Amid intensifying global attention, Pakatan Rakyat leaders urged Prime Minister Najib Razak to immediately freeze the assets of Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud pending a full investigation into a report by a Swiss NGO that Taib and his family controlled an enormous business empire wielded through 49 companies spanning 8 countries worldwide.
"After freezing his assets, they must commence an urgent investigation right away. There should be no feet-dragging in this matter. It is also regrettable that we have to suffer this ignominy to our image in the international arena in regards to this notorious deed. This could also be the biggest crime in Malaysian history," DAP MP for Klang Charles Santiago told Malaysia Chronicle.
On Monday, the Bruno Manser Fund released the list of 49 companies located worldwide. The breakdown showed 13 companies located in Malaysia, 10 in Australia, 13 in North America, 2 in the United Kingdom and even 3 in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands.
The hot list was given to anti-corruption agencies and anti money-laundering agencies in the affected countries to enable the relevant authorities to freeze the Sarawak leader's assets.
Holidaying together
So far, the silence on the part of the Najib administration has extremely deafening.The PM and Taib have strong ties and recently holidayed together in Monaco - the playground of the fabulously rich and powerful.
"Sarawakians should make a report at the MACC and also with the police. After that the Malaysian government should act immediately and quickly to put Taib Mahmud to trial. There should not be any pussyfooting around in this matter," Nizar Jamaluddin, PAS MP for Bukit Gantang, told Malaysia Chronicle.
Some of the Malaysian companies reported to be linked to Taib are partly-owned by the state and are involved in state projects such as the Royal Mulu Resort and Murum Dam.
Yet, the Malaysian mainstream media has so far been been silent on the issue.
Pundits also reminded Najib that Malaysia was a signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), which makes his government obliged to act swiftly, provide information and co-ordinate with other countries that request assistance over the same issue.
"If the MACC want to remain credible, they must investigate immediately. The facts given by the Bruno Manser Fund are easily verifiable and it does not take a genius to figure out whether they are true or not. In order to be seen to be credible, MACC must act this very minute. Otherwise, whatever credibility they have left will all be lost," PKR MP for Gopeng Lee Boon Chye told Malaysia Chronicle.
Global spotlight
Meanwhile, Clare Rewcastle Brown - the sister-in-law of former British premier Gordon Brown - has come out into the open, revealing herself and her small team of staff as the people behind anonymous blog Sarawak Report andRadio Free Sarawak.
Their decision to go public was prompted by death threats posted to the Sarawak Report website and by the mysterious fatality of her chief whistleblower in America.
"Before Christmas, Taib's disaffected US aide Ross Boyert was found dead in a Los Angeles hotel room with a plastic bag around his head. The inquest is still pending but there was a sense that Peter and I could be in danger. Rather than hide, we've decided to come out fighting," Clare told the London Evening Standard in an interview on Tuesday.
She also expressed concern Taib would escape scot-free because "the corrupt Malaysian government [will] turn a blind eye because Taib always delivers them Sarawak, their richest state."
"You've got to take heart from what is happening in the Middle East to rulers who seemed equally immovable until just a few weeks ago," she added.
The government has been urged to list down the recipients of the 1.5 billion shares allocated to the Bumiputera in 2010, as announced recently by International Trade and Industry minister Mustapa Mohamad.
PKR secretary general Saifuddin Nasution said Mustapa should devulge the reform mechanism and improvement towards the distribution and monitoring system on the specially allocated Bumiputera shares so that past losses, such as the of RM52 billion loss in Bumiputera shares, can be prevented.
“The same mechanism which caused the lost of RM52 billion of Bumiputera shares must be revamped,” said Saifuddin, who said he would press the matter in Parliament.
Saifuddin, who is the Machang member of parliament, reminded that the government had recently said the had pushed Bumiputera equity to 22 percent in 2011, mainly through the distribution from Mustapa's ministry.
“The people must be feeling strange when UMNO-BN government stumps its chest to announce increased Bumiputera equity to 22 percent in 2011 when it failed to achieve its 30 percent target set in 1990.
"After 21 years and the squander of shares worth billions of ringgit in the name of Malays and Bumiputera, the current UMNO-BN government no longer thinks about its dignity,” lamented Saifuddin.
Saifuddin reiterated that the main worry was pertaining to how the shares were distributed, because the same method had caused RM52 billion from the previously allocated RM54 billion to be lost.
He added that in 2010 alone, there was 1.5 billion shares distributed through Initial Public Offering (IPO), supposedly to Bumiputera investors.
'Household income, not 30 per cent'
Similarly, said Saifuddin, the country's stock market last year saw the listing of some heavyweight companies, such as Petronas Chemical Group Berhad at RM5.05 a share, and Malaysian Marine and Heavy Engineering Holding Berhad at RM 3.61 a share.
“If a large portion of the 1.5 billion shares distributed to Bumiputera investors from the shares belonged to Petronas, then the shares worth billions of ringgit had been given to investors who hide behind the Bumiputera name.
"This is the mechanism that failed last time to the extent of creating a political patronage culture looking for an easy way out to get the shares, under the pretext of achieving 30 percent Bumiputera equity,” he stressed, and added that the shares would ultimately be sold for quick profit, and creating "wealthy Malay elites" at the expense of ordinary Malays.
Saifuddin said the empowerment of the economy of the Malays must not be done within the premise of the 30 percent equity, but through better household income.
Bumiputera families, he said, formed 75 percent of the projected 11 million poorest people in the country earning below RM1,500 monthly.
“The madness to chase the 30 percent equity as played by UMNO-BN will not succeed in overcoming the economic difficulties of the majority Bumiputera, instead it will continue to be abused by the elites among the ruling party and businessmen,” he said.
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