#Najib UAE crown prince

[kazifatagar]

Najib asked UAE crown prince to help clear step son Riza Aziz’s name

Datuk Seri Najib Razak admitted in court to seeking help from the UAE’s then crown prince, Sheikh Mohamed Zayed Al-Nahyan, to clear his stepson Riza Aziz of allegations linked to 1MDB funds. Transcripts of 2016 phone calls revealed Najib making a personal request for the crown prince to facilitate a loan agreement to legitimize the funds Riza used for filmmaking, following the US Department of…

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Steadylah bang Mat...

Steadylah bang Mat....

A LYING HIPPOCRITE..

Lim Guan Eng yang saya kenali...

"Komunis, bersekongkol dengan negara asing dan mencabul hak Melayu." Keseluruhan ayat ini terdengar seperti karya fiksyen: momokan Melayu paling utama. Ini adalah dongeng yang diturunkan dari satu generasi ke satu generasi dan saya adalah seorang daripada mereka yang terpesona dengan kisah seperti itu pada usia muda. Cerita mengenai seorang ahli politik dari DAP. Cerita mengenai Lim Guan Eng. Ketika saya mula berkhidmat dengan kerajaan ketika itu yang dipimpin oleh Najib Razak, saya melihat Lim Guan Eng, yang popular dikenali sebagai LGE, dari jauh sebagai seseorang yang harus saya waspada, seseorang yