Time Magazine advises Obama to avoid Najib
Malaysiakini
US President Barack Obama should steer clear from the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, an article published by Timemagazine yesterday suggests.
Topping the five-item list of reasons for Obama to do so is the 1MDB scandal.
“But recently, all the news coming out of Malaysia is negative. After becoming embroiled in a corruption scandal, Najib yesterdaysacked his deputy and Malaysia’s attorney-general in an apparent purge of critics.
“British Prime Minister David Cameron (photo) is facing a domestic backlash for pushing forward with a visit to Kuala Lumpur this week despite the snowballing controversy,” says the report that was published online yesterday.
The opinion piece was written by an associate editor of Time, Charlie Campbell, and was written as a list that summarised each of the five issues that ought to be reasons to avoid Najib.
Cameron is due to arrive in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, while Obama is expected to attend the US-Asean Summit and East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur in late November.
Flip-flops over Najib’s promises
On the 1MDB issue, Time highlighted allegations that funds from the state investment company had been channelled into Najib’spersonal accounts, and that Najib had threatened legal action against The Wall Street Journal for making the allegation.
“Even before the latest news, 1MDB was an embarrassment for Najib, who chaired the fund’s advisory board as debts of US$11.6 billion (RM42 billion) were accrued.
“Such are the suspicions of malfeasance that former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who ran the country from 1981 to 2003 and has long been considered Najib’s mentor, has repeatedly called for his protégé’s resignation over 1MDB’s alleged mishandling,” the Time article says.
Apart from the 1MDB scandal, the list also highlighted the allegedly politically-motivated incarceration of former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, and the flip-flops over Najib’s promises to repeal the Sedition Act 1948 and laws that allow for detention without trial.
The article also noted that Umno had backed PAS’ attempts to implement hudud, and highlighted the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu that had implicated Najib.
Najib had previously denied involvement in the murder, which occurred in 2002 when Najib was defence minister.
Topping the five-item list of reasons for Obama to do so is the 1MDB scandal.
“But recently, all the news coming out of Malaysia is negative. After becoming embroiled in a corruption scandal, Najib yesterdaysacked his deputy and Malaysia’s attorney-general in an apparent purge of critics.
“British Prime Minister David Cameron (photo) is facing a domestic backlash for pushing forward with a visit to Kuala Lumpur this week despite the snowballing controversy,” says the report that was published online yesterday.The opinion piece was written by an associate editor of Time, Charlie Campbell, and was written as a list that summarised each of the five issues that ought to be reasons to avoid Najib.
Cameron is due to arrive in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, while Obama is expected to attend the US-Asean Summit and East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur in late November.
Flip-flops over Najib’s promises
On the 1MDB issue, Time highlighted allegations that funds from the state investment company had been channelled into Najib’spersonal accounts, and that Najib had threatened legal action against The Wall Street Journal for making the allegation.
“Even before the latest news, 1MDB was an embarrassment for Najib, who chaired the fund’s advisory board as debts of US$11.6 billion (RM42 billion) were accrued.
“Such are the suspicions of malfeasance that former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who ran the country from 1981 to 2003 and has long been considered Najib’s mentor, has repeatedly called for his protégé’s resignation over 1MDB’s alleged mishandling,” the Time article says.
Apart from the 1MDB scandal, the list also highlighted the allegedly politically-motivated incarceration of former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, and the flip-flops over Najib’s promises to repeal the Sedition Act 1948 and laws that allow for detention without trial.
The article also noted that Umno had backed PAS’ attempts to implement hudud, and highlighted the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu that had implicated Najib.
Najib had previously denied involvement in the murder, which occurred in 2002 when Najib was defence minister.
