Doubts emerge over opposition’s 1MDB road show
PSM’s S Arutchelvan says it may have come a little too late in the game while Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah warns the opposition against focusing too much on rallies and forgetting to present good policies.
(FMT) – Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) central committee member S Arutchelvan has warned that having a two-month cross-country road show on the United States Department of Justice’s (DoJ) latest civil lawsuit related to 1MDB may send mixed signals to the people.
On Wednesday, opposition leaders held a press conference to announce the road show aimed at making known to the people the claims in the lawsuit.
The press conference was led by PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. Other opposition leaders present included DAP’s Teresa Kok, Gobind Singh Deo and Tony Pua; Amanah’s Khalid Samad and PSM’s Michael Jeyakumar.
Arutchelvan, however, felt that going ahead with the road show “this late in the game” might affect its chances of success.
“We will have to wait and see how successful the road show will actually be,” he told FMT.
“Personally, I think it’s a little bit late in the game if the point is to educate people regarding the issue.
“The DoJ’s lawsuit has been out there for quite some time now. Deciding to have the road show now may make it seem as though the opposition never believed in the people’s interest regarding the issue until the very end when we are nearing elections.”
In its court filing in California on June 5, the DoJ sought to seize US$540 million (RM2.3 billion) in assets, including art works, jewellery, a luxury yacht and film rights, purchased with funds allegedly embezzled from 1MDB.
Arutchelvan also expressed concern that people had gotten increasingly fed up with the country’s politics and might skip the road show.
“Lately in ceramahs, people have not been coming out and attendance has been poor. I think this has got a lot to do with the general slowdown of the economy, and a lot of people are fatigued and fed up with politics because it seems there’s been too much politicking on both sides.”
He stressed he was not against the road show but merely worried about its success.
“I know political parties need to garner support and in order to do that they have to go to the ground. 1MDB is still misunderstood by most people, or it is not close to their heart.”
The campaign, which the opposition has dubbed “Sayangkan Malaysia Hapuskan Kleptokrasi” (Love Malaysia, End Kleptocracy), starts on July 6 in Kepala Batas, Penang, and will end with a protest rally in September.
Meanwhile, Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah told FMT the opposition should not focus too much on organising a demonstration while forgetting to come up with good policies and ideas for the next election.
“Corruption isn’t the only important thing. Everyone knows we have to overcome corruption. The opposition must also show what policies they intend to bring forward.
“The opposition says it has policies but we don’t see them. Show us these policies and then we can see whether the opposition is able to run the country or not,” she said.
PSM secretary-general A Sivarajan was also quoted by The Malay Mail Online as saying that politicians have become too focused on 1MDB.
“The people need to be ready to move forward. It’s not just a question of political personalities but policies, the parties’ stance on the economy and other things,” he said.
