Bombshell Revelations By Najib Apologist

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BOOK REVIEW | Romen Bose states that he had a front-row seat to much of the action during the Najib Abdul Razak administration, and was privy “to the discussions in the halls of power as storm after political storm buffeted” it. 
Najib, during his prime ministership, conducted over 20 face-to-face interviews with Bose (above) for a book which was never published. 
Nonetheless, Bose used much of those materials in his portrayal of the Najib administration in the book “Final Reckoning: An Insider’s View of the Fall of Malaysia's Barisan Nasional Government”, released last December.
Anyone expecting to read an objective narrative of the Najib government would be disappointed with this hagiography. To expect anything else from someone who claims to be close to the decision-making elite in the years leading to the historic general election in May 2018 would be surprising. 
Bose engineered access to Najib, and then served as his spin-doctor. The product is an attempt to whitewash Najib from personal responsibility for many of the scandals that marred his government.
Former prime minister Najib Abdul RazakNonetheless, the book should not be dismissed out of hand, principally because the author, unwittingly or otherwise, discloses many national and political secrets and the possible commission of crimes. Some of these made the local rumour-mills contemporaneously; confirmation from an inside source is comforting.
GE14
Chapter 1 describes the GE14 campaign and the momentous events of the night of Wednesday, May 9, 2018. Bose met Najib around midnight on May 2, just a week before polling. Najib informed Bose that according to the latest forecasts, BN would secure between 140 to 150 parliamentary seats; a two-thirds majority was still on the cards. Bose states:
“… by providing cash handouts and election sweeteners to voters…..” (Page 11)
Najib had a good chance of securing a strong mandate. Cash is king. The same forecasts were given by Najib to Bose around 3pm on polling day. Around 6.30pm on May 9, Najib was convinced that BN might even form a state government in Selangor. 
Bose arrived at the BN Headquarters at PWTC around 8.30 pm. Najib was late. By 10pm, PWTC was awash with rumours of defeats across the Peninsula of BN candidates; particularly, among the non-Umno candidates. Najib did not turn up at PWTC. So Bose visited Najib at his residence: this was around 1.30am.
May 10 and 11, 2018
Tears, panic and desperation are how Bose described the Najib household. Soon a Najib senior adviser sought Bose’s help, saying that they could not allow Dr Mahathir Mohamad “to take power illegally”, that Najib should not hand over power, and must fight until the end to form a government.
Former prime minister Dr Mahathir MohamadApparently, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Hishammuddin Hussein and Khairy Jamaluddin were trying to persuade Najib to resign. Bose then makes these shocking revelations:
“Umno lawyer Hafarizam (Harun), who was on the phone with the attorney-general, said that he had sought the advice of the judiciary on how long the king would take to decide on who would be prime minister, and whether, like in other Westminister-styled democracies, this would mean that Najib would have time to see if he could form a minority coalition.
"Hafarizam said that no single party had a majority of seats in Parliament. As the Pakatan Harapan coalition had not been officially registered, they should be considered as individual parties rather than a coalition…...”
“However, Hafarizam believed that this ought to be the king’s initial approach to this unchartered series of events, and so the king, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or Agong for short, should rightly delay the swearing-in ceremony of the prime minister, which would normally take place within hours of the election results being announced.” (Pages 20-21)
This was unconstitutional and illegal. It may explain why Mahathir was only sworn in by the Agong at around 9pm the next day, rather than around 12 noon, as is tradition. 
The attorney-general in question was Mohamed Apandi Ali: one wonders who in “the judiciary” was so consulted. This is highly irregular because judges are independent and neutral, and should not pre-determine matters of dispute which may fall for determination by the courts. 
Chief justice Garfield Barwick was vigorously criticised for advising governor-general John Kerr when the latter decided to dismiss Gough Whitlam as prime minister of Australia in 1975.
Najib joined the group after 2am and announced that he was holding a press conference at 11am the following day to concede and hand over power. 
