PRIME Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s frontal challenge to Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his cronies to explain how they had acquired their massive wealth now resonates with Malays. That is a welcome sign, reflecting a sea change in attitude. That would also pre-empt a possible second Sheraton Move by these third-rate corrupt Malay leaders to grab power so they could once again plunder the nation. Now they resort to dangerous chauvinism.

It was not too long ago that Malays basked in the reflected glory of having these billionaires among us. That is now long gone, greased by the obscene ostentations of our nouveau riche. Today when we see the likes of the Dr Mahathir clan luxuriating on their yachts and in their mansions that elicit only revulsion. The leaked Pandora Papers, together with the unsavoury details exposed during Najib Razak’s criminal trials, only cemented that ugly image.

Unlike American billionaires where one could discern with ease where their wealth comes from (Gates, software; Musk, electric cars; and Bezos, Amazon.com), not so with Dr Mahathir and his cronies. On the contrary, they are known more for destroying hitherto flourishing enterprises. Remember that flamboyant Tajuddin Ramli and once-premium Malaysia Airlines?

Then there was Bank Bumiputra, once Asean’s largest, as well as the pride and hope of Malays, again destroyed by Dr Mahathir’s cronies. That also took the life of a young banker, Jalil Ibrahim. Lim Kit Siang paid tribute to Jalil by quoting his unfinished letter to his young wife just before he was strangled to death in Hong Kong on July 18, 1983, as related in Chooi Mun Sou’s memoir, “Malaysia My Home – Quo Vadis”.

“The problems in Hong Kong are not [of] my making and from today onwards I am going to think of myself and my family first and put the interests of the Bank, the race and the country behind me. If those directors had thought of the interests of the Bank, the race and the country first, they wouldn’t have made all those blunders in the first place. I have sacrificed enough and suffered enough for their blunders….”

Alas Jalil’s insight came too late. He paid the ultimate price, a cautionary note to those eager to go back and “serve my country and people”. If only Jalil had been wiser earlier (he was the rare Malay with an MBA from other than a third-rate institution), his talents would have been recognised and amply rewarded. More to the point, his life would not have been wasted.

Jalil was posthumously awarded Malaysia’s highest honour, and with that an honorarium of a few devalued ringgit. I wonder whether Bank Bumiputra ever compensated his family. Jalil was not the only victim of corruption. Remember Altantuya Shaaribuu, Kevin Morais, and Hussain Najadi, as well as the thousands of preventable deaths from Covid-19 because Malaysian healthcare is underfunded, because of money looted by these scoundrels.

In one of his many books, eminent economist K.S. Jomo listed Dr Mahathir’s many financial blunders, from the London Tin debacle to the massive forex losses. Fast-forward to 2018 with Dr Mahathir’s second coming, Jomo, too, was suckered in to be one of Mahathir’s five-member Council of Eminent Persons. I do not know whether Jomo is any wiser today than those Langkawi voters. They saw through the old man’s fraud and humiliated him in the November 2022 general election. You can fool the natives only for so long. They tidak mudah lupa (do not forget easily.)

Then there is Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri who “sold” state land to an entity led by his wife at less than 2% of its value. He dismissed the subsequent brouhaha. To him that was not corruption. Such a moral lapse! No surprise there as his party’s leader Abdul Hadi Awang considers corruption as halal, as it involves willing participants. To his kitab, prostitution would also be halal.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Azam Baki has done much but I am not ready with the accolades. Arresting is one thing, conviction, another. He has yet to investigate Hadi, not for his racist rants but how he had obtained the money to pay off his civil suit against Sarawak Report. MACC has also not investigated former home minister Hamzah Zainudin. It has snagged only his son. Anwar’s short-term renewal of Azam’s contract is the best guarantee of his performance, likewise with the current Attorney-General Idrus Harun. 

Corruption is crippling Malaysia. Anwar has asserted many times that it disproportionately impacts Malays. Denting it would be Anwar’s greatest legacy, worthy of the appellation “Islamic Leader” as well as “Wira Negara” (National Hero). – June 8, 2023.

* M. Bakri Musa reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.