Selasa, 28 Julai 2015

Charles Santiago

Charles Santiago

Cabinet Reshuffle to Save Najib Razak?

Posted: 28 Jul 2015 04:33 AM PDT

How convenient. In about six hours the deputy Prime Minister, Attorney-General and head of special branch, the elite police force, have been changed.

Overnight, we woke up to news about temporary freeze of the crucial Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigations into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal as its chairman, Nur Jazlan Mohamed, has stepped down to take up his appointment as deputy home minister.

Three others from PAC have also been appointed to the cabinet, halting the probe until October when Parliament can elect the next chairman of PAC and the other three members.

Prior to these appointments, the PAC had fixed August 4th and 5th to question former 1MDB CEO Shahrul Ibrahim Halmi and current CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy.

This is outrageous.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has gone for the kill to save his skin as the cabinet reshuffle boils down to one thing – the debt-ridden 1MDB.

He has acted swiftly to silence his critics including former deputy premier, Muhyiddin Yassin, who said that UMNO is losing out with the people because Najib refused to tell the truth, while the internet was filled with details implicating him in the financial heist.

In his haste to secure his position, Najib has also acted unconstitutionally to remove the Attorney-General Abdul GaniPatail. The fact that Gani Patail was unaware of his sacking creates a constitutional conundrum.

This is a violation of the fundamental principles of democracy and goes only to show the absolute abuse of power by the Prime Minister, who is securing his fort to ensure the outcome of the 1MDB investigations will be favorable to him.

Najib has been implicated in the 1MDB scandal from the very beginning. The Wall Street Journal reported that RM 2.6 billion from the finance-ministry owned development fund made its way into Najib's bank account.

He has not denied any allegation of wrongdoings exposed by whistleblower website, Sarawak Report and financial newspaper, The Edge.

Najib did not also heed the calls to go on leave until investigations into the sovereign fund scandal is completed. Instead, he cleverly moved people around to save his interest making it even clearer that he has something to hide.

Najib may think he has forced a political checkmate on his fierce critics, including Dr Mahathir Mohamad who has been calling for his resignation.

But this may backfire and end up working against him as the rakyat lose their faith on the Prime Minister, completely.

Charles Santiago

Member of Parliament Klang
Dicatat oleh di Tiada ulasan:
Langgan: Catatan (Atom)

Nuffnang