MP SPEAKS At the official launch of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) in Shah Alam last Saturday night, PPBM chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad said PPBM would “chase down every penny from 1MDB”.

I have no doubt that one of the first things a new federal government in Putrajaya replacing the Umno/BN will do after the 14th General Election will be to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to “chase down every penny from 1MDB”.

In fact, if we have a cabinet that is patriotic and protective of the good name of Malaysia, the top priority of the agenda of the next cabinet meeting on Wednesday should be on how to purge and clear the country of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy”.

I said in Parliament that a kleptocracy is a government of 3Ps – Pencuri, Perompak and Penyamun.

I do not believe that any patriotic and proud Malaysian would stand idly by and do nothing when the country is defamed worldwide as a “global kleptocracy”!

I also do not believe that the first four Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, Abdul Razak Hussein, Hussein Onn and Mahathir, would have stood idly by and done nothing if Malaysia had been defamed and regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy during their premiership.

Even the fifth Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, would also have acted to defend the honour and reputation of Malaysia if the country is defamed world-wide as a global kleptocracy!

Why then has the cabinet done nothing in the past three years to put the ghost of the 1MDB scandal to rest, instead of allowing the country to be battered, haunted and hounded by the issue, which has aggravated the host of political, economic and nation-building crisis of confidence confronting the country?

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the Umno leadership may have their own reasons to sweep the 1MDB scandal “under the carpet”, but why have the ministers from MCA, Gerakan, MIC and Sabah and Sarawak component parties of the BN also sealed their lips on the 1MDB issue – and dared not breathe a word of the mega financial scandal in cabinet and in government?

A coalition dictated by one supreme overlord

In a statement yesterday, entitled “Unity is easy when you are subservient”, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) chief executive Wan Saiful Wan Jan pointed out:

“Barisan Nasional today has become a coalition of many irrelevant parties dictated by one supreme overlord. They are no longer equals. The big brother is free to entertain or ignore other minions as they wish.

“For example, when Chinese schools were having difficulty to access their funding recently, Liow (Tiong Lai, the MCA president) was only able to say that he will ‘follow up’ with the prime minister on this issue.”

Wan Saiful observed:

“Of course the MCA may eventually get the money, but the rule remains, namely, MCA can beg but they must obey. If they disagree with a decision, all they can do is just ‘insist’ and ‘follow up’. The relationship in Barisan Nasional is more like a master and a servant, not a relationship between equals.”

Wan Saiful had hit the nail on the head about the “reality” of the fictitious BN “coalition” and the real “subvervient” role of MCA, Gerakan, MIC and the other BN component parties, whether from Sarawak or Sabah.

The international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal is another example of such “master-servant” relationship between Umno and the other BN component parties, as there is no other way to explain why none of the 15 non-Umno ministers in the 35-member cabinet dared to make a squeak to question in cabinet about the 1MDB scandal in the past three years over a matter that has brought so much shame, dishonour and humiliation to Malaysians for the nation to be regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy”.

Can anyone of the ministers from MCA, Gerakan, MIC or Sabah/Sarawak BN component parties explain the “thunderous silence” on the 1MDB scandal in the cabinet for the past three years, apart from Wan Saiful’s “master-and-servant” explanation of Najib’s cabinet?

I expect these 15 non-Umno ministers to dig their heads deeper in the sand so that they need not answer this question!

A third instance of such “master-servant” relationship is the Umno’s arbitrary and unilateral announcement that the BN federal government will take over PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s Private Member’s Bill to amend the syariah law, without any consensus either from the BN supreme council or the cabinet.

In the process, the Umno leadership has only shown utter contempt for the other BN ministers and the BN supreme council.

Dare ministers from MCA, Gerakan, MIC and Sarawak/Sabah BN component parties present the ‘Pensiangan Formula’ to address the political and constitutional stalemate created by Umno’s arbitrary and unilateral support for Hadi’s bill, where the BN federal government would not take over Hadi’s bill but an all-party Parliamentary Select Committee would be set up in the March meeting of Parliament to study and make recommendations on how to strengthen inter-religious relations and harmony in Malaysia, including study of Hadi’s proposed Private Member’s Bill?

LIM KIT SIANG is DAP parliamentary leader and the MP for Gelang Patah.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.