5 Reasons Why Obama Should Steer Clear of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak
Washington is having serious trouble finding dependable allies in Southeast Asia
The U.S.’s “rebalancing” toward Asia has two main pillars: being a counterweight to China and securing a free-trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. If Washington is to succeed on both fronts, it needs as many friends in the region as it can win. The U.S.’s newest ally is Malaysia, this year’s chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Nation, collectively a growing market, and, on the surface, a modern, democratic, Muslim country. In April 2014 U.S. President Barack Obama paid an official visit to Malaysia, the first sitting President to do so in decades, and, later in the year, played golf with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak when both were on holiday in Honolulu. This November, Kuala Lumpur will host the next East Asia Summit and Obama is due to attend.
But recently, all the news coming out of Malaysia is negative. After becoming embroiled in a corruption scandal, Najib on Tuesday sacked his deputy and Malaysia’s attorney general in an apparent purge of critics. British Prime Minister David Cameron is facing a domestic backlash for pushing forward with a visit to Kuala Lumpur this week despite the snowballing controversy. Here are five reasons why Obama might want to break from Cameron by giving Najib a wide berth.
- 1MDB — A Wall Street Journal report has alleged that Najib’s personal bank accounts received nearly $700 million in March 2013 from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a government-owned development fund. Najib has protested his innocence and threatened legal action against the Journal. “I am not a thief,” Najib toldMalaysian media on July 5. “I am not a traitor and will not betray Malaysians.” The police, the local anticorruption agency, the attorney general’s office and the central bank are investigating the allegations. On July 8, the police raided 1MDB’s office in Kuala Lumpur and took away documents. Even before the latest news, 1MDB was an embarrassment for Najib, who chaired the fund’s advisory board as debts of $11.6 billion were accrued. Such are the suspicions of malfeasance that former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who ran the country from 1981 to 2003 and has long been considered Najib’s mentor, has repeatedly called for his protégé’s resignation over 1MDB’s alleged mishandling.
- Anwar Ibrahim — Najib’s main political rival is once again in prison for a sodomy conviction. Human Rights Watch deemed his five-year sentence handed down Feb. 10 to be “politically motivated proceedings under an abusive and archaic law.” This is the second time Anwar has been jailed for sodomy.
- Hudud — Stoning for adultery and amputation for theft are not the kind of punishments meted out by the progressive state that Malaysia purports to be. Yet Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) is supporting attempts to introduce hudud Islamic law in the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party’s (PAS) heartland state of Kelantan, where nightclubs are forbidden and men and women are designated separate public benches. Why is UMNO supportive of recognizinghudud under federal law? Largely because PAS is part of a three-party Pakatan Rakyat coalition that is UNMO’s chief challenger. The other partners — Anwar’s Keadilan, or People’s Justice Party, supported by middle-class, urban Malays, and the Chinese Malaysian–backed Democratic Action Party (DAP) — are strongly against hudud. Many analysts accuse UMNO of cynically fostering a radical Islamic bent to widen rifts in its political opponents.
- Shaariibuugiin Altantuyaa — In 2002, when Najib was Defense Minister, a $1.25 billion contract was signed to purchase two Scorpène submarines from French firm DCNS. Altantuyaa was a Mongolian woman who, knowing French, facilitated negotiations as a translator, and then allegedly attempted to blackmail Abdul Razak Baginda, one of Najib’s aides with whom she was also having an affair, for $500,000 over “commission” payments he had allegedly received. Two policemen posted to Najib’s bodyguard detail were convicted of murdering Altantuyaa on Oct. 18, 2006. Najib denies any involvement.
- Prevention of Terrorism Act — Najib campaigned on scrapping the controversial Internal Security Act (ISA) but then immediatelyreplaced it with the equally sweeping Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, or SOSMA. The POTA includes practically the same powers as ISA, including two-year detention without trial, and was dubbed a “legal zombie arising from the grave of the abusive [ISA]” by Human Rights Watch. Najib also vowed to repeal the similarly maligned Sedition Act but reneged after his election in 2013. In fact, in April his government extended the maximum jail term under the Sedition Act from three to 20 years.
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