The world sees the country being run into the ground by the 1MDB scandal and draconian measures against government critics
PETALING JAYA: The world now sees Malaysia as a country run into the ground by the 1MDB scandal and the recent draconian measures taken against government critics, according to an article in The Diplomat, an international current affairs magazine.
The writer, Danny Quah, described 1MDB as the “latest most visible instance” of Malaysian cronyism “undermining good intentions and exploiting for self interest the very instruments designed to help others.”
Quah served on Malaysia’s National Economic Advisory Council from 2009 to 2011. He is currently Professor of Economics and International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
“Elsewhere in the world,” he wrote, “international scrutiny of sovereign wealth management vehicles has led to their applying the highest possible standards of financial probity. Indeed, among the world’s most respected, successful, and scrupulously managed of those is Malaysia’s own Khazanah Nasional.
“By contrast, 1MDB has seen billions of dollars of public money moved around the world in suspicious circumstances, with allegations that hundreds of millions of dollars were funnelled into the Prime Minister’s personal bank accounts. (Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency has ruled that the money came from legitimate ‘donations,’ without specifying who the donor was.)
“All of this has dragged down in the world’s eyes Malaysia’s otherwise globally esteemed financial infrastructure.”
Quah’s article also mentioned the “egregious actions” of the government in blocking the Sarawak Report website, the suspension of The Edge, the threatened litigation against the Wall Street Journal, the removal of Muhyiddin Yassin and others from the Cabinet, the sudden replacement of the Attorney-General, the moving of four members of the Public Accounts Committee into the Cabinet, and the police action against MACC officials.
“In all this turmoil,” Quah said, “many of Malaysia’s most remarkable leaders and numerous ordinary people have spoken out on the need for the country to get back to its roots.
“The country again needs to have a government that runs for the well-being of its people. Malaysia’s current political leadership no longer articulates a vision that serves Malaysia’s people. Malaysia’s leadership is no longer one admired by and hopeful for others around the world.
“One of Britain’s greatest friends – a former colony that admired and reflected the grand British ideals of democracy, rule of law, free speech, and egalitarianism – has gone rogue.
“It does not take authoritarian autocracy to run a country into the ground. Regardless of the system of government, it takes only political elites out of touch with their people, a co-opted judiciary, an electoral process that even while open fails to surface progressive leadership, and a system that keeps to the law but fails to protect those speaking truth to power.
“Malaysia now has all of these sorry attributes.”
