People do love scandals, judging from the popularity of TV soap operas all over the world. But we in Malaysia can sneer at others for their lack of scandals played out in real life involving real people, thanks to the many news exposes in 2015. FMT has picked the following as the Top Five.
1. The RM2.6billion donation
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), in a report in July, alleged that USD700 million (RM2.6 billion at the exchange rate of the time) was channelled into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts. Shocking, right?
The money was first linked to debt-ridden national sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), for which Najib is chief advisor, but a probe by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) revealed that it was a donation made by an unnamed donor (or donors) from the Middle East, presumably an Arab or several Arabs. Who is/are he/they? Maybe WSJ will come up with another exposé.
According to Najib, the donation was given as help for Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno to win the 2013 general election.
On August 28, Anina Saadudin, then a Langkawi Umno member, filed a lawsuit against Najib, accusing him of defrauding Umno members by his receipt of the RM2.6 billion and his subsequent use of it without the party’s knowledge. The suit cost Anina her Umno membership.
2. YaPEIM
Ooh la la! Paris is burning and the Malaysian Islamic Economic Development Foundation (YaPEIM) lit the match. Between YaPEIM’s RM490,000 Paris marriage course and Jamil Khir Baharom’s trip to the United States paid for by the foundation, of course Jamil’s flame is hotter since he is the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
In November, National Oversight Whistleblower (NOW) Director Akmal Nasir put both Jamil and YaPEIM in the spotlight, saying he had proof that Jamil’s trip involved shopping and golfing, courtesy of YaPEIM, whose funds are meant to benefit orphans and destitute members of the Muslim community.
3. Nurul Izzah-Jacel Kiram
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. True, but we also think it’s worth thousands of comments, shares and likes in social media. Everybody should know that once your picture goes online, everyone will see it and everyone will make a judgement.
Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah went to Manila to attend an event organised by the office of the Mayor of Manila in support of a campaign to free her imprisoned father, Anwar Ibrahim. There, Nurul Izzah posed for a picture in which she and a Filipino, Jacel Kiram, held placards demanding the release of the former opposition leader.
It seemed harmless enough, but then Jacel is the daughter of the late self-proclaimed Sultan of Sulu, who ordered the 2013 Lahad Datu attack which left many of the country’s security personnel dead. Sabahans were angry after the photograph went viral on social media.
Nurul Izzah was barred from entering Sabah. But she has apologised, saying she never meant to hurt the feelings of the Sabahans. So, should we forgive her? There’s a saying that everyone deserves a second chance.
4. MARA scandal
Some people might want to call 2015 the Year of NOW. Before it came up with the YaPEIM expose, the whistleblowing group, together with the Australian daily The Age, revealed that MARA Inc had overpaid for four pieces of property it bought in Melbourne.
According to an expose by The Age, MARA Inc had allegedly paid AUD4.75 million (RM13.8 million) more than it should for the Dudley House apartment block. The extra millions were allegedly kickbacks.
On June 30, NOW alleged that apart from Dudley House, which MARA Inc reportedly bought for RM67.2 million, the firm had also bought a piece of property on Swanston Street for RM138.6 million, another on Exhibition Street for RM99.2 million and another on Queen’s Street for RM70.4 million.
5. Bauxite
Anyone planning to go Mars? You don’t need a rocket to make it to the Red Planet; you can just drive there. And oh, if anyone is thinking of transforming himself into a mutant like one of the X-Men, he should drink the water from one of the rivers flowing through Kuantan.
Did you know that the mercury level in the rivers there is 23 times higher that the permitted level? Did you also know that the water from those rivers go into Kuantan’s reservoirs? Yes, boys and girls, that’s the main drinking water for Kuantan folk. Wolverine and Professor X might go there to recruit people for their gang.
But Kuantan residents won’t find this funny because bauxite mining is ruining their lives. They blame it for the respiratory diseases that have afflicted some of them. Some have become so frustrated by the inaction of the state government that they have since burned five lorries carrying bauxite. On December 21, a teacher from SK Balok, Nohaili Ahmad Zabidi, was killed when the car she was in was hit by a tyre dislodged from a bauxite-laden lorry.
Pahang MB Adnan Yaakob should do something immediately or else he too will be recruited by Professor X.