KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 — DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has called upon the constituents of Tanjung Piai to punish Barisan Nasional and the Muafakat Nasional alliance in the November 16 by-election for claiming the 1MDB scandal did not happen as it cannot be proven.
He said Tanjong Piai voters have a “national duty” when they cast their ballots to show the 1MDB scandal is not fake news but instead the most shameful chapter in Malaysian history.
“It was a marvel yesterday to see the MPs of BN's Muafakat Nasional responding as a united bloc in the presence of the former prime minister in Parliament to claim that the 1MDB scandal had not been proven and therefore could not be taken as having happened,” Lim said in a statement.
The Iskandar Puteri MP said it is most shocking BN leaders could still claim the scandal remains unproven, despite Malaysia having to tighten its financial belt to pay some RM9 billion towards the 1MDB debt over the last two years, with the debt now standing at RM50 billion.
“If Malaysia does not have to pay billions of ringgit to the 1MDB debt in the past two years, as well as billions of ringgit towards its interest payments in the coming years, these billions of ringgit could be released to build more roads, schools and hospitals to improve the quality of life of all Malaysians.
“The united stance of the BN MPs yesterday in continuing to deny the scandal is unproven is all the more shocking as it flies in the face of the truth, both nationally and internationally,” he said.
Citing that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho created world history last week by reaching a settlement deal with the United States' Department of Justice and agreeing surrender US$1 billion (RM4.14 billion) which was misappropriated from 1MDB, Lim said this is something that no Malaysian can feel proud of.
“Yet there are BN political leaders, including from MCA, who could claim that the scandal is just fake news and unproven. In actual fact, no Malaysian political leader or politician can claim ignorance of such a massive scale of 1MDB corruption, abuse of power and money-laundering.
“If there had been no change of government in Malaysia in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018, there would be no recovery and punitive actions for the massive corruption, abuse of power and money-laundering of billions of dollars on 1MDB funds,” he said.
Lim said if the scandal is fake news and a figment of the imagination by Pakatan Harapan leaders, then where did the billions of ringgit in 1MDB-related funds, recovered or to be recovered, come from.
“Let MPs and political leaders of BN answer this question. In fact, the 1MDB scandal should be a test-case whether a political leader is prepared to put national interests above party and personal interests,” he said.
