Muhyiddin bogged down by personal scandals

Muhyiddin Yassin’s scandals go way back to the 1980s when he was the Menteri Besar of Johor but his most recent scandal involving an affair with a judge’s wife may be the final straw that breaks the camel’s back. And that is why Muhyiddin has been maintaining a low profile of late.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Muhyiddin Yassin, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s running mate in the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign), has been relatively quiet of late. Well, this is because he is facing a personal crisis that is threatening to blow up in his face if he is not careful. So it is best he keeps his head down at this stage lest it gets blown off.

Muhyiddin was having an affair with a judge’s wife and the judge sued his wife for divorce because of that. In his grounds for divorce, the judge stated infidelity as the reason and Muhyiddin’s name was mentioned in the Statutory Declaration.

The judge’s wife, however, wanted to challenge that divorce and if this matter was tried in open court it would have been very embarrassing for Muhyiddin. So a certain Chinese tycoon arranged to pay the judge’s wife RM2 million as a sort of divorce settlement on the agreement that she would not challenge the divorce.

I have personally seen the documents on the promise that I would not reveal the name of the judge, as he is merely a victim in this whole episode. Muhyiddin, however, is worried that I would publish the documents so just to play safe he is lying low for the meantime.

Of course, I have three witnesses whom I can summon to testify that I have seen the documents and that they, too, have seen them — and that I was allowed to see the documents on the understanding that I would protect the name of the judge. Hence I am prepared to face court action if Muhyiddin would like to take this matter to court.

Many think that Muhyiddin began to oppose Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak only in 2015 after Khairuddin Abu Hassan and Syed Rosli Syed Harman Jamalullail (the person who is fond of using the term ‘janda pukimak’) started attacking Najib regarding the 1MDB issue in December 2014.

Muhyiddin acted as if he was not aware about the matter until he read about it in The Edge and even then only after December 2014. Actually that is not true. Muhyiddin had planned to make his move on Najib much earlier and the 1MDB issue of 2015 was merely a convenient excuse to justify his move against Najib.

On 4th May 2013, which is the eve of the 5th May 2013 general election, a Blog called Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS) published an article called ‘Is this the beginning of Prime Minister Muhyiddin’s tenure?’ (READ HERE). The article was written by Stephanie Jacob and it opens with:

If Barisan Nasional wins this elections by a narrower margin Najib Abdul Razak will likely face a challenge to his leadership of Umno and the nation, from his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin. Muhyiddin’s issues date back to a famous land case in Johor where he was said to have been aligned to billionaire businessman Syed Mokhtar Albukhary. In politics his links with Malay extreme groups such as Perkasa and hardline position on the Malay language limits his appeal. But there are clear chances – better than even – that he would become prime minister eventually if BN wins by a small margin.

So there you have it. One day before the last general election, Muhyiddin was already expected to take on Najib if Barisan Nasional’s majority in the 2013 general election is lower that that in the 2008 general election. And it was.

So Mahathir fired the first shot by blaming Najib for the drop in votes and seats and the old man accused the Prime Minister of wasting his time on the Chinese voters who would never support the government anyway while neglecting the Malay voters who are the traditional supporters of Umno and Barisan Nasional.

The article then goes on with its analysis (READ MORE HERE) but what is more interesting is the story regarding the scandals perpetrated by Muhyiddin when he was the Menteri Besar of Johor, in particular regarding the Stamford Holdings case.

It seems Mahathir crony Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, Yahaya Talib and Muhyiddin started a joint venture company that was alleged to have screwed Singaporeans out of thousands of acres of land worth tens of millions. The case eventually ended up in court and MoCS said:

It was at this time, that details of the case appeared in a news publication called Asiaweek. The detailed report precisely quoted Muhyiddin’s phone-call threat to the Stamford directors, and stated that Asiaweek had possession of a recording of the phone call as well. Muhyiddin publically denied the report stating, “There is not a single shred of truth in any of the allegations against me.” Nonetheless he did not take legal action Asiaweek, which many saw as tacit proof that the report was true.

There is another report published on 31st October 2008 called The Muhyiddin-Stamford Land Conspiracy Matter, which you can read HERE. The report was actually originally written by Murray Hiebert of the Far Eastern Economic Review in 1995 and in that report he says as follows:

Stamford’s court documents insist that the company’s relationship with the former chief minister dates back to 1988. Four years earlier, the firm had tried to develop some of its huge land holdings near the state capital of Johor Baru. But Stamford couldn’t get approval for its project until its directors met two men who were allegedly Muhyiddin’s business partners, Syed Mokhtar Albukhary and Datuk Yahaya Tabib.

The two arranged a meeting in Singapore between the firm’s representatives and the former chief minister, the firm’s documents allege. Within a year, Stamford and the three men had formed a 70-30 joint venture to develop some 724 hectares of land. When the property was sold in 1994, the Muhyiddin group’s initial investment of M$1.8 million ($735,000) had soared to M$83 million.

In the meantime, Muhyiddin’s group had become “very avaricious,” according to the documents Stamford filed in court, and wanted to form a second joint venture in which they would control 70% of the shares but would pay Stamford only M$74,100 per hectare for its remaining 2,672 hectares, company officials charge.

When Stamford insisted on retaining its original 70% and on being paid M$185,250 per hectare for its property, one of Muhyiddin’s associates allegedly warned the company that the land-acquisition papers were on the former chief minister’s desk and could be “signed at any time.” Muhyiddin himself allegedly threatened Stamford in December 1992 by telling one of its directors that “time is getting short.” In July 1994, the state government acquired the land on behalf of the Johor Islamic Economic Development Corp.

Raphael Pura of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) also reports that story and, according to Muhyiddin, WSJ never lies and only tells the truth. So this can only mean what WSJ wrote about Muhyiddin must be 100% true.

Anyway, read the following for more details about one of the many scandals involving Muhyiddin when he was the Menteri Besar of Johor:

Is this the beginning of Prime Minister Muhyiddin’s tenure?

The Muhyiddin-Stamford Land Conspiracy Matter

And this is the same man who says he wants to oust Najib merely to save Malaysia and for no other reason. But then one day before the 5th May 2013 general election many Malaysians already knew he would try to oust Najib but he made his move only two years later in 2015 when he managed to get hold of an excuse to do so.