Pehin Sri and NFC Scandal affecting Rakyat's Faith in Najib's Leadership

www.freemalaysiatoday.com

By Joseph Tawie (12-15-11)

The Government’s continued silence on the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal and Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s alleged wealth described as “grand acts of corruption” is making a “mockery” of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s transformation agenda and affecting the rakyat’s faith in his leadership abilities.

Demanding a response from the Najib administration, Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian also blamed Malaysia’s slide in the Transparency Index to the government’s continued “inaction” against corruption.

He called on the authorities to respond to the allegations against Taib and the NFC involving Welfare, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

“Unfortunately, Malaysia’s corruption score will continue to slide with all these allegations, making a mockery of Najib’s transformation agenda.

“As Transparency International has stated, Malaysia continues to slide due to its inaction on ‘grand corruption’,” said Bian.Bian urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Attorney-General and the Inspector- General of Police to investigate the alleged corruptions.

He was commenting on a recent report that a group of international and Malaysian NGOS had written to the Malaysian authorities demanding the immediate arrest and criminal prosecution of Taib and his family members for the alleged illegal appropriation of public funds.

“The Malaysian authorities must respond immediately to the letter and the evidence furnished by these NGOs.The scandal is furnished (in detail) in a letter sent by a group of international and Malaysian NGOs which expose Taib’s alleged wealth.”

Disclosures debunk Taib’s denial

The news item on the scandal was widely published in news portals in the country, some of which have described it as the grandest scandal of them all.

“While Taib’s wealth is not a secret, the details provided by the NGOs are shocking. Taib and his family’s alleged interest in just 14 companies amount to RM4.6 billion.

“In total, Taib and his family are alleged to have interest in 332 Malaysian and 85 foreign companies.

“This (disclosure) debunks his recent official interview where he stated that his family’s wealth is accumulated from businesses abroad and due to their talents.

“In other cases, the most recent being the alleged RM250 million NFC scandal involving Shahrizat and her family, the authorities also did nothing.

“If they continue to remain silent… on all these corruption cases which have drawn wide interest internationally, not only will our country’s image continue to deteriorate, but so will the faith of the rakyat,” he said.