1MBD and Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak has much to answer for in the wake of the recent expose by Sarawak Report[1] on the links between 1MDB, Jho Low and the Najib himself. One of the many questions which require answering is whether Jho Low was allowed to use his influence to dictate Malaysia’s foreign policy in Saudi Arabia.
Prime Minister Najib made his first official visit to Saudi Arabia as PM in January 2010 (originally scheduled for December 2009) and the Sarawak Report alleges that Jho Low and his associates were working hard to ‘prepare’ for this visit.
Firstly, a close associate of Jho Low, Seet Li Lin, was alleged to have prepared a draft of a letter to be sent by Najib to then King of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah.
Secondly, Tarek Obaid, the founder of Petro Saudi, was alleged to have send Jho Low an email on the 13th of November 2009 asking the Malaysian Prime Minister to support Saudi Arabia’s military action in Northern Yemen against a rebel group known as the Houthis (Appendix 2). A draft statement was even prepared by Mr Obaid. On the 19th of November, PM Najib issued a statement condemning the Houthis and supporting Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself.[2]
Thirdly, Jho Low was alleged to have made arrangements for PM Najib to be interviewed by a Jamal Kashoggi (most likely the General Manager of the Al Arabiya News Channel[3]) during his official trip to Saudi Arabia. In the email shown in Sarawak Report, Wan Ahmad Shihab, a special officer to the PM, emailed Jalam Kashoggi and CCed Jho Low in order to “begin communicating with each other on preparations for the interview with the Prime Minister scheduled for December 14th, 2009.” (Appendix 3) (The trip was later changed to January 2010)
Malaysia’s foreign policy must be dictated by the best interests of Malaysian citizens. The fact that an individual or a small group of individuals can dictate the foreign policy interests of Malaysia for their own personal gain, as alleged by the Sarawak Report expose, is highly disturbing. I call upon Prime Minister Najib to give an account of these allegations as well as the other allegations raised in the Sarawak Report expose on the 28th of February, 2015.
[1] All the emails referenced to in this press statement can be found here: http://www.sarawakreport.org/2015/02/managing-the-media-and-then-foreign-policy-how-jho-low-took-over/
[2] http://www.pmo.gov.my/home.php?menu=news&news_id=782&news_cat=4&page=1729&sort_year=2009&sort_month=
[3] http://english.alarabiya.net/authors/Jamal-Khashoggi.html