The malaysian PM played golf with Trump in 2014? As I recall it was with Obama; who wanted the corrupt leader's support in order to push through his pet TPPA
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No surprise that Najib is adored by Trump similar to how he adores another crook, Vladimir Puntin. On Chef Gordon Ramsey Malaysian episode the food he prepared was actually first tested for poison before Prime Minister Najib ate it. Had it been poisoned one of his aides would have died.
This is such a well written article! Thank you. Keep this up and I may actually want to subscribe to the times!
Your Trump bias was slight, but there..This man and his wife fooled MANY of the world's wealthy. That was part of the scam. Unlike Trump, Miranda and Decaprio..this guy and his wife enriched themselves not from the fruit of their own labors and talents, but from stealing from the wealth of their nation..much like our own Obama and Hillary..and other swamp dwellers here in DC. At the rate things are going..you may soon be covering America's own greatest corruption story in our history!
Keep up the great work. Keep it fact based and objective..Rid the bias..and the grand old lady just may make a whopping comeback! You're making journalism great again! Excellent job!
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Coming soon to a theater near you....
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Mr Oliver Stone, I hope you're taking notes.
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It's now come full circle - Prime Minister Mahathir hand-picked his successors previously. He felt betrayed by Anwar's ambition and there were other transgressions and slights. Mahathir threw Anwar into prison on sodomy charges. Mahathir then approved of Najib. Over 9 years, Najib amassed absolute power right up to everything the NYT has tracked about him - swindling a Malaysian public investment fund, the offshore accounts, being investigated by the DOJ, Switzerland, etc. for money laundering, etc. There was even the allegation by other media that Najib ordered the assassination of a Mongolian model?
His political party UMNO (part of The National Front coalition) and his loyal followers always accepted (and celebrated) that as a politician, he could skim, take cash off the top, a little bit here and a little bit there, even cash set aside for Muslims to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. But Najib and his wife were blatant in their exploitation. It went too far. Even his loyal constituents couldn't tolerate it any further.
The very high risk strategy of the opposition coalition getting Mahathir to lead them in the general election was spectacularly successful. Mahathir appears to be making good on his political promises - after winning, getting Anwar a royal pardon immediately and it appears to be Mahathir will step down and have Anwar replace him as the Prime Minister. It's come full circle. Mahathir appears to be trying to correct for the horrifying choices made.
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This is such a well reported and well written story. The depth of corruption stands as a cautionary tale to us today with reports of the Trump family's dealings with Rosneft and ZTE.
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Najib, his wife and his cronies never thought the day will come that they are not in power anymore. I hope justice will be served. Never underestimate the power of the people.
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It's ironic that the 92-year-old former dictator Dr. Mahathir Mohamed is now Prime Minister again. For 22 years from 1981 to 2003, he also reigned with an iron fist, destroying the separation of powers, making the legislature and the judiciary mere rubber stamps, and throwing political malcontents in prison.
He was a racist, calling Australians the "Asian white trash," and was particularly anti-American. There was no accessible internet when I lived in Malaysia in the late 1980s, so all media were Dr. M-controlled propaganda tools. Every evening the local TV news featured evil and stupid Americans doing evil and stupid things, such as fighting each other on Black Friday shopping forays.
On the world stage he arrogantly accused the world's financial system and the western democracies of being controlled by an "international Jewish conspiracy."
Meanwhile at home, and all the way up to the present, Malaysia is a country where the government routinely sends out "show cause" letters to citizens as to why they shouldn't be punished for expressing their opinion (i.e., disagree with the government? = sedition).
Ironically, Dr. M's promise of a free internet, with the notion of creating another Silicon Valley (which failed) allowed opposition publications such as Malaysiakini plenty of room to vent. Najib was a disaster, so Dr.M is back. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"? Or has he actually changed? Start counting the show-cause letters--or not. We'll see.
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Keeping his promises it seems. Anwar released with a royal pardon and GST abolished from June 1, 2018. Maybe Tun was always a reformer and a maverick.
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Unfortunately, the GST won't be abolished on June 1. That was fake news. It will take some time for the GST to be abolished. Mr Anwar Ibrahim, however, was released from prison with a full royal pardon
For the slippery, hollow "Man of Steal", Najib Razak, here's another fitting moniker: "Bamboo Man".
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The same situation with the Philippines' President Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. They were feted by the world, especially by the United States for their suave manners and sweet words, which appealed to the "educated Westerners." In the end, the people booted them out. Now we have a rough talking President Duterte who is detested by the cultured West; but his simple and honest ways earn him an 80% trust. For Americans=not everything is in appearance, you have to dig deeper and analyze to value the worth of a leader.
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Malaysia had always been amazingly tolerant and progressive for a Muslim country and Najib Razak had started to push hard line dangerous religious rhetoric as a distraction to his exposed corruption, including the jailing of an opposition leader on a ridiculous sex related charge. Still he was expected to win this election. It is wonderful when voters get it right, as they did here, Malaysia is a beautiful underrated Country.
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If you look at the Malaysia flag, it’s eerily similar to he US flag. Perhaps this is a prelude to what’s to transpire here in the US in 2020. One can only hope.
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The flag design was simply copied, in a society that so far has been spectacularly uncreative.
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US flag design are copied from East India Company which is also copied from South East Asia, Majapahit Empire.
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I love the bad magic - and DT's 'favourite Prime Minister' ?
Ooh - I see bad magic coming that way too ... !
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Washington should take note as this is the future for those enriching themselves at the expense of the citizens
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Can you wait twenty years?
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