Last night in his TV3 interview, Najib Razak said that he remains “respectful” of Tun Dr Mahathir. Nonetheless, respecting Tun is still not providing the grand olde man with the answers that he is demanding.
Giving Respect ≠ Giving Answers
Perhaps in his next blog posting, Tun can prepare multiple choice answers for Najib to tick.
e.g.
Tun’s question was “Who ordered Sirul to kill Altantuya?”
Najib’s answers as recorded by TV3:
A. Err, dunno tapi saya sudah angkat sumpah Wallahi Wabillahi Watallahi
B. I personally dunno that woman Altantuya
C. Dunno but I was not at all involved, directly or indirectly and the IGP already said so when Pak Lah was PM
D. There is no proof – no photos, no nothing – that I had known Altantuya
E. All of the above
In his actual Q&A – transcript @ NST – Najib conveyed all of the above. Nonetheless the gist of his statements A, B, C & D fail to answer Tun’s question.
This being the case, Tun will keep on asking repeatedly – he is 90 and it’s expected that elderly folks are repetitive – until he gets a satisfactory to-the-point reply.
ASSET STRIPPING & LIQUIDATING
And furthermore, is 1MDB going to have a fire sale of its so-called ‘assets’?
Will the 1MDB power stations be sold at a loss?
Tun Mahathir had explained:
“Wang untuk membeli stesyen janakuasa dipinjam. Laporan menunjuk komisyen sebanyak lebih dari 10% dibayar kepada Goldman Sachs untuk mengurus penjualan bond.”
“Hutang yang diurus oleh Goldman Sachs dikenakan faedah sebanyak 5.9%.”
“1MDB meminjam lebih dari 10 billion Ringgit untuk beli beberapa stesyen janakuasa. Harga yang dibayar dikatakan lebih tinggi dari harga pasaran. Lesen stesyen-stesyen ini akan mati tidak lama lagi. Kenapa tidak tunggu hingga lesen mati sebelum membeli. Harga selepas mati lesen tentu amat rendah. Membeli dengan harga tinggi sebelum lesen mati amat merugikan.”
How ‘clever’ of 1MDB.
(a) Borrow money to purchase power stations
(b) Pay above market rate
(c) Now compelled to “liquify” (Najib’s word) these assets to settle loan
(d) Will some government entity like the EPF be forced to buy these overpriced power stations from 1MDB?
Question: Were the 1MDB transactions masterminded by certain personalities?
Najib’s answers:
A. 1MDB is an investment company with a start-up capital of RM1 million and it borrowed to expand its business
B. 1MDB has assets exceeding its liability and it’ll either develop or liquify these assets to settle its loans
C. I don’t condone any abuse of power and I’ve asked for verification as to whether 1MDB funds were ever used to finance a movie
D. The opposition MPs in the Public Accounts Committee can discuss the Auditor-General’s audit when the report is completed [but dunno when though*]
E. All of the above
* “We did NOT give a time frame but they must do it ASAP”, said Najib.
Najib pukul rata A to D but his statements above do not answer the question as to whether Jho Low (or someone else), by implication, is the mastermind behind the 1MDB misadventure.
This is what Tun had to say.
Pinjaman bukan harta
“Kononnya aset 1MDB berjumlah 52 billion sedangkan hutang hanya 42 billion. Aset tidak jadi keuntungan sebelum dijual (dicairkan). Kenapa untuk membayar faedah sebanyak 2 billion pun terpaksa hutang dari Ananda Krishnan. Kalau 1MDB tidak rugi kenapa terpaksa hutang. Kenapa wang Kerajaan sebanyak 1 billion diberi kepada 1MDB setelah hutang dibayar?”
“Soalan-soalan lain berkenaan 1MDB tidak dijawab selain daripada berkata asetnya besar. Soal harga tanah Kerajaan yang dibeli oleh 1MDB tidak dijelas. Sudah tentu jika dibeli dengan harga yang murah dan dinaik nilai berkali ganda, aset ini menjadi besar. Tetapi Kerajaan rugi banyak dengan tanah miliknya dijual dengan harga yang tidak mencermin harga pasaran.”
Question: Why was the money transferred from Cayman Islands to Singapore instead and not brought back to Malaysia?
