Will US lobbyist be the last fiasco to re-image Putrajaya

The Malaysian Insight The Malaysian Insight Updated 9 years ago · Published on 27 May 2017 4:42PM · 3 Comments

The Prime Minister's Office can deny that they had paid lobbyists in Washington but they cannot deny that those who did are close to Najib Razak. – EPA pic, May 18, 2017.

PUTRAJAYA can huff and puff all they want and issue as many denials but this is an undeniable fact: the people who engaged a US lobbyist for the prime minister of Malaysia are part of his inner circle.

One of them advises him on branding and strategy and the other individual linked to the Godfrey group is close to members of Najib Razak’s family, and is in fact party to a litigation involving one of the PM’s brothers.

The Prime Minister’s Office has officially denied engaging the lobbyist to cosy up to US president Donald Trump and the chatter emanating from Putrajaya is that this was simply a case of overzealous friends of the PM going overboard in trying to help him smoothen relations with the US that turned prickly at the tail end of the Obama administration.

Perhaps so.

But these must be some really close friends for them to use the name of the PMO on the official register and for them to pick up the RM1 million tab.

What were they hoping to get in return for their act of altruism?

It is unheard of for a private company to engage a lobbyist on behalf of any government. What made these individuals behind the Godfrey Group believe that they had the official blessing to try and buy the favour of the US government?

Did they brief the PM or any family member and take silence as a greenlight?

Did these chaps even consider how ridiculous this attempt at buying support is and what it makes of the Malaysian ambassador in Washington and the Foreign Ministry?

Perhaps more troubling than this amateurish attempt is the continuing belief in Putrajaya that money can resolve everything – even the festering wound called the Department of Justice investigation into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

Be assured of one thing. There will be more individuals and groups coming out of the woodwork in the run-up to the elections with plans on how to resolve Najib’s 1MDB woes and other issues.

Some will say that they have a direct link with power brokers in the Singapore government. Others will claim that they are bosom buddies with members of Trump’s inner circle.

A few may even claim to have the latest data mining mechanism that can predict accurately the outcome of the polls.

One of two may even offer to bring Pope Francis to Malaysia.

Welcome to Malaysia, the land of endless possibilities. – May 27, 2017.

Sign up or sign in here to comment.

Comments

  • Moneybags claiming links with Umno/BN sponsored local opposition parties in Sabah and Sarawak helped split opposition votes in 2013 to deny PH. It has been reported that these moneybags recouped their "investment" many times over through inflated government contracts. GE14 in 2018 will be a repeat of GE13.

    Posted 9 years ago by Joe Fernandez · Reply

  • Correction . . . Moneybags, claiming links with Umno/BN, sponsored local opposition parties in Sabah and Sarawak in 2013 to help split opposition votes. The idea was to deny PH. It has been reported that these moneybags recouped their "investment" many times over through inflated government contracts. GE14 in 2018 will be a repeat of GE13.

    Posted 9 years ago by Joe Fernandez · Reply

  • In this land of endless possibilities, where "cash is king", it does not come as a surprise who is behind using cash to try to curry favour with Trump. MO1 has done it before in using cash for everything, so this is just an extension of the same common practice.

    Posted 9 years ago by Insightful Malaysian · Reply