4Cs and C4 in Umno: Implosion within

By Datuk Hj Rais Hussin Hj Mohamed Ariff, Sin Chew

To those wondering if some 18 MPs from a total of 53 Umno MPs will jump ship, the answer lies in understanding the DNA of Umno since its very decay fifteen years ago when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad stepped down in 2003.

Over the last fifteen years, at the very least, Umno has been overwhelmingly personified by cash, contracts, connections and concessions (4Cs).

If there are no more 4Cs to be had post May 9th 2018, then the reverse is equally true: Umno will become a C4 (explosive). It will explode with the right trigger too.

The livewire of Umno now is criminal breach of trust. The timer is the Anti Money Laundering Act (AMLA). Combined together, it is enough to send shock waves through out Umno. Those who have been touched or contaminated by the seedy money of 1MDB must now be running scared.

Thus, if there are 18 MPs in a “secret list” who are about to bail (leave Umno) — as Bung Mokhtar, the MP of Kinabatangan affirmed — then the likelihood of that happening can only increase with the tempo and intensity of the investigation of MACC based on the further pursuit of CBT and AMLA.

To be sure, it was Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who called a spade a spade in 2015, when he found out the large “donation” of nearly US$700 million in Najib’s own account.

Although Najib then claimed that it was meant for Umno, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin wondered why was he not informed, since he was the deputy President of Umno. Or the Umno treasurer or for that matter anyone in Umno Supreme Council.

It was due to the mystifying nature of the funds that the likes of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir decided to leave Umno to form Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia or Bersatu.

As things are, all the 18 MPs, perhaps more, have realized that the criminal investigations on their ring leader i.e. Najib, are now a run-a-way train that cannot be stopped.

Even if Low Taek Jho, more commonly known as Jho Low, is not arrested, given the protection he and his cabal may ostensibly enjoy from China — the latter being the view of Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, two of the most distinguished journalists in Wall Street Journal — there is no escaping that Pakatan Harapan will come down extremely hard on corruption.

Criminal breach of trust and the use of AMLA are just the beginning of the whole process of teasing out the facts and the funds that belong to the Malaysian public. As this is written, there are up to eight investigations on 1MDB, some as far away as Luxembourg, the UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Germany, UAE and New York, not forgetting our “good neighbor”, Singapore.

If Malaysia does not keep up the pressure of the investigation, locally, Malaysian authorities will not get any support from other countries. Thus, the anti corruption effort must begin now and here in Malaysia, no matter how small.

Indeed, even the Botox treatment of Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Najib, has been included into the “investigation papers” of the Malaysia Anti Corruption Commission (MACC).

While this may seem small viz the tens of billions of Malaysian Ringgit that have been stolen — and squandered in night clubs and casinos — they strike home a simple point: what is owned by, and owed to, the Malaysian public will be reclaimed and recovered.

To Umno MPs, whose wives and children must have indulged beyond their means –not unlike Najib and Rosmah — they know that the good old days of Najib are gone. Pakatan Harapan (PH) is here to stay.

If they don’t leave Umno now, they risk the fate of the whole ship exploding with all their ungodly entitlements and privileges even before the next parliamentary session in late October/November. Not forgetting when the Prime Minister in Waiting Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim come back who championed reforms, reforms and more reforms.

When Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim combine forces, the president of Umno Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the Supreme Council of Umno will find themselves pushed to the wall, from everything they splurged in their Hajj and Umrah trips to their personal vacations and shopping sprees in Europe and the United States and other exotic holidaying locations.

Indeed, with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed heading to New York soon, where there is a possibility for him to meet or consult the legal opinions of the US Department of Justice, on the names of those involved in the grand larceny of Malaysia, there will be no hiding for anyone in Umno.

For once, Bung Mokhtar is honest. But if he doesn’t seek immediate and seek quick legal shelter, Bung might as well be bombed Mokhtar. And if the latter can happen to him, it can happen to anyone in Umno who lapped in on all the state largess, without any sense of remorse and guilt.

Holding Umno and Barisan National accountable is also the least one can do for the late Altantuya Shaariibuu, an innocent single mother, who was, allegedly, caught in the criminal deceit of the first family.

Notwithstanding all that, it is the new beginning of the elbowing out corruption, malfeasance and abuse of power as a way of life towards rebuilding and reinventing a new Malaysia for all.