Najib - he would not have been able to sidestep probing questions nor to get his uniformed thugs and non-uniformed minions to arrest and charge those activists under obscure, remotely applicable or even non-applicable law.
When you are guiltless, you fear nothing. When you are guilty, you fear even your own shadow.
FellowMalaysian: Low has admitted that Najib stayed away from the IACC in Putrajaya who, as head of government is expected to make the keynote address, due to the “present circumstances he is in and the issues that involved him personally”.
This is short of saying that Najib has no balls facing the “fearless activists”.
As the head of government as well as of the country, it is indeed shocking, disappointing and disheartening to know that Najib lacks courage even to face a group of dissenting voices in his own courtyard.
I feel totally ashamed and embarrassed by the action of none other than my prime minister who chose to hide himself rather than face the music.
RM2.6Billion Duit Haram: A most stupid excuse for Najib not to attend the anti-corruption conference. What do you mean by “hostile crowd”?
The IACC delegates are not a bunch of barbarians baying for Najib's blood. All of them are well-educated and Najib cannot be in a safer company than those delegates. Therefore Najib's security is not an issue.
The real reason is Najib has no credibility to advise others on fighting corruption. He should be ashamed to go around talking about honesty, pride or good governance. Indeed, this is a real disgrace to the country.
Pemerhati: As was pointed out previously by a Johor prince , Najib did not attend the ‘Nothing to Hide’ forum because he had “everything to hide”.
So now it follows that he will not attend the anti-corruption conference because he has ‘every reason to be corrupt’ because his almost dictatorial powers as the PM allow him to allegedly steal as much of the people’s money as he likes.
When he was the defence minister he wasted the country’s billions by purchasing useless and unnecessary military hardware, such as the French Scorpene submarines.
Now there is talk that his cousin Hishammuddin Hussein is about to waste many more billions by purchasing more unnecessary and useless military hardware.
Slumdog: This is from the Nothing2Hide man. It is more a case of plenty to hide. If Najib claims that he has done nothing wrong in accepting the RM2.6 billion ‘donation’, why is he so afraid to defend his actions?
He claims to be a brave Bugis warrior and is full of bravado when he is surrounded and defended by his ministers, advisers and spin doctors.
When left to stand on his own to defend himself in public, he fails to appear because of “security reasons”, “hostile reception” and more likely a case of bad nerves.
And Low, you are just another in a long line of apologists for Najib. It does not do your cause or integrity any good.
Bangsat: “It’s standard protocol of the International Anti-Corruption Conference to have the democratically elected head of state open the conference,” said Chris Sanders, Transparency International’s spokesman. Enough said.
Jaycee: Political funding deposited in personal accounts is a no-no (whether you use if for personal gain or not); no matter which country you come from. And not stepping down because of this controversy is even a greater sin.
But if the PM feels that there is nothing to hide and he has done nothing wrong, why stay away from this conference? Indeed, the more reason why he should attend and convince the delegates that accepting "donation" from a "brotherly" nation is a new norm.
Kheng: The PM, if there is any truth that the RM2.6 billion is a donation from an Arab country and no 1MDB money is involved, should use the conference to rebut all the charges levelled against him once and for all.
I am sure that he will be held in high esteem if he does that.
Sabahan: Was he duped into not attending? Maybe the IACC delegates loved him but someone frightened him into thinking the delegates would be hostile.
Just as former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad was allegedly duped into attending the Bersih 4 rally by Malaysiakini .
He was told that there were hundreds of thousands of participants and he came on the first day of the rally. But the government-controlled media said only 20,000 attended.
So he had to go again on the second day to confirm what he saw on the first day.
Vijay47: Najib, how long more are you going to indulge in your latest pastime of ‘hide and seek’?
You, the prime minister of the country, dare not even attend a gathering, and that too, on your favourite subject, anti-corruption? Then again, your latest act is hardly surprising since you can't even manage a simple press conference.
You have the strangest set of advisors who seem hell-bent on making you the laughing stock of the entire world and it is equally amazing that you cannot imagine the news headlines in every country.
But don't you have some intelligence and a mind of your own? This reminds me of US President George Bush's famous words "You can run but you can't hide."
Justine Gow: Over a period of just a few months, he had failed to turn up at two scheduled forums. Someone who has nothing to hide would not have behaved in this way.
What can we expect from someone who is afraid of even yellow balloons ?
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