My Role In The Siege Within The Political Whodunnit On 1mdb


 
From William de Cruz
A high-roller and a journalist walk into a restaurant. It’s not funny. It’s December 2009, the player is soon to become an international fugitive, wanted in the US and Malaysia for his role in 1MDB.
According to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), it is the biggest financial scandal ever, billions have been laundered across US borders in a trail that engulfs banks, financial institutions and governments.
Though they have not met, the journalist recognises the player who has walked into Vineria, an Italian restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.
It’s Low Taek Jho, who’s feted the likes of Paris Hilton and Australian actress Miranda Kerr, showering them with diamonds and at least one Porsche.
He has rubbed shoulders with sheikhs and sultans, and can call in a favour worth hundreds of millions as easily as you might summon an Uber outside of rush-hour.
Jho Low, as he is known, is dressed down, like the wealthy and well connected often do, in dark sweatpants and a Real Madrid soccer club jersey.
The journalist walks up to Low, offers a handshake in greeting and says: “Jho Low, my name is Leslie Lopez and it would be in your interest to talk to me.”
Leslie picked me as his editor for The Siege Within, and work began about three-and-a-half years ago. He had already decided to write his book. He knew his trajectory, the story he wanted to tell, what he wanted from an editor.
I understood my role, and we agreed there would be only one writing stipulation – no honorifics, including those often used by recipients of state or federal awards; the only exceptions being Malaysia’s sultans, the Agong and other monarchs. Otherwise, we chose to take it as it comes.
The Siege Within was written and edited on a shared and secure online platform. At my end, no one saw the contents of each chapter in his emails to me, less than a handful knew such a book was taking shape.
The flurry started. This was to be my first stab at being a book editor. The realisation washed over me like nothing else in my career. I was hooked, eager for the next chapter that had not arrived yesterday.
He gave me advance notice of work, I did my best to clear the days ahead, so I could respond with my edits as quickly as I could.
Long phone conversations between Petaling Jaya, where he lives, and Sydney, where I am, focussed on the nitty-gritty of writing, editing. Face-to-face in his Petaling Jaya home, it was another matter, and Leslie would often wrestle with the back-story, what had led him to the decision to write and why. And, after all, of course: “What would people say?”
He compared news reporting and analyses with writing a book. “Every time I submit a report for publication, I worry. Have I got it right? Everybody remembers a mistake and it’s my reputation as a journalist that’s on the line with each story.
“This is a whole book. Of course, I am worried. But I also know I just have to do it. Nobody else has all this, and I can’t take it with me.”
One of his biggest hurdles was pinning down the end, because there was so much to tell, and prisoner Najib Razak, the former prime minister (PM) who was jailed because of 1MDB, was firing up controversy after controversy through his legal team simultaneously as Leslie worked to finish his book.
He was unsure if the 2018 election results, which ousted Najib, was a fitting end. And Leslie would also not allow a prisoner’s antics to dictate The Siege Within.
As it turned out, when he had depicted a scene on the Subang airport tarmac, that was it. The Siege Within had been captured and framed.
Like many others in my home country, I have followed 1MDB closely, not least because the theft of billions had piqued the DoJ enough for it to embark on a large-scale, cross-border investigation, and that a state-controlled country like Malaysia had thrown a former PM into jail.
And yet, every chapter was a revelation to me, the book a motherlode of shocking details, much of it hidden in plain sight until this exposé.
Leslie’s encyclopaedic mastery of the details in his book was always the best confirmation of all when I spoke with him as editor to iron out in my head this fact, that allegation or these games.
It may be the case that the DoJ is pleased, now that the so-called mastermind, Low, is surrendering assets linked to an estimated US$4.5 billion chest of plunder he helped funnel into bank accounts of people who had no right to the said money.
Najib, who set up and led 1MDB as a sovereign fund, is serving jail-time.
Yes, his wife has returned boxes of luxury Hermes Birkin handbags, more than 400 watches, tiaras and loads of hard cash. Appropriate heads may be said to have rolled.
For the Malaysian journalist I worked with, however, “the dream that Malaysians were sold after Najib’s ouster was stolen again”.
And there it was, for me, Leslie’s motivation. It isn’t anti-Najib. It’s not pro-Anwar Ibrahim, twice jailed by the administrations of two former PMs, Najib being one, Dr Mahathir Mohamed the infamous other.
The Siege Within is simply pro-Malaysian. It is Leslie on a mission for Malaysia, borne on another dream lost.
At 61, after about 40 years of journalism, Leslie concluded the devils in the details he had kept to himself for more than a decade could only be weighed in the court of public opinion. “I have to put it out there,” he told me. “Let Malaysians decide and be the judge.”
His notebooks – he reportedly never leaves home without one in his back pocket – said there was so much more to the story; that Najib was also a pin-up, poster-prisoner whose real crime was going further than his predecessors; that Low was only one enabler among the people who had helped Najib amass his illegal fortune.
Caught in the spotlight of The Siege Within are powerful men and women in Malaysia.
The Siege Within is not about a fallen PM. Leslie’s book has widened the focus beyond Najib and his cohorts, exposing how 1MDB was weaponised by the political elite to bring down a PM and save Umno, the party he led until Malaysians voted him out six years ago. Having accomplished their mission, The Siege Within says, they launched a campaign to hide what really happened in ground zero of the scandal.
Leslie told me he was conflicted about publishing his book, not because of the trouble he might land himself in, but because “as far as everybody else is concerned, what more is there to say about 1MDB?”
“And I am loathe to be seen as full of self-importance.”
How did such huge amounts of money leave the country without red flags being raised? Media bigwigs, a blogger and billionaires are cast in a political whodunnit set in Malaysia that rings with unwavering authenticity.
It remains to be seen if The Siege Within renews official debate on 1MDB, long muddied by selective reporting and cover-ups by people in high places who were complicit in the scandal that robbed Malaysian taxpayers of billions.
Leslie himself has recently said, in an interview about the book in The Diplomat, that the current administration has to accept there is too much power concentrated in the Prime Minister’s Office, and that the extent of such unchallenged control was what allowed Najib to commit and cover up the crime of 1MDB in the first place. Malaysia, he says, also has to look deep into public accountability by all its institutions.
Any and all of this may be a big ask in contemporary Malaysia. For now, the Malaysian on the street will likely say it’s enough that a book such as The Siege Within is out there, freely available, exposing as it does a series of shocking political scandals.
Leslie has served Malaysian public interest by writing this book. It was an honour to walk with him on his journey. - FMT
William de Cruz is a former journalist in Malaysia who now pursues music and writing in Sydney. He is an avid FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.


