PETALING JAYA: Malaysia does not need a foreign power to destroy the country, as elected leaders and “silent” religious figures are doing a fine job of it, Kuala Terengganu MP Raja Bahrin Shah said Wednesday.
Raja Bahrin said this in a statement in response to Malacca Chief Minister Idris Haron’s recent remark that the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) action to recover funds allegedly misappropriated from state investment fund 1MDB was a political ploy to topple Prime Minister Najib Razak and “kill” the Malays here.
“The issue is really simple. Malaysian money was illegally taken into the US and they (the US) have frozen properties which were purchased using the illegal funds, so that the proceeds from their sale can be returned to tax-paying Malaysians. Money laundering laws were recognised by the United Nations in 2010.
“The Malaysian Parliament also ‘tightened’ punishments for money laundering, back in 2014. It is Malaysians who have ‘breached’ the US financial system in their country, and not the other way round,” said the Amanah lawmaker.
Raja Bahrin added that allegations of the US wanting to topple Najib were also utterly “impossible”, as Najib was US President Barack Obama’s “good golfing buddy”.
He also cited Malaysia’s commitment to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) and the country’s participation in US-related military exercises as proof of Malaysia’s “unwavering loyalty” to the US.
He said that at a time when China was flexing its muscles with its claim on disputed land in the South China Sea, the US needed all the support it could get from Asean countries, and this was evident in a notification in Parliament earlier this year that the Western superpower was mulling building a military base in Sabah.
Therefore, Raja Bahrin likened Idris’s “kill the Malays” remark as fodder good enough to be featured in the “Raja Lawak Mega” comedy show.
“Even Malay rights champion Perkasa is not amused with the allegations!”
He said the US would prefer to see action against Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz and Malaysian businessman Low Thaek Jho, both of whom were named in DoJ’s lawsuits, and Malaysians too, were eager to hear the “real story” from the duo.
“The question is, would the Attorney-General allow the case to be tried in Malaysia? Will the government and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman allow the Auditor-General’s report and the PAC report on 1MDB to be declassified from the Official Secrets Act (OSA),” asked Raja Bahrin.
“No foreigners are interested, and there is no need for them to attack Malaysia, to destroy the country. Malaysia’s destruction, if it happens, will not come from outside. It will be caused by those entrusted by the people to rule, as well as religious figures who keep mum amid injustice, even though they have knowledge and influence,” he added.