MP SPEAKS | Dear Cabinet Ministers:

I am issuing this open letter to all you cabinet ministers to urge the cabinet to take a patriotic stand at your meeting this Wednesday, the eve of our 60th National Day, to veto Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak from visiting the White House to meet US President Trump on Sept 12, since the US government has virtually branded the Malaysian Prime Minister a kleptocrat by being “MO1.”

Umno/BN strategists and propagandists may think that the prime minister’s forthcoming visit to the White House and meeting with President Trump on Sept 12 is a great “coup” for Najib before the 14th general election.

This is not the case. In fact, it is the very opposite.

Najib’s scheduled visit to the White House and meeting with Trump has given rise to questions such as the outcome of “MO1 vs US01,” “Will Najib triumph over Trump?” and “Will Trump trump Najib?’

It is a great national shame for Najib to go to the White House to meet Trump when he has not cleared or cleansed himself, after being branded by the American government as a kleptocrat by being “MO1” in the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) largest kleptocratic forfeiture suit of more than US$1.7 billion in 1MDB-linked assets.

Najib’s visit to the White House and meeting with Trump will aggravate Malaysia’s international infamy and ignominy by showing that the cabinet and government have ceased to know the meaning of “shame,” as honest and rational Malaysians – or anyone in the world – will regard it as a great national shame and dishonour for Najib to go to the White House to meet President Trump when Najib has not cleared or cleansed himself of the US Government’s civil suit condemnation of him as a kleptocrat and “MO1” in the US DOJ’s largest kleptocratic forfeiture suit of US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets.

Najib cannot deny he is ‘MO1’

Najib cannot deny that he is “MO1” as his Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of the Economic Planning Unit, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, told the world in a BBC interview last September that only an idiot would not know that the US DOJ’s reference of “MO1” was none other than Najib.

Najib should only visit the White House with honour, pride and rectitude as the prime minister of Malaysia after he has cleared or cleansed himself of the infamy and ignominy of the US government’s reference to him as a “kleptocrat” and “MO1.”

Najib should therefore not bring shame and dishonor to Malaysia by visiting the White House and meeting US President Trump with the characterisation of a kleptocrat and “MO1” hanging over his head, which places Najib in an inferior and dishonourable position as a supplicant.

It is to Malaysia’s great and eternal shame that in the past two years since the US DOJ first filed its kleptocratic suits to forfeit the 1MDB-linked assets in the US, UK and Switzerland, Najib has not taken any action or launched any initiative to clear or cleanse himself of the US DOJ condemnation of him as a kleptocrat and “MO1.”

The cabinet meeting on National Day Eve on Aug 30, 2017, should be the first step forward to safeguard national honour and dignity by resolving that Najib should not visit the White House to meet Trump on Sept 12, and that Najib must first clear or cleanse himself of the American government’s reference to him as a kleptocrat and “MO1.”

The least Najib should do before leaving for the US next month would be to announce the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 1MDB scandal to demonstrate to Malaysians, the United States and the world, that he is not a kleptocrat and that the US DOJ’s indictment of him as “MO1” has completely no basis, whatsoever.

Ministers accused US of interference

Malaysian ministers and Najib’s top officials have accused the US government of flagrant interference in Malaysian domestic affairs, even involvement in a plot to topple Najib as prime minister.

Even the PAS president, Abdul Hadi Awang (photo), has taken a public stand that the US DOJ kleptocratic suits are an unacceptable violation of Malaysia’s sovereignty and foreign intervention in the country’s domestic affairs.

If this is the case, and if the Malaysian government is convinced that the US government is guilty of unacceptable meddling in Malaysia’s domestic affairs and violation of Malaysia’s sovereignty, how can Najib go to the White House to meet Trump without full acknowledgement and a contrite apology from the US government for such unacceptable interference with Malaysia’s domestic affairs and violation of Malaysia’s sovereignty?

I am shocked that the government appears to have taken the position, as represented by Umno information chief and former cabinet minister Annuar Musa that Bank Negara’s foreign exchange (forex) losses a quarter of a century ago and over which a Royal Commission of Inquiry had been set up, are real, but the 1MDB losses are only on paper.

Is Annuar suggesting that the infamous US$27.3 million (RM117 million) 22-carat rare pink diamond gifted to “wife of MO1”; the billions of ringgit worth of jewelleries, art pieces and luxury properties like hotels in Beverly Hills and London misappropriated by Jho Low from 1MDB, including those gifted to Leonardo DiCaprio and Miranda Kerr, and Low’s US$250 million (approximately RM1.069 billion) world’s 54th largest mega yacht in existence and US$35.4 million for a Bombardier Global 5000 jet, are just “phantoms on paper” and not real at all?

American actor DiCaprio and Australian supermodel Kerr have handed over their multi-million US dollar gifts from Jho Low, which were reportedly purchased with funds misappropriated from 1MDB, to the US DOJ.

Do these valuable properties just exist on paper, and are they not real at all?

In the kleptocratic forfeiture cases, the US DOJ alleged that between 2009 and 2015, more than US$4.5 billion belonging to 1MDB was diverted by high-level officials of the state investment fund and their associates.

Are these all just paper losses?

It is time that the cabinet focuses specifically on the 1MDB scandal, which has brought so much infamy and ignominy to Malaysia.

Do your patriotic duty to veto Prime Minister Najib’s humiliating and demeaning visit to the White House to meet President Trump, or all of you would have failed your patriotic duty to defend, uphold and promote the honour, reputation and standing of Malaysia in the international community of nations.

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

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