Why Mahathir Warns Of US Interference In GE14 After Najib Announced His White House Visit
(Malaysian Digest) – On the day it was officially announced that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has been invited by US President Donald Trump to the White House next month, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad chose to put a negative spin on it.
“If President Trump wants to participate in our election, he can give his endorsement to the man who is described by the DoJ (US Department of Justice) as a kleptocrat and a thief who has stolen money,” Mahathir blatantly stated to reporters at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya yesterday.
“So Trump may endorse that, I don’t know,” he said, The Malaysian Insight reports.
Why is Mahathir so afraid of American interference?
According to blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK), the answer is tied to the Department of Justice (DoJ) case over 1MDB.
Mahathir and his team who have pushed and lobbied for the case to reach the DoJ are now afraid that their campaign will die prematurely when Trump meets Najib.
Pic: US Department of Justice
“They need the US to keep the pressure on and to hold a third press conference some time next year just before the general election as a follow up to the first Department of Justice (DoJ) press conference in July 2016 and the second one in June 2017.
“Basically Mahathir needs the DoJ to hold a third press conference just before the general election and talk about 1MDB. They have to create the impression that the DoJ investigation is progressing well and that they are very close to taking action against Najib,” RPK wrote in his latest blogpost on malaysia-today.net.
Without the DoJ making public announcements, even if they offer nothing more than just hot air with no follow up actions, Pakatan Harapan will have lost their only ammunition against Najib and his administration.
“And in about 10 days’ time Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is going to meet President Donald Trump. So it now appears like the so-called US action against 1MDB is going to be dead in the water.
“So when Mahathir accused the US of interfering in the general election what he means is the DoJ might not hold this third press conference after all since the pro-Clinton and anti-Trump people in the FBI and DoJ have all been sacked and have been replaced with Trump loyalists,” RPK points out.
This will pose a major setback as RPK points out that without “the 1MDB issue they have nothing”.
“And the US$5 million that Mahathir paid to get the DoJ to hold these press conferences would be money down the drain,” RPK sums up Mahathir’s latest setback coming on top of the ongoing Royal Commission of Inquiry probe on Bank Negara as well as the ongoing legal action faced by Sarawak Report in the UK court.
Pic: www.whitehouse.gov
On 23 August, the White House press office issued a statement announcing the impending visit.
“President Donald J. Trump will welcome Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia to the White House on September 12.
“President Trump looks forward to celebrating the 60th anniversary of United States-Malaysia bilateral relations and discussing ways to strengthen and broaden our bilateral relationship and expand regional cooperation with one of America’s closest partners in Southeast Asia,” the brief statement reads.
Najib has also issed a statement in accepting the invitation.
“Trade issues and how we can enhance economic relations with the United States will also be discussed. I will call a press conference before leaving (for the United States) because I am in the process of discussions at the internal level,” he said, Bernama reports.