Another nugget of information is then disclosed by Bose. Najib informed them that he had spoken to Anwar Ibrahim (then in jail), stating that Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail could be sworn in as prime minister immediately if Anwar agreed to PKR exiting Harapan and aligning itself to BN. Apparently, Anwar had not responded. High intrigue indeed.
Former deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan IsmailBose reminds us of the public announcement – wholly erroneous – made by the Election Commission that night that there was a hung Parliament as no single party had a majority. Since Merdeka, the nation has always been governed by at least a three-party coalition – the Alliance, to begin with, followed by larger coalitions.
Another illegal measure was proposed in the dead of night as millions of delirious Malaysians went to bed after celebrating the historic defeat of BN. A Najib aide informed those present in Najib’s residence that Bukit Aman had called, claiming to represent the police, advising him to “tell Najib to declare a state of emergency and arrest Mahathir and several of the opposition leaders”. But Najib refused.
Around 4am, Bose attended a meeting between an East Malaysian tycoon and Najib whereat the tycoon stated that several Sabah and Sarawak MPs would defect, but they wanted “to be paid between three to 3.5 million ringgit”. The tycoon continued, saying that if Najib agreed, he would speak to Shafie Apdal and Jeffrey Kitingan “to work a deal”. This too fell flat.
Bose narrates in the last chapter that he returned to Najib’s residence the next day at 10am, when Najib informed him of his decision to resign. 
At page 283, Bose records a version of the unfolding events in the palace according to a source “who was close to the royal family”. Apparently, the king had initially planned to delay swearing-in for a few days. Thus, the king refused to swear-in Mahathir at 5pm on May 10, 2018 “saying that no single party had a majority of seats in Parliament and so the king would take some time to make a decision on it”. 
Apparently, what changed the mind of the Agong was an audience with the chief secretary to the government (civil service), IGP (police) and the army chief (military). They unanimously urged the Agong to swear Mahathir in as quickly as possible because of the tension on the ground, and the urgent need for certainty and stability. 
The three heads of public services also pledged loyalty to king, country and government of the day, and confirmed that they were willing to serve Mahathir as the duly elected prime minister.
Thus, Bose must be commended for recording for posterity the unprecedented events that took place behind closed doors by certain power-brokers determined to prevent the appointment of the popularly elected leader of the coalition that had secured a comfortable victory at the polls. 
The electorate had given a resounding victory to the Harapan coalition, under Mahathir’s leadership. Yet he was being thwarted. Kudos to the leaders of the public services who did the right thing in the national interest.
I have had to revise an observation I made on numerous occasions since May 11, 2018, particularly to the foreign media and diplomats, that Malaysia readily accepted the results of the ballot box on May 9, 2018, and power was peacefully and seamlessly transferred from a coalition that had governed for 61 years. 
Bose reveals that it was a very close thing indeed. His book should serve to warn all future aspirants of office to act constitutionally and properly. It should also serve as a warning to the opposition to be vigilant in victory; a smooth and willing transfer of power cannot be assumed.
Cabinet paper
Before I turn to the disappearance of MH370 and the 1MDB scandal, it is noteworthy to mention that Bose - perhaps to impress on his usefulness to the prime minister - wrote a draft cabinet paper on the National Unity Consultation Council, which ultimately the relevant ministry did not use. 
Bose is a Singaporean and not a member of our public service.
MH 370
On the morning of Saturday, March 8, 2014, when Bose heard about the non-arrival of MH370 in Beijing, he was told by Najib to go to MAS’ Operations Control Centre at the KLIA which served as the operations room. Bose was present when officials briefed Najib on what had happened. He states:
“But then, at 1.31am, Malaysian civilian radar detected an aircraft heading northeast across the Gulf of Siam. Najib then asked whether the military had tracked the unknown aircraft on radar. Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Chief General Rodzali Daud said that military radar had picked up an unidentified aircraft at 2.15am travelling northeast of Penang Island, but that no fighters had been scrambled as the aircraft was determined to be not a threat, but at the point, it was still unclear whether this was MH370 or some other aircraft.
Najib asked if officials had been in touch with the Thai, Indonesian and Singapore authorities to see if they could provide any further radar details but no one could confirm if this had been done yet.