Najib’s answers:
A. Firstly, the money was not from Cayman Islands; Cayman Islands was just for the registration
B. 200 Malaysian companies have a Cayman Islands account and there’s really nothing wrong in having a Cayman Islands a/c
C. At a certain time in future, the money will be brought back to Malaysia
D. Whatever we want to do has to be with the verification of Bank Negara and Bank Negara is aware of the movement of funds
E. All of the above
In a written reply to Parliament last month, the Finance Ministry said 1MDB had deposited the Cayman US$1.1 billion (RM3.91 billion) into a Swiss bank – BSI Bank Ltd – in Singapore. However, Najib’s all-of-the-above responses do not reveal the reason W-H-Y the money is purportedly parked in Singapore.
The Finance Ministry said: “The decision to use a bank in Singapore was done in order to smoothen the transaction as regulations set by Bank Negara Malaysia require for transactions above RM50 million to obtain its approval”. See ‘MoF says Cayman funds now in Singapore account‘ (The Malaysian Reserve, 12 March 2015)
In Dr Mahathir’s words: “Kononnya Bank Negara menjadi masalah kerana proses menyimpan wang yang banyak mesti melalui proses yang rumit.”
MoF said Bank Negara approval is required for transactions above RM50m and this is troublesome, i.e. it is smoother to deposit the Cayman “redemption” in Singapore. Meanwhile, 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy previously said the funds are in Singapore in order to keep the money in the form of US dollars because interest on the company’s debt is paid in US dollars.
Yesterday Najib said Bank Negara is aware of the movement of 1MDB’s funds. This implies that the money is in a Swiss bank in Singapore not because it is troublesome to deposit the sum in Malaysia. On the other hand, Arul Kanda’s explanation appears to be closer to the truth, i.e. 1MDB’s wish to retain the funds in US dollars.
1MDB is setting an example for other Malaysian companies to keep their capital and profits in Swiss banks in Singapore.
The 2 billion ringgit question
Tun Mahathir said on 15 March 2015: “Sehingga kini Kerajaan tidak menjawab secara yang masuk akal. Umpamanya 1MDB tidak punyai masalah kerana asetnya lebih dari hutang.”
Najib reiterated yesterday: “… the assets obtained by 1MDB had exceeded liability. This I want to stress – exceeding liability.”
Tun said: “Tetapi hanya untuk bayar faedah 2 billion, tidak ada wang sehingga tidak dapat tutup akaun ikut jadual.”
1MDB, the company with RM1 million paid up capital and RM42 billion debt plus owing Ananda’s (?) RM2 billion loan – brilliant!
“Standby credit” konon
Last week Tun had rebuked, “Soalan-soalan lain berkenaan 1MDB tidak dijawab selain daripada berkata asetnya besar.” And true enough, Najib yesterday fulfilled Tun’s prophecy. As Tun anticipated, the PM is not able or unwilling to illuminate the matter except to stress that 1MDB’s assets exceed its liabilities.
To which Tun already has the answers: “Aset tidak jadi keuntungan sebelum dijual (dicairkan)” and “Kenapa untuk membayar faedah sebanyak 2 billion pun terpaksa hutang? Kalau 1MDB tidak rugi kenapa terpaksa hutang [bayaran faedah]?”
Oh yeah, and don’t forget Finance Minister (II) Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah’s admission on March 12 that the government had injected RM950 million into 1MDB as “standby credit”.
Although the RM950m was on “standby” in name, a total of RM600m of the amount was quickly withdrawn a mere two days later and used up. So it was not for standby after all but actually a loan for immediate use. See, ‘1MDB: RM600 million of ‘standby credit’ used up, says Husni‘ (Astro Awani, 14 March 2015).
Urm, Tun also wants to know – “Kenapa wang [ditebus daripada akaun Cayman Islands] ini tidak diguna untuk bayar faedah 2 billion?”
Question not asked
Tun’s query: “US$700 juta dibayar kepada Petro Saudi untuk apa? Sudahkah ditentukan Petro Saudi memiliki konsesi kawasan minyak dan gas di Argentina dan Turkmenistan sebelum membayar wang yang begitu banyak?”