Artikel ini hanyalah simpanan cache dari url asal penulis yang berkebarangkalian sudah terlalu lama atau sudah dibuang :

http://malaysiansmustknowthetruth.blogspot.com/2024/11/my-role-in-siege-within-political.html

Kempen Promosi dan Iklan
Kami memerlukan jasa baik anda untuk menyokong kempen pengiklanan dalam website kami. Serba sedikit anda telah membantu kami untuk mengekalkan servis percuma aggregating ini kepada semua.

Anda juga boleh memberikan sumbangan anda kepada kami dengan menghubungi kami di sini
1mdb Monies Still Within The Singapore Banking System By Ganesh Sahathevan

1mdb Monies Still Within The Singapore Banking System By Ganesh Sahathevan

papar berkaitan - pada 2/11/2024 - jumlah : 105 hits
The following has been Lee Hsien Yang was a director of A Z when it served as Bossku s primary conduit for money stolen from 1MDB Hsien Yang s 1MDB allegations cannot be ignoredCNA has reported Mr Lee Hsien Yang is turning a personal vendet...
Migliori Casin Paypal Dove Giocare On The Internet Nel 2024 Within Itali

Migliori Casin Paypal Dove Giocare On The Internet Nel 2024 Within Itali

papar berkaitan - pada 5/11/2024 - jumlah : 97 hits
Migliori Casin Paypal Dove Giocare On The Internet Nel 2024 Within Italia Migliori Casin Online Italiani Content L app casin pi raccomandata senza dubbio quella di Snai che si distingue per la sua piattaforma mobile intuitiva e semplice da ...
The Future Of Malay Politics And The Shifting Dynamics Of Political Alliance By Tok Nujum

The Future Of Malay Politics And The Shifting Dynamics Of Political Alliance By Tok Nujum

papar berkaitan - pada 3/11/2024 - jumlah : 115 hits
I received this from someone A brief commentary written by a Tok Nujum I do not know who is Tok Nujum I have some comments at the end I have slightly adapted the piece The future of Malay politics and the shifting dynamics of political alli...
Sarawak Bn Played A Role In Bullying The People Too Says Chong

Sarawak Bn Played A Role In Bullying The People Too Says Chong

papar berkaitan - pada 1/11/2024 - jumlah : 212 hits
The Sarawak DAP chief claims Sarawakians were bullied not only by the federal government but also the BN led state governments in the 1980s Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen has claimed the state Barisan Nasional played a role in bullyi...
The Role Of Medical Informatics In Malaysia Insights From Rumc Mi

The Role Of Medical Informatics In Malaysia Insights From Rumc Mi

papar berkaitan - pada 30/10/2024 - jumlah : 252 hits
In the contemporary healthcare landscape medical informatics is increasingly recognized as a critical discipline that enhances the quality and efficiency of patient care the integration into healthcare systems is becoming essential and inst...
Be A Part Of The Solution Fmm Don T Be A Part Of The Problem

Be A Part Of The Solution Fmm Don T Be A Part Of The Problem

papar berkaitan - pada 30/10/2024 - jumlah : 141 hits
When you start your business and you decide to sell your stuff cheap by making everybody in your company work twice as long for half the pay that is understandable but if even after decades all you are capable of doing is make money by maki...
So What If Anwar Wants To Be The Father Of The Nation

So What If Anwar Wants To Be The Father Of The Nation

papar berkaitan - pada 30/10/2024 - jumlah : 318 hits
When you clean the house the house will get messier before it becomes cleaner Maybe things just looked messier in the first two years of Anwar s reign because Anwar was genuinely trying to clean the house Nehru Sathiamoorthy In response to ...
How To Build A Harley Sportster Street Tracker The Mule Way

How To Build A Harley Sportster Street Tracker The Mule Way

papar berkaitan - pada 30/10/2024 - jumlah : 199 hits
Like most skilled craftsmen Richard Mule Pollock can turn his hand to myriad custom motorcycle build styles But there s one particular type of bike that sits closest to the center of his wheelhouse the street tracker has extensive experienc...
Defamation Suit Over Stadium Issue Here S How Razak I Do Not Know Murray Hunter Ismail Can Undo The Damage He Has Done

Defamation Suit Over Stadium Issue Here S How Razak I Do Not Know Murray Hunter Ismail Can Undo The Damage He Has Done

papar berkaitan - pada 30/10/2024 - jumlah : 330 hits
Nobody can silence you with a letter of demand Unless what you have written or said was utter rubbish in the first place KL 29 Oct That was what I wrote on my blog July 30 last year after Razak Ismail the sacked PKR man wouldn t stop playin...
Bulan Kesedaran Diabetes Kinohimitsu Watsons Malaysia Bersama Memerangi Diabetes

Detik Detik Terakhir Laken Riley Sebelum Mati Dibunuh

Wanita Terjerat Love Scam Doktor Tentera Selepas Dipukau

Hati Hati Orang Kuala Pilah Ada Lelaki Guna Rm100 Palsu

Global Tensions Over China S Overcapacity Will Rise Under Trump

Allahyarham Tun Daim Dilepas Dan Dibebas Daripada Pertuduhan Gagal Isytihar Harta

Drama Curang Tanpa Niat

The Frugal Traveler Remembers Arthur Frommer The Guy Who Inspired Travelers To Just Do It


echo '';
Biodata Terkini Reshmonu Peserta Gegar Vaganza 2024 Musim 11 GV11 Penyanyi Lagu Hey Waley

Gegar Vaganza 2024 GV 11 Hadiah Tiket Peserta Juri Format Pemarkahan Dan Segala Info Tonton Live Di Astro Ria Dan Sooka

6 Janji Donald Trump Kalau Dia Naik Jadi Presiden Semula

Biodata Terkini Zehra Zambri Peserta Gegar Vaganza 2024 Musim 11 GV11 Penyanyi Lagu Semalakama

Senarai 10 Finalis Anugerah Juara Lagu AJL 39 2025 Keputusan Separuh Akhir Semi Final Muzik Muzik SFMM 2024


15 Playful Midcentury Kids Room Ideas For A Retro Vibe

Natural Gas Fuel Not A Hazard

How Car Centric Planning Is Killing Malaysians

Masjid Lapangan Terbang Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah

Rawatan Profhilo Di Klinik Dr Bazilah

Spaghetti Bolognese