A STREAK of bad luck that has befallen Prime Minister Najib Razak seems to be unending. With the 14th General Election looming ever closer, that Najib is now frantic is an understatement.

In good faith, I tweeted on the morning of July 31, asking the question: “Mampukah M’sia bayar RM2.86bilion ke IPIC hari ini PM @NajibRazak? Dari mana dana itu, ada lagi ke ‘Investment Fund Units’ 1MDB yg disebut2 tu?”

(“Can Malaysia afford to pay IPIC RM2.86 billion today PM@NajibRazak? Where will the funds come form, are there still 1MDB ‘Investment Fund Units’?”)

So, are we to conclude that the much avowed “units” in “investment portfolio” in the PetroSaudi deal via its notorious Cayman Island account is truly a “grandmother story”? And, by extension, all the “rationalisation programmes” equally incapable of preventing 1MDB from defaulting?

Now, it is known to the entire world that 1MDB is unable to pay, but graciously given an extension until August 5. My guess is 1MDB and even MoF (Ministry of Finance) will still default.

No one has a clue of what this default really means to Malaysia and the Malaysian ringgit. Will Najib now do the obvious, i.e. resort to Petronas’ coffers or EPF’s savings?

Incidentally, the Bank Negara Malaysia website had this yesterday: Government Investment Issues - GII (Murabahah Notes) for RM2.5 billion tender code number 201700001701 with an opening date on August 1 and issue date on August 1. Very strangely it coincided with the five-day extension granted by IPIC to 1MDB. The quantum is arguably smaller.

Hot on the heels of the bad news of Dalian Wanda’s inability to be the master developer for Bandar Malaysia, this default is surely adding insult to injury. Could any other of the Fortune 500 companies fit the bill in the new request for proposal (to be Bandar Malaysia master developer)? Perhaps Mitsui Group and Daiwa of Japan, or will IWH-CREC join the fray again?

To make matters worse, it has been bandied around that Chinese President Xi Jinping has pulled out of an earlier agreed visit to Malaysia in September, which planned by Najib to pave the way for an early October election.

As if this spate of bad luck was not sufficient to put Najib in a tailspin of sorts, the untimely legal proceedings over alleged corruption in the Scorpene procurement deal in the French justice system, and its investigation into Abdul Razak Baginda, Najib’s one-time political adviser, and by implication making the boss complicit, could not have come at a worst time.

Will PM Najib survive this ordeal and turn around his string of bad luck? Will he be able to muster his vast resources to work, as to proverbially save his skin and his administration? Or is the noose tightening? – August 3, 2017.

* 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.