1MDB & PetroSaudi relationship status: It’s complicated
Leaving it to the people and the party
Najib said in his interview yesterday:
“Nothing will happen to me due to Tun Dr Mahathir’s criticisms. But I have to state that I am responsible to the people and the party. […] I leave it to the people and party to determine my position. It does not mean that I do not respect any individual. The fact is I must leave it to the people and the party to determine my position.”
Okay lah. But don’t forget that the individual holding party membership number 001 is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
And feel free to ignore the jemuan-jemuan in Umno as well
Continues
Helen Ang 
Dear Najib, your totaly not answer any question at all. We already decided. Don’t regret went it is to late…..
Thank you
MAAM Old Klang Road.
Hadoii, malu la ada pm lembap mcm ni. If at upsr level, tanya lain, bagi jwpn lain – sahih dpt F. Tun R must hv turned 6ft under….. Resign n fxxk off.
-pengundi bn pru13
Beri lebih masa untuk 1MDB cairkan aset untuk jelaskan hutang – PM Najib?
In the first place, if not mistaken otherwise I appologised, what I read was 1MDB bought Power Asset is for the ‘PEOPLE’ sake and benefit, and now liquidize? for 1MDB sake to pay debts????
The Doctor on behalf of the people who care ask simple direct question becasue he and the people are worried. Just reply him honestly. Have we forgotted MV AUGUSTA??
Do you know that MRT progress after BAtu 3 toll and SS14 SJ seems like ‘halt’ for more than a year. Why is that? It creating Ugliness in environment.
Najib sir, you are best described as follows:
EXPLAINING AWAY THE TRUTH
It is no good at all
to conjure all sorts of reasons
to explain away truth:
One could subscribe to truth
only when one has self-respect in the first place;
When a man tells untruths,
he has no respect for himself
and little would he do better for others
except for his own gain;
And when a man tells lies,
he has a tendency to forget:
With one lie after the other,
eventually he would be caught
in his own tangled web:
Nampaknya jurusan pengajian amat mempengaruhi daya pemikiran dan tindakan seseorang.
Doktor perubatan perlu pantas, objektif dan tepat. Dia berada disitu untuk membuat keputusan.
Jurutera industri sentiasa perlukan masa untuk verification. Banyak ‘standard-standard’ yg perlu dipatuhi. Buang masa. Dia tiada disitu untuk buat keputusan. Akibatnya ialah dia sentiasa ‘clueless’.
Org Kampung
Apa lagi Mamakutty dan Blogang mahu?
Orang nyanyok jer yang tak faham penjelasan PM.
Orang biasa semua faham jawapan senang tu. Straight and simple explanation.
Masalahnya orang seperti Mamakutty Dan gene yea yang menanyakan soalan tak erti sebenar apa soalan yang dikemukakan kerana cuma hendak jawapan yang Dia orang sendiri hajatkan.
Tanya Mamakutty soalan balik “Agak bila anaknya akan jadi PM? 1-5 tahun, 5-10 tahun, 10-15 tahun, 15-20 tahun?”
Mesti tidak dapat terjawab.
Mungkin kalau menjawab pun akan beli jawapan berikut:
A. Anwar pembelot agama, bangsa, negara.
B. Tak Islamik soalan.
C. Saya tak ingat. Soalan tu dah terlalu lama.
D. Mamak mudah lupa.
E. A+B+C+D = RM 19.90 sen.
Sir, you are equally a clueless person.
Pardon me to say you are unable to differentiate between reality and fantasy, distinguish between intellectuality and knowledge lacky, discriminate between the truth and falsity.
We talked about altantuya, 1MDB, BRIM and its implication on the rakyat, you talked about when mahathir’s son going to be pm etc….what is that….a show of lacking in grey matter.?….sorry. if you cannot have proper discourse, leave it to people who are sane and reasonable
Bodoh punya komen. Bukan Tun Dr. M sahaja yang nak tahu jawapan, 1Malaysia pun nak tahu jawapan pasal 1MDB. The Edge pun dah banyak tanya soalan, takkan 1Malaysia ni ramai yang nyanyuk?
Oh, mungkin orang2 “bangang” dan “jemuan” yang seronok makan kangkung sahaja yg nyanyuk dan suka tanya soalan2 pasal 1MDB kan? Kalau ada orang berani saman Harakah pasal 1MDB, kenapa sampai sekarang tak berani nak saman The Edge jugak? Saman la.
