Would Muhyiddin declare war on China if The Edge says so?

By MT Webmaster Last updated Oct 27, 2015

And if The Edge reports that China is a threat to countries surrounding the South China Sea (as what some news agencies have reported), Muhyiddin will probably declare war on China because The Edge reported that China is a threat to Malaysia even if the Cabinet is against war with China.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

“MACC, police must respond to SRC’s denial on ‘donation’ to Najib, says PAS,” The Malaysian Insider’s headlines screamed. The Malaysian Insider then went on to say:

PAS wants the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the police to respond to the statement made by former 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) subsidiary, SRC International Sdn Bhd, which denied allegations that it had transferred money to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal account.

“The main question is from who else did the prime minister receive ‘donation’ into his personal accounts, besides the RM2.6 billion whose ‘donor’ is still a mystery,” Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man of PAS was reported to have said.

The impression The Malaysian Insider is creating is that the RM2.6 billion that was alleged to have been transferred into Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s account is supposed to have come from SRC International. Well, at least this is what The Malaysian Insider‘s report seems to suggest.

This is what in English we would call the power of suggestion. You suggest something without actually making a direct allegation and then leave it to the reader to form an opinion by linking two separate issues into the same issue.

Actually, SRC International’s press statement yesterday did not talk about the RM2.6 billion. The press statement was referring to previous reports carried by Malaysiakini and Sarawak Report — who had published an alleged charge sheet against the Prime Minister and a diagram of alleged fund flows into his accounts — saying that a RM4 billion loan obtained by SRC International from KWAP had been misappropriated.

SRC International was denying that the RM4 billion it received from KWAP had been misappropriated and that the amount can be accounted for in its balance sheet. In short, the money has not ‘disappeared into thin air’ as alleged. How did the RM2.6 billion suddenly appear in the discussion?

Anyway, in a written reply to Parliament, Najib said that the two directors of SRC International would soon be giving their statement to the MACC regarding this RM4 billion from KWAP that is said to have disappeared.

“For your information, based on the information obtained from the management of SRC International Sdn Bhd (SRC), Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil and Datuk Suboh Md Yassin are in the midst of preparing to be interviewed by the MACC soonest to facilitate MACC’s investigation,” said Najib.

So let us see what these two are going to say. SRC International, on the other hand, will be showing their accounts to prove that the RM4 billion has not been stolen.

But will this satisfy the critics? I doubt it because they have made up their mind that the RM2.6 billion that is the centre of a controversy came from the RM4 billion that SRC International got from KWAP and nothing anyone can say, even the published accounts to prove otherwise, can change what the critics want to think.

So it is quite futile for Najib to try to explain what happened. Those who have decided that Najib is guilty of stealing will continue to think so never mind what evidence and explanation the Prime Minister can offer. Once their minds are made up it stays made up. That is the long and short of it all.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian police are getting Xavier Andre Justo’s statement regarding the stolen documents that The Edge published. The focus of this investigation is on the allegation that The Edge bought these stolen documents (although they claim they cheated Justo and did not pay the US$2 million as agreed) and then doctored them.

The police have copies of those original stolen documents, which can be compared with the published versions, to establish that what The Edge bought and what they published are different. Hence The Edge doctored the stolen documents.

This will not augur well for the two head honchos of The Edge plus people like Tony Pua and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s aid, Sufi Yusof, who have been identified as the brokers or middlemen in the deal to sell the stolen documents to The Edge.

Once the police have confirmed that the documents were indeed doctored then expect another round of arrests. Khairuddin Abu Hassan and Matthias Chang will be seeing more friends joining them behind bars in the not too distant future.

The question now is did Dr Mahathir know that the stolen documents were doctored? Or once it is proven that the documents were doctored is he going to say he was not aware of it and was not a party to this fraud? That is going to be most interesting indeed.

Ex-Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, said he does not understand the 1MDB issue. He is utterly confused by the whole matter and what he knows is what he read from The Edge. Hence he is basing his assumptions on what The Edge reported.

Well, if it is finally proven that The Edge published fabricated documents what is Muhyiddin going to say? Is he still going to insist that he is basing his assumptions on what The Edge reported?

In the first place, Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, the Second Finance Minister, has sat down with Muhyiddin to explain the whole issue. So how can Muhyiddin still insist that he does not understand the issue and is basing his assumptions on what he read from The Edge?

Secondly, Muhyiddin was a member of the Cabinet and he attended the Cabinet meetings where 1MDB and all matters related to it were discussed. What was Muhyiddin doing during those Cabinet meetings? And did he ask any questions pertaining to whatever matter he was not clear about during the Cabinet meetings?

In fact, Muhyiddin even chaired one of those Cabinet meetings where 1MDB was discussed. Muhyiddin was in charge at that time. He was the Chairman of the meeting. Did he raise any questions and state that he does not understand the issue so can they, therefore, please enlighten him?

In June, the Cabinet listened to 1MDB’s rationalisation and debt reduction plan, which would be settled by the end of the year, and approved it. Muhyiddin was still a member of the Cabinet at that time. Did he ask any questions and clear up his confusion when the plans were tabled in the Cabinet?

Muhyiddin’s declaration that he is confused about 1MDB and obtained his information from The Edge and formed his opinion based on what he read in The Edge sounds very silly.

No wonder Najib kicked him out of the Cabinet. If that is the type of Deputy Prime Minister we had then God forbid that he ever becomes the Prime Minister. He is going to be a Prime Minister who sits in the Cabinet utterly confused and then reads The Edge to decide how to run the country.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK