MP SPEAKS | How theatrical! When will former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak order his assistant to lodge a police report against himself on the 1MDB scandal to establish his innocence?
This will be the thought of many when they read news report of Najib “ordering” a police report against himself, so that the authorities can start investigating and establish his innocence of several high-profile murders while he was in power.
I said yesterday that Najib is guilty of telling lies almost every day.
He has told another lie.
He said I have made “repeated calls” to the authorities to reopen investigations into high-profile mysterious deaths.
Let me tell Najib that I had only once called for the reopening of investigations into the high-profile mysterious deaths like Altantunya Shaariibuu, Husain Najadi, Kevin Morais and Teoh Beng Hock after Pakatan Harapan came into power – and not “repeated calls”!
Najib's theatrics remind of two other theatrical events.
Firstly, a Feb 9, 2015 New York Times article reported that Najib’s family had vast wealth, most of it overseas.
And in that article, the Prime Minister's Office defended Najib’s wealth by claiming that “neither any money spent on travel, nor any jewellery purchases, nor the alleged contents of any safes are unusual for a person of the prime minister’s position, responsibilities and legacy family assets”. The prime minister has made subsequent statements saying his wealth derives from inheritance.
This prompted a formal statement by Najib's four brothers on Feb 15, 2015 which said that there were no “legacy family assets” and that any claim to the contrary is an insult to their father, Abdul Razak Hussein, the country's second prime minister and a man known for his parsimony with government funds.
Without naming any names, the brothers' statement said, “We wish to put on record that Tun Abdul Razak was a highly principled man, well-known to all who knew him for his frugality and utmost integrity and any statement or inference to the contrary would be totally false and misleading to his memory and to his service and sacrifices for the nation. We take issue with anyone who taints his memory, whatever the motive. We would also like to add that our whole family is united on this issue.”
The statement was signed by Nazir Razak, the chairperson of CIMB group, as well as his brothers Johari, Nizam and Nazim. It was not signed by Najib.
The second instance involved Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor.
Later in the same month of February 2015, she drew scorn on the social media after she complained about the rising cost of house calls from hairdressers and tailors, lamenting the RM1,200 she had to spend on house calls by stylists to dye her substantial head of hair and RM500 for tailored dresses.
Rosmah had always deflected criticism by saying that she can afford luxuries on her husband’s US$130,000 salary because she started saving early” and was given “many gifts”.
LIM KIT SIANG is the DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri
