"" AZMANMATNOOR: Nothing2Hide

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Nothing2Hide

KUALA LUMPUR: Kehadiran tanpa diundang Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad ke dialog Nothing2Hide mendorong pihak penganjur membatalkan program itu... selanjutnya: http://goo.gl/yfKy7M
KUALA LUMPUR: Nothing2Hide was meant to be a civilised dialogue between the Prime Minister and non-governmental organisations on issues of the day, including 1MDB.
But when chaos erupted an hour before the forum was scheduled to start, the police called it off, citing security concerns.
More than 2,000 people had turned up at the Putra World Trade Centre to see Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Expectations were high because the people wanted to see both Najib and Dr Mahathir, the Prime Minister's most vocal critic, at the same venue.
Najib had confirmed his attendance on Thursday while Dr Mahathir, whom the organiser SukaGuam, a legal aid group, said was not officially invited, turned up at about 8.45am.
However, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar tweeted at 8.53am that the police had ordered that event be cancelled.
Many in the audience were heard condemning the decision.
The situation quickly turned ugly with fist fights and attempts by latecomers to cram into the already packed hall.
At 10.15am, it was announced that the organisers were still trying to negotiate with the police to allow the event to go on.
The organisers, the police and several other parties met Dr Mahathir to inform him of the cancellation and that Najib had been advised not to attend, but a source said the former prime minister insisted that he be allowed to speak to the audience.
Minutes later, Dr Mahathir made his way into Dewan Tun Hussein Onn and went on stage to talk about his unhappiness on what he said were serious irregularities in 1MDB.
Six minutes into his speech, Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Zainol Samah approached Dr Mahathir on stage and asked him to stop speaking.
The audio system and the big screen monitors were shut off, angering the audience further as they demanded that Dr Mahathir be allowed to finish his speech.
Policemen, armed with sub-machine guns, entered the hall to keep the crowd from getting out of control.
Police allowed Dr Mahathir to hold a press conference later.
"I'm just an ordinary man. I don't have guns or mean any harm to anybody. Why should people be afraid of me?" he asked.
Asked if he felt that Najib had instructed the police to stop him from speaking, Dr Mahathir said: "I don't know if he instructed. Police came up to me when I was talking and told me to stop. So I stopped because I am a very obedient citizen."
During his speech, the former prime minister said although Najib's father Tun Abdul Razak Hussein was his idol and that he was grateful to him for being able to get the country's top job, he had no choice but to go against his son.
"I wanted Najib to continue Tun Razak's struggle but I found many of his policies do not bring benefit to our country," he said, adding that the last straw was the alleged "loss" of billions of ringgit by 1MDB.
Dr Mahathir said he wanted to turn up at the dialogue so that he could listen to the Prime Minister's explanations.
"If his explanations were good, I would have resumed my support for him but since he did not come and explain, I will not support him," he said.
Dr Mahathir said Najib's no-show meant that he had lost the opportunity to win over support for himself and explain "everything and that no money is missing".
A crowd of supporters who followed Dr Mahathir as he was led out of the hall was heard shouting "Long Live Tun Mahathir, where is Najib? He is hiding."


Dr M accuses Najib of lying when he said S'porebank had 1MDB cash
Tan Yi LiangThe Star/ANNSunday, May 24, 2015
PETALING JAYA, Malaysia - Former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has accused Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak of lying when he told Parliament that money held by government investment arm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is being kept in Singapore.
"No money was banked into BSI Bank in Singapore. This is his second lie. It is clear from the amendment to his first answer that it was not US$1.103 billion (S$1.47 billion) in cash that was being kept with BSI but in the form of documents. It is unclear what is in the documents, but it is clear it is not cash," said Dr Mahathir in a blogpost on Sunday.
In January, the Finance Ministry said 1MDB had deposited the funds it had redeemed from its offshore account in the Cayman Islands into BSI Bank, with the amount held in US dollars.
On Mar 10, it confirmed in a written reply to PJ Utara MP Tony Pua that the funds were held in the Singapore bank in the form of cash.
The Government said last week that the funds were not in the form of cash, but assets.
Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Husni Hanadzlah then clarified last Thursday that 1MDB might have misinterpreted the investment of US$1.103 billion in BSI Bank (Singapore) Ltd.
"There's a mistake. They (1MDB) had the impression that there was cash when they redeemed the funds. Actually, that is a saving," said Husni.
He did not elaborate on the assets when asked but stressed that the saving was in the form of "units".
Husni said the units were backed by sovereign wealth funds and the Government hoped it could repatriate the funds as soon as possible.
However, in his blog post, Dr Mahathir pointed out several issues with the documents in BSI Bank.
"BSI Bank has stated that the documents that state savings have been made by 'Brazen Sky', a subsidiary company of 1MDB, are false and not from them. Therefore, the second written reply from Najib to Parliament saying what is kept by them are documents is untrue. BSI Bank has filed a report with the Monetary Authority of Singapore that no 1MDB money is kept with them," said Dr Mahathir.
The former premier added that normally, the Monetary Authority of Singapore would report such information to Bank Negara.
"It is clear from the admission that the report is governed by principles of international secrecy and the wish for secrecy under the Anti Money-Laundering Act. From this it is clear that Bank Negara has received the Monetary Authority of Singapore report. The intent of keeping it a secret is because there is something that is not right, or deception when Najib said the money was with BSI Singapore," he said.

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