Apa salahnya kalau anak Tun Dr. M nak jadi PM kalau dapat sokongan? PM sekarang pun anak kepada PM terdahulu kan?
Love,
Pwincess.
pwincess…betul sangat kata anda. malangnya komen yang bodoh tentu datang dari minda seorang yang amat nyata kebebalannya kerana soalan Tun M yang sebenarnya ‘straight and simple’ tapi jawapan langsung tak jelas, berputar-putar ke alam lain.
masih saya ingat semasa anwar ibrahim ditanya oleh reporter…’are u gay?’….
teknik jawapnya sama aje dengan PM bibir merah delima nih!
hoi Danny yang nyanyok hang , bukan Tun M orang cakap pasai lain , hang cakap pasai lain ,lepas tu yang paria hang , sebab yang mamak tu Anuar peliwat.
Some of us know that Dandy is an absurd PR supporter. Najib can be considered as a ‘silver bullet’ or ‘valuable’ assets for PR as stepping stone to capture Putrajaya. They will try their best to keep Najib as PM as long as possible until one orchestrated single strike that could make Najib and BN tumbling down in one blow.
Replacing Najib with other favorable reasonable berjiwa rakyat leader(ada ka?) would make PR effort to take Putrajaya will be harder as people would return back to BN.,thus we can see how this uncut cincau(dandy) behave.
‘Masalahnya orang seperti Mamakutty Dan gene yea yang menanyakan soalan tak erti sebenar apa soalan yang dikemukakan kerana cuma hendak jawapan yang Dia orang sendiri hajatkan.’
Huh?!! Apa kejadah ni Dandy?! Wa tak bley faham wor?????
I think the hawkers selling food on the street speak much better Malay than them. – See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/ooi-kok-hin/article/elected-representatives-who-cannot-speak-malay#sthash.yiRfkYn1.dpuf
Lol. Love the multiple choice-styled suggestion.
And that was a recorded interview. Kalau live debate …
the problem with najib is he loves to create duplicate agencies/company that runs a similar function to agencies/departments/glcs that have long exist. Example:
1) 1MDB overlaps with Khazanah as an arm of government strategic investment. browse both websites and each claim to be strategic investment company to the government. i chose the latter which have investment in strong holdings like TNB, Telekom and Axiata group (the only problem is MAS but they really can’t escape the national carrier responsibility). everyone knows the dodgy dealings of 1MDB. but the problem of giving a company name in lieu to your 1 Malaysia will spell trouble once najib is gone. najib’s days are numbered. and your successor will likely to further empower this special purpose vehicle company. not to mention the scandals and debts as we know now. better change 1mdb as strategic government asset fire sale body. at least that is unique.
2) PR1MA overlaps with National Housing Department under Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government. to justify, PR1MA houses cater for middle income group whereas NHD caters for lower income. why can’t NHD build houses for middle income group too? this put more strain to management expenditure. and that expenditure can better be spend on building more houses. even the policy of housing in Malaysia is decided by PR1MA!
3) Special Innovation Unit and Malaysian industry Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) overlaps with Malaysia Innovation Agency. Previously MIGHT was under MOSTI but then transferred to JPM under Science Advisor (really? advisor for science? then what’s the purpose of Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation?) so count how many involved in the policy and implementation of innovation alone.
4) PEMANDU overlaps with ICU and EPU. both claim to be responsible with the economic master plan of the nation. najib chose to favour overpaid power point specialist rather than economist who deals with fact and figures day in day out. PEMANDU folks do deals with fact and figures but they use it to paint a good picture using that flashy power point rather than speaking the truth. their head has even got bigger to the point of instructing ministry or department to do their bidding.
5) Talentcorp overlaps with Department of Human Resource under Ministry of Human Resource. in addition to this, Talentcorp disrupt the job market by importing foreign based Malaysian (and even foreigner!) when everyone especially fresh grad knows how hard it is to secure job nowadays. no wonder young voters are angry. Najib should’ve learnt the lesson from Singapore which have suffered from massive influx of foreigner in the name of meritocracy. now, it has become the main issue that would drag PAP from the government administration.
all in all, najib has not created much new things like what his predecessor had done. all he did was centralising as much power under the PMO or by creating a new agency/company so he could be in total control as the founder.
