Why did Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli not dare face Arul Kanda?

By MT Webmaster Last updated Nov 21, 2015

Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli have challenged Arul Kanda to face them and since he will not that means he is a coward who dares not face the ‘firing squad’. Well, the firing squad was set up yesterday but Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli did not go to the PWTC to shoot Arul Kanda dead.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Yesterday, a briefing cum questions-and-answers session was organised at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) to explain the details and answer any questions regarding 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) and the 2016 Budget.

These are the three issues that are currently the centre of a controversy and which the opposition is criticising the government for what it alleges are lack of information and not forthcoming with details and explanations.

Most of those who attended the briefing session were representatives from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), government agencies, youth groups, corporations, as well as professionals.

The opposition, however, who were also invited to attend that briefing, refused to do so, although they are the ones most critical of 1MDB, TPPA and the 2016 Budget. Since they have many questions to ask and since they are very critical of these three issues they could have taken the opportunity yesterday to air their grouses and get answers to their questions.

But they did not. And yet they want to vote against the 2016 Budget and they want Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to resign for what they say is no proper explanation regarding 1MDB. The main issue raised by the opposition is unless the government can explain what happened in 1MDB and prove that there was no wrongdoing then we must assume that a crime has been committed.

The briefing started with a presentation by Arul Kanda Kandasamy, the President and Executive Director of 1MDB, followed by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Mohd Hanadzlah.

Many of those who attended yesterday’s briefing session said they were satisfied with the explanations given and, in fact, now have a better picture of the real situation, which they can see is not as what the opposition has been saying this last year or so.

Why did the opposition, who has been most critical of these three issues, not attend the briefing session? They say that the government is remaining silent, is not telling the public what is going on, refuses to answer the questions, wants a debate to be held, and so on. But when a properly and officially organised briefing session is held they boycott the event with all sorts of excuses and then say the government refuses to explain.

The truth is the opposition did not want to attend yesterday’s briefing session because if they did then they can no longer say they are in the dark about the matter. They would have had a chance to ask questions and if Arul Kanda was able to reply to those questions then they can no longer keep repeating those questions on the excuse that they have not yet been answered.

The impression they are giving is that there are many questions that have not yet been answered. But if they attended the briefing session yesterday then these questions would have been answered and that would mean they would not be able to ask the same questions again and again when they were already replied to yesterday.

This is basically the opposition strategy. Say that we are in the dark and that there are many questions still not answered and since the truth is being ‘hidden’ then we must assume they are hiding the truth because a crime has been committed.

Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli should have attended yesterday’s briefing session and should have taken the opportunity to ask their many questions. After all, they did challenge Arul Kanda to a debate so that the truth can be revealed. Then they changed their minds and said it will not be a debate after all but a questions-and-answers session.

Well, yesterday was exactly that, a questions-and-answers session. So why did they not go to the PWTC and ask their questions so that Arul Kanda can reply to them? In fact, they could even have asked questions on the TPPA and the 2016 Budget as well. So they could have killed three birds with one stone.

But alas they did not do this. And they will continue to say there are so many questions that have not been answered and because of that we have to assume that a crime has been committed.

So it is not really about seeking the truth after all. If it was then Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli could have squeezed the truth out of Arul Kanda yesterday. But they did not do that because they want to plead ignorance and say that there are so many unanswered questions and this, therefore, is ‘evidence’ that a crime has been committed.

So who is the coward now? Arul Kanda stood on stage to face the firing squad. But Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli hid at home and did not dare go within ten miles of the PWTC. And they are going to continue to allege that there are so many questions but Arul Kanda dare not answer these questions.

What do you think yesterday was if not a briefing cum questions-and-answers session? Let us see what Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli are going to say now. Will they continue to say that Arul Kanda refuses to answer their questions or will they now shut the fook up?

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK