Our National Embarrassment.

Does he think that we do not know that he is a thief? That he has stolen millions from the Nation's coffers for his own use? That the authorities have seized 284 designer handbags, 72 suitcases containing cash, jewelry and other valuables worth hundreds of millions of ringgits from homes linked to him? And that the court has convicted him for charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering, and abuse of power? That the court has sentenced him to 12 years in prison for abuse of power, and 10 years in jail for each of six counts of money laundering and breach of trust? That he has also been ordered to pay a fine of 210 million ringgits? And since then, he has failed in his appeal to overturn the 12-year jail sentence for his role in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB corruption scandal.

And this is just the first of Najib Razak's five trials over the plundering of the state investment fund he set up in 2009 when he was prime minister.

This Najib Razak is the eldest son of our former Prime Minister. He has been Menteri Besar of Pahang and was once President of UMNO - the largest Malay political entity, globally. He is on his second wife now. Has got children from his first wife and stepchildren from his second wife.

It was on his watch that UMNO suffered its first electoral defeat ever in its history. Since then, he has the arrogance, nay the audacity, to think that notwithstanding being a convicted felon, notwithstanding having led UMNO to its first electoral defeat at the polls and despite having another four trials over the plundering of IMDB funds hanging over his head....he has become "BossKu" and think himself able to surmount all this, and lead UMNO back into government because he knows that the problems that he now has can only have one solution: A political one!

What kind of a man is this Najib? How, with the family lineage of having a father who was once a prime minister of our nation, how has he become what he is today? A convicted felon facing many more potential convictions and who by example and deeds, have single-handedly been responsible for bringing disrepute and shame to Umno, to Islam, to the Malays, and in the eyes of the world - to Malaysians and Malaysia globally?

And yet, having done all this...there are still Muslims all over the Nation...nay all over the world....who are praying that he will somehow win his appeal against the first conviction and be able to continue doing what he has been doing all his political life: cheating, lying, scamming and swindling anything and everything he can from our national coffers!

Surely this is not right!

When will Najib begin serving his sentence? When will his other four trials commence? When will the trial of his wife, charged with 17 money-laundering charges, be over and done with? And when will anybody else, family, acquaintances, and friends, who, together with Najib Razak, is part and parcel of all this deception and criminal activities, also be put on trial, and have their day in court to answer for their part in these corrupt and criminal activities?

None of the above is now happening. The convicted felon is free to go ka sana ka sini. He headed Umno electoral machinery in the recent Malacca PRM. And I do not doubt that he will do so again in Johor state PRN.

How is it possible that this man is not in Jail? How is it possible that this man thinks he can be the economic advisor to the current Malaysian government? Hell...how is it that the Malaysian Prime Minister will even give this man an appointment to meet with him in the Prime Minister's office? How can a national embarrassment become Bossku? How can he be head of Umno electoral machinery in a state PRN? How can he make comments and pronouncements concerning urusan negara and most disturbing of all, consider himself still able, capable to comment and influence matters of national interests?

Surely, there is something very wrong with the state of our nation today? Surely our values and that of the powers that be in Malaysia, that encourage and abet people like Najib Razak to roam free in spite of being a convicted felon, are twisted and sick. The fact that the government is actually an accessory to the fact of allowing this convicted felon to be a free man, speaks volumes about the state of our nation and our leaders today.

But here is the truth. Many millions of Malaysians abhor, despised, and are disgusted that these things are happening in Malaysia today. But we know there is nothing we can do about it today. There is nothing we can say that will make this government do the right thing and put people like Najib (and there are plenty more like him out there) behind bars where they belong.

Until that is done, there will be many like Najib and Rosmah who think that the laws of our nation do not apply to them. There will be others who think that they can continue to steal and plunder our national coffers with impunity and enjoy the proceeds of their crimes at their leisure. And there will continue to be royals, politicians, public officials, government officials and others who think that cash is indeed king and crime does pay in Malaysia.

This state of affairs will, at most, last another year before we can have an opportunity to do things differently. PRU 15 has to be held by then and we will cast our votes to decide who will do government for us in Putrajaya. Until then, keep your rage burning within you. Until then, rise up and make your fears, rage and wants, known to those who are in government today. Until then do not rest a single day, a single moment without doing something that will advance our hope to have Malaysia be our own again. We did that in PRU14. We can do so again in PRU15.

Hussein Hamid

13 February 2022

Melbourne.