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Key Highlights
Nation’s biggest ‘scam victim’ is hurting
Justice delayed: Deaf driver is ‘our people’
'If DAP absent, respect is present'
Nation’s biggest ‘scam victim’ is hurting
Najib Abdul Razak, whom critics condemn as orchestrating the nation’s greatest scam, claims to be the nation’s biggest scam victim instead.
And the culprits responsible for his ordeal are fugitive financier Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and Petrosaudi executives Patrick Mahoney and Tarek Obaid.
“It pains me every day to know that the 1MDB debacle happened under my watch as finance minister and prime minister,” said the remorseful former premier in a statement read out by his son, Nizar, outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
“For that, I would like to apologise unreservedly to the nation,” he added.
However, Najib, who is serving six years behind bars over the SRC International case and is embroiled in other legal proceedings related to the 1MDB scandal, maintained his innocence.
He cited an article by The Edge published earlier this month which showed how Low, Mahoney and Obaid colluded to swindle 1MDB funds.
The former premier claimed that the article showed that he was duped.
“The Edge had reached a conclusion in their article that Petrosaudi and Low had collaborated to deceive me, that I was not aware that Petrosaudi was siphoning 1MDB funds and that I did not knowingly receive any money from the funds sent by 1MDB to Petrosaudi.
“As hard as it is for some people to fathom, I was advised and honestly believe at the time that the funds I received were political donations from Saudi Arabia,” he added.
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Justice delayed: Deaf driver is ‘our people’
Ong Ing Keong, a hearing-impaired e-hailing driver was assaulted by a police officer escorting Johor regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim on May 28. The incident was captured on dashcam. The police investigated and submitted their findings to the Attorney-General’s Chambers. A former law minister and deputy law minister called it an “open and shut” case.
But there has been pin-drop silence since then.
Now, PKR lawmaker Hassan Abdul Karim wants an answer from the current law minister, Azalina Othman Said and her deputy, M Kula Segaran.
Hassan also appeared to take a leaf out of Pahang Crown Prince Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah’s book, stating: “The driver is our people, Ong Ing Keong.”
On Oct 19, the crown prince called on the police to ensure that justice is served in the case of road construction worker Alias Awang, who claimed to have been assaulted and shot at by a member of the Pahang royalty.
“He (Alias) is my people (heart emoji), give him some justice now,” Tengku Hassanal said in an Instagram post after Alias complained of inaction.
The Deaf Advocacy and Wellbeing National Organisation (Dawn) has also launched an online petition demanding justice for Ong.
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‘DAP absent, respect present’
Perikatan Nasional lawmaker Awang Hashim ignited a firestorm in the Dewan Rakyat with his theory on mutual respect among the races in the PAS-ruled state of Kelantan.
He pointed out that the people in the East Coast state could speak the same dialect, despite being from different backgrounds.
“There are no religious issues (in Kelantan) either… they respect one another…,” he added.
Awang then attributed this harmonious co-existence to the absence of DAP, which PAS often uses as a bogeyman to spook Malay voters.
“Perhaps it’s because DAP has no presence there?” he said, much to the chagrin of DAP MPs RSN Rayer and Chong Zhemin.
Rayer, who had a theory of his own, claimed that Kelantan has good race relations because the people did not elect someone like Awang.
Chong accused Awang of misleading the House and invoked Standing Order 36(12) which has provisions for referring MPs who act in contempt of the House to the Rights and Privileges Committee.
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