PETALING JAYA: Malaysia would have been saved from being condemned as a global kleptocracy had Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi not accepted the deputy prime minister post three years ago, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang (pix) said today.
Zahid and others could have demanded full accountability from then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak in the so-called ‘Week of Long Knives’ in July 2015, he said.
“In the weekend before the ‘Week of the Long Knives’ at the end of July 2015, the federal capital was awash with rumours that the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, with the full support of the Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamad were ready to arrest Najib and prosecute him on corruption charges,” Lim said in a statement.
“But this did not happen. Instead there was the ‘Week of the Long Knives’ with Najib staging a coup d’etat against the Malaysian Constitution, the rule of law, the doctrine of separation of powers and the independence, impartiality and professionalism of national institutions.
“The ‘Week of Long Knives’ is an episode for patriotic Malaysians to express regret and not one to gloat about, as Zahid is doing, associating it with his appointment as deputy prime minister.”
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was sacked as deputy prime minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal sacked as minister for Rural and Regional Development, Tan Sri Gani Patail removed as Attorney-General and major national institutions compromised and neutered, the MP for Iskandar Puteri said.
“This was the period when the present Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Hamid Bador was summarily removed as deputy head of the Special Branch and transferred to the Prime Minister’s Department as part of a major clampdown on the 1MDB scandal,” Lim said.
“The country started on a Dark Age from the last week of July which lasted nearly three years until the great and historic decision of the Malaysian voters on May 9, 2018 to end Najib’s shameful global kleptocracy.”
He said Malaysia would have undergone an extended Dark Age period had Najib won the 14th General Election,
