Are you in a good mood? I know I am.
Yesterday, former Malaysian Prime Minister and self proclaimed #Bossku was finally handed a verdict even he thought unthinkable – GUILTY. Najib Razak was found guilty of seven charges relating to the misappropriation of RM 42 million in SRC International Sdn Bhd funds.
It is easy to simply rejoice in this victory for the Rule of Law but let’s also take some time to remember this conviction would not have even happened if it were not for the brave figures and groups who intrepidly opposed the establishment and in doing so, unearthed the systematic and wholesale looting of the people’s funds.
It all began in July 2015 when the nearly 10 year old investigative news website, Sarawak Report, published a bombshell of a report which detailed substantiated allegations that the personal bank accounts of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, held nearly $700 million tied to state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
Following this, Managing Editor of the news website, Clare Rewcastle-Brown underwent a huge amount of scrutiny. From state sponsored cyber attacks to the stalking of her movements even while she was in the UK, Ms Rewcastle-Brown has gone through a lot to shed light on the clandestine machinations in this country. Thanks ya.
Next on the list are the Malaysian patriots in Malaysia’s political opposition coalition which consisted of PKR, DAP and others, together joining forces to thwart Najib’s play to retain power.
Most prominent among the opposition is the duo – Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli. The Sarawak Report was a hugely groundbreaking piece of journalistic investigation against corrupt powers but still, work had to be done to communicate the depth of wrongdoing perpetrated by Najib and his co-conspirators. Enter Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli who were largely to thank for disseminating the news and putting all of Najib’s wrongdoings in layman’s terms.
This was done to promote public awareness which and I cannot stress this enough, Najib was not happy about. Pua even managed to inject some humour into the abhorrent scandal in his explanatory videos on the matter.
And who can ever forget? What would a shining, well functioning and inclusive democracy be without our fourth branch of government? The Media! Both foreign and domestic publications were attacked numerous times by a Najib administration who looked to silence accusations as they sprouted.
One of these domestic news publications is The Edge Malaysia who nonetheless vowed to continue reporting on the 1MDB scandal despite being slapped with a three-month suspension by the Home Ministry.
Last but not least, the Rakyat. Some would have us believe that GE14 was a hopeless affair and that Pakatan Harapan(PH) coming to power did nothing to change the status quo. Well, to those people I say – Stop being so cynical.
Without the conviction of the PH government, we would not have had the conviction of the Najib corrupt premiership. So everyone who went out and voted out of the status quo, who took the leap and the risk that came with it, thank you.
We still have a lot of work to do but this is definitely a win and hopefully, will deter other conniving politicians from acting so blatantly unscrupulous in the future.