Officials told Najib that search and rescue operations had begun in the South China Sea with more than fifteen military aircraft and naval vessels deployed in the operation….” (Pages 144-145)
This is an extraordinary revelation that requires a public explanation from Najib, and Hishammuddin, the transport minister who was also present at the briefing. 
Why didn’t they immediately disclose to the world at the very first press conference that the MAS plane flying north-east to Beijing had turned south-west over Penang, that is the complete opposite direction? Instead, the lie was hatched that the plane had gone missing over the South China Sea, resulting in 43 ships and 58 aircraft from 14 countries going on a wild goose chase in the wrong area. 
It also meant that valuable time was lost in not conducting search and rescue operations in the rightful areas, thereby seriously damaging the chances of finding the missing plane and any survivors. 
The truth was only disclosed by our authorities about a week after the disappearance and only after foreign media disclosed the turnaround.
1MDB
The author commences Chapter 5 by admitting that he had no first hand or direct knowledge of the complex web that was spun around the numerous 1MDB scandals. He further admitted that all his attempts from 2013 to get answers on various transactions undertaken by 1MDB were unsuccessful. Notwithstanding such ignorance, Bose concludes:
“So, to me, it did not appear that Najib was the mastermind nor beneficiary of the 1MDB scandal but rather the fall guy. But how is this possible? I didn’t have an answer then because it seemed inexplicable”. (Page 199)
The back cover of his book declares:
“… Romen pieces together for the first time how a sitting prime minister became the unwitting patsy of a mastermind who had managed to pull off the single biggest con of the century.”
What is however omitted by Bose in this book is any reference to the investigations by authorities in multiple jurisdictions from 2015, the requests by such authorities for mutual legal assistance from Najib’s attorney-general, the filing of countless civil forfeiture actions in the courts of the USA to recover assets purchased by the wrong-doers and fraudsters who had stolen billions of ringgit belonging to 1MDB (including Najib’s step-son, Rizal Aziz, for his receipt of monies to finance the making of movies), the shutting down of banks by Switzerland and Singapore, the entry of a questionable arbitration award in London between Malaysia and IPIC, and so forth. 
Because the fraud was multi-layered, thousands of documents were created, which the FBI (and other authorities), with their massive power and resources, uncovered. The paper trail and movement of stolen monies were easily traced by these foreign authorities.
If one considers for a moment the status of Najib and Jho Low (Low Taek Jho), it becomes self-evident that the patsy theory has no factual basis in that relationship. Najib was the prime minister and finance minister of a country. He was the most powerful individual in the nation and the most powerful individual in the company concerned, 1MDB. 
Businessperson Low Taek Jho or Jho LowLow was just another private businessperson, a particularly young and inexperienced one at that, who had dealings with the government. 
It must never be forgotten that 1MDB only had a paid-up share capital of RM1 million. Yet sophisticated international banks of world ranking were happy to lend 1MDB billions of ringgit, not because of 1MDB’s ability to repay such loans, but because of the government of Malaysia’s ability to pay as guarantor of the loans. 
Najib, as prime minister and finance minister, was instrumental in authorising the granting of these guarantees. As a private citizen, Low had absolutely no role in the affairs of the government which could result in the granting of these guarantees. Apart from being illegal, it would be a factual impossibility. 
But for these guarantees, 1MDB would not have been aflush with funds for plunder. Thus, Najib is no patsy and no Lee Harvey Oswald.
Finally, an important correction is warranted. Bose states, at page 299,  that he believes there are no other charges against Najib apart from the SRC charge in relation to 1MDB monies. On the contrary, there are five sets of charges in five separate prosecutions against Najib which are pending at various stages before our courts.
Bose tells the readers that he left Malaysia on May 11, 2018, and has not returned. 
He concludes his book with an open threat. Najib’s enemies “should be worried because he will not give up and he will not give in… His enemies should be afraid. I would be.” 
A dramatic finale.  - Mkini
TOMMY THOMAS is former attorney-general.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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