IN May 2017, about a year before the general rlection, the Monetary Authority of Singapore announced that it had completed a two-year review of banks involved in 1MDB-related transactions known to date. 

In the latest of its regulatory actions then, the authority had imposed financial penalties on Credit Suisse and United Overseas Bank (UOB), as well as issued Prohibition Orders (POs) against three individuals and served notice of its intention to impose the same regulatory action on three others. 

While actions were being taken elsewhere across the globe in at least six countries, none at all have been taken in Malaysia – where it all began – leading PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man to wonder why.

“Are we not ashamed?” he said in a statement published by the party’s newsletter Harakahdaily.

Tuan Ibrahim – now a minister – therefore urged for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to be set up. “Hopefully all parties will lobby for an RCI to be set up as soon as possible,” he said.

The RM9 billion procurement of six littoral combat ships is now as scandalous as the systematic embezzlement of 1MDB funds, which were diverted globally. It is not surprising that political parties across the divide have called on the Cabinet to set up an RCI to investigate the LCS scandal.

Perikatan Nasional chairman and former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin has joined in the call.

The cabinet has 12 Umno ministers, four from Sarawak-based Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, three from PAS, and one each from MCA, MIC, and Parti Bangsa Malaysia.

Tuan Ibrahim is one of the three from PAS. He is within earshot of the prime minister. Will he whisper into his ear?

Will there be an RCI? – August 10, 2022.

* Hafiz Hassan reads The Malaysian Insight.