Malaysian MP asks voters if unseating Najib more important than public welfare
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Pic: AP.
18th August 2016
ACCUSED of neglect, Malaysian opposition politician Rafizi Ramli has started a Facebook poll asking voters if they preferred him to concentrate on the campaign to topple Prime Minister Najib Razak or on bread-and-butter issues.
In the poll launched Wednesday, Rafizi, a key leader in the opposition lynchpin People’s Justice Party, said some have suggested that he and his colleagues were more interested in playing politics than in serving their constituents.
He cited as an example the opposition’s focus on exposing Najib’s alleged role in 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the state-owned investment firm at the centre of a multi-billion dollar international financial scandal.
“Since more than a year ago, the #1MDB scandal and pressure on Najib to quit as prime minister has relentlessly dominated press coverage.
“Apart from the differing views of opposition parties, some have voiced concern that politicians (ministers, elected representatives, party leaders) are only interested in playing politics, to a point they’ve ignored the people and public welfare issues are not raised or given as much attention as the 1MDB scandal,” he wrote in an introductory note to the survey in the national language, Bahasa Malaysia.
Rafizi then urged voters to take the poll to “help” him rank his priorities as a parliamentarian.
Among others, respondents were asked to name the politicians who have influenced their opinions about 1MDB the most and whether new exposes about the troubled firm would affect their views about the prime minister.
They were also given multiple choice answers to a question on what issues they felt their representatives should highlight: The unpopular Goods and Services Tax introduced last year, low wages, rising living costs, employment opportunities and the influx of foreign workers, high education costs, corruption, and more.
An image included in Rafizi Ramli’s survey questioning which issue was more pertinent to Malaysians. Pic: Facebook
Respondents were also asked to rank by level of importance how much focus lawmakers should give to the 1MDB scandal, unseating Najib, ensuring fair elections, local constituency problems or public welfare issues.
The U.S. Department of Justice last month announced that the U.S. government had initiated a seizure of assets worth over RM4 billion (US$1 billion) linked to an international conspiracy to launder funds from 1MDB, a firm set up in 2009 under Najib’s administration.
The department also named several individuals as being involved, including Riza Aziz, (Najib’s stepson), businessman Jho Low, Khadem Abdulla Al-Qubaisi and Mohammed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny.
Wan Azizah Wan Ismail – the wife of opposition defacto leader Anwar Ibrahim, currently imprisoned on sodomy charges – later claimed that the RM4 billion was clearly part of the over RM14 billion (US$3.5 billion) that was identified as being embezzled from 1MDB between 2009 and 2015.
“This timeline coincides and overlaps exactly with the tenure of Najib Razak as Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Chairman of the 1MDB Board of Advisors,” she said in a statement.
“I hereby call upon Dato’ Sri Najib to swiftly give an explanation and a full account of this matter in an emergency Parliamentary sitting called as soon as possible.”
Najib previously sacked prominent individuals who voiced their concerns on the 1MDB issue, including former Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
