Najib, the Mighty PM

Johan James, Free Malaysia Today

The US Department of Justice has alleged that more than USD1 billion worth of assets owned by three individuals: Najib Razak’s  step son Riza Aziz, Jho Low, a Malaysian business tycoon and Khadem Al-Qubaisy, former managing director of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, International Petroleum Investment Company, could be money stolen from 1MDB.

Though repeated umpteen times that the allegations against these individuals are not in a criminal but civil case, the badly injured naysayers from the past Sarawak state and twin by-elections adamantly hold on to unsubstantiated information about the DoJ’s allegations.

Even scandal-smeared former Umno leaders like Tun Mahathir and Muhyiddin Yassin are jumping on the bandwagon, despite Najib’s name not being mentioned even once. And what made them so sure that the purported account under the name “Malaysian Official 1” belongs to Najib? The name itself reflects that it’s more of a plot to oust Najib, a democratically elected leader.

The charged trio are not guilty until proven otherwise. So it is not fair at all in the first place to label them as enemies of the state. It is even immature to link Najib by citing that Riza Aziz is the Malaysian Prime Minister’s step son.

The detractors, especially Tun M’s allies, failed to learn that the DoJ’s allegation is not the last nail to Najib’s coffin and they still have a long way to go to prove the assets bought are from laundered money.

The opposition leaders, Tun M and Muhyiddin Yassin can probably try their level best to oust Najib by harshly criticising him over his blunders as 1MDB’s top official, but the definite end result will be the same: Najib will be the PM for at least until the coming general election. And as usual the DoJ’s case against the trio will fade away over the years as with the other 1MDB cases.

Meanwhile, the opposition’s survival is expected to take a severe beating should Tun M’s new party become a reality because a new party comprising veterans will shoo away the support of youngsters but also further split the number of votes the opposition used to gained.

Therefore, it is advisable for them to concentrate more on uniting the opposition coalition instead of plotting against the mighty PM, Najib.