Are you truly serious about change, Najib?
If UMNO is truly serious about vetting BN's GE13 candidates for corrupt practices, bankruptcy and moral misconduct, the first person who should be vetted must surely be the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Although the salary of a Prime Minister or a Minister is quite considerable, surely it isn't so high that he can easily afford such excessive extravagance as spending RM80,000 on his birthday party and RM410,000 for his daughter's engagement party, as well as the luxury items flaunted by his wife Rosmah Mansor, who is known to possess a large number of Birkin handbags?
Najib Abdul Razak started his political career at the young age of 23 by inheriting, without a fight, the parliamentary seat held by his father, Tun Abdul Razak who was the second Prime Minister of Malaysia. In his smooth-sailing political career, he held his first ministerial position at the age of 25 and held various portfolios continually until he was appointed Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2009. I'm sure all Malaysians would be curious to know how he managed to accumulate so much wealth while being a full-time politician since his mid-20s.
The second politician that needs to be vetted immediately is none other than the Chief Minister of Sarawak.
An explosive report by the Swiss-based NGO Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) entitled "The Taib Timber Mafia: Facts and Figures on Politically Exposed Persons from Sarawak, Malaysia" estimated the assets of Taib Mahmud's family at US$21 billion (RM64 billion), with the wealth of Taib himself put at a whopping US$15 billion (RM46 billion) making him Malaysia's richest man outstripping tycoon Robert Kuok who has US$12.5 billion.
It is the first report that describes in detail the business activities and personal wealth of 20 members of the Taib family in Malaysia, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, United States and other countries.
Despite all the details in the report, our Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has dismissed allegations that Taib Mahmud had amassed billions of ringgit during his tenure as Sarawak Chierf Minister for 31 years in September this year by making a most irresponsible comment: "There are all kinds of allegations, jangan kita layan (let's not entertain it)."
So, has the PM and Chairman of BN changed his mind -- does he now want all BN candidates to be vetted for corrupt practices?
Apart from BN's proposal of submitting the candidates list to MACC for vetting, there is one more thing that BN should do immediately if they are serious about creating a clean image for the party, and that is to make all Ministers and their deputies declare their assets publicly, just like what Pakatan Rakyat has done in Penang and Selangor. The ridiculous allegations that such public declarations of assets may jeopardise the safety of their families does not hold water as until today, no PR Excos has faced such a threat.
We call on Prime Minister Najib Razak and BN to show the Rakyat that you can change, or else, be prepared to be changed by the Rakyat in GE13.