Pwincess agree with everything else except no.3. Science Advisor to the PM is a unique post especially during the days of Tun Dr. M. Pak Lah once transferred that post to be under MOSTI but Uncle Najib pulled it back to JPM. MOSTI still spearhead most STI programmes in Malaysia and even within MOSTI, there are departments/agencies that seem to overlap with each other but not i significant terms. Science Advisor advises the PM but to have MIGHT under him/JPM is quite strange.
Love,
Pwincess.
yes. that’s the point. the capacity of advisors in various ministry doesn’t have agency/department/unit under him. I believe even in the corporate or private sector such powers were not given.
Buka sana buka sini, ada peluang buat ‘money’!
Now, the whole interview’s most interesting revealing through pink lips were that TDM upset because pink lips not completing the ‘jambatan bengkok’.
Pink lips actually called it ‘jambatan bengkok’.
Pink lips humiliated not just TDM, but the RAKYAT dan PARTAI when he belittled our Sovereignty by calling ‘jambatan bengkok’. We have to curve the bridge somehow to let the water flows through, because Singapore refused to cooperate due to fengshui and worried about Johor progressing.
Pink Lips should resign while he still can. He is unforgivable to call ‘jambatan bengkok’. Something is wrong with him, like suffering the same disease of ‘the rise and rise of khairy jaMALUdin bin Abu bakar ‘.
And Brutus was an honourable man?”
Well, Hang Tuah killed his best-friend Hang Jebat simply because the latter wanted to avenge the former who was badly mistreated by the sultan. Who’s the real hero is still being debated up to this day (excluding the sultan of course).
Love,
Pwincess.
It is wisdom to not befriend an impestuous character who will probably justify killing innocent lives to “avenge” the perceived wrongdoing done to you by one man. Animosity does not beget chivalry.
Er, the sultan was the one who ordered Hang Tuah to be killed in the first place la. Sultan didn’t use his brain and just listened to the baseless accusations made by the consultants around him. Luckily, the Bendahara hid Hang Tuah instead of killing him as ordered by the sultan. So, Hang Jebat was very angry one and wanted to avenge the injustice (but he didn’t know Tuah was still alive meh). If somebody who had done a lot to Melaka at that time can be ordered to be killed easily like that by the sultan, you think ordinary people have better chances one? Jho Low maybe have better chances la.
Love,
Pwincess.
Hi Helen. Love that pic of Tun with that smirking smile..hehe..so classy and priceless!
I think Najib is aware that his problems are just too many and too big that it will become a serious liability come PRU 14. His performance last night is not really to counter Tun. He simply doesn’t have good enough answers. But he wants to at least save his face. He knows he has to go and is finding the safe way out.
It was reported that during the recent Nik Aziz’s funeral he met up with Ku Li twice on the plane to and from the funeral. Perhaps they really discussed the take over. Obviously for Najib he needs to ensure that he has a safe way out even after stepping down and have his legacy intact.
The recent actions/statements by Ku Li seemed to indicate that he really wants to be visible again and wants people to remember that he is a credible and viable replacement to Najib. His recent speech in parliament, his agreement with Tun that Najib must answer all the questions and lastly his statement that he is willing to work with anybody including Tun, all point to this.
The last time he had the chance to become PM was in 1987 when he was defeated by Tun by a mere 41 votes in the Umno presidential election. That was nearly 30 years ago. Now the opportunity pops up again. This may well be his last chance to become PM. He is already 78 years old. Its either now or never!
‘The fact is I must leave it to the people and the party to determine my position.”
bapak penswastaan setakat boleh menyalak saja. tahun depan ahjibgor tambah br1m jadi rm1,200. ketua2 bahagian jadi itik gemboi2. bijak, bijak!
Ajibgor and His beri masa to 1MDB is to relocate much taunted endeavour of his10 points failed policies cause to outshine Tun’s times surpass with his ability now lies a lots on media social even our friend Dandy chooses not to patronize his 1Malaysia blog instead come goose bog to Helen blog muka tak malu punya orang
Well said!