Malaysian politics
Letters to the editor
The Economist
Malaysian politics
Your recent articles on Malaysia contained serious errors and reeked of an arrogant colonial mindset, disparaging our prime minister, government, police, judiciary, election commission, media and even our voters (“Stop, thief!”, “Tilting the playing field”, March 10th).
For example, America’s Department of Justice never accused Najib Razak, the prime minister, of “siphoning” off funds, nor has Mr Najib ever suggested that the funds were a “gift from an unnamed admirer”. In fact, the prime minister and numerous officials have stated that the funds—the vast majority of which were returned—were a donation from the royal family of Saudi Arabia. This has been confirmed by the Saudi foreign minister, who has publicly stated that the funds were “a genuine donation with nothing expected in return” and that the Saudi authorities consider the matter closed.
Separately, to suggest that the redrawing of electoral boundaries to account for population growth is somehow “rigging the system” reveals your double standards for Western countries and the rest of the world. Your allegation would imply that numerous democracies are guilty of the same charge, not least Britain, where significant constituency changes are expected in advance of the next election. In Malaysia these changes were proposed and implemented by the independent Election Commission and subsequently approved by the judiciary, whose impartiality is evidenced by the fact that it frequently rules against the government and senior ministers.
Since Najib Razak took office in 2009, Malaysia’s gross national income has increased by more than 50%, 2.3m jobs have been created, unemployment and inflation have been kept low and poverty reduced significantly. Indeed, the Malaysian economy is growing at such a fast rate that the World Bank had to increase its estimates for our growth three times over 2017, to 5.8%. The government’s plan for the economic well-being and security of Malaysia and its people is delivering.
This is the true story of Malaysia. Your reporting appears to have been based exclusively on falsehoods pushed by opposition parties and their sympathisers for political gain ahead of the coming election.
DATO’ AHMAD RASIDI HAZIZI
High commissioner of Malaysia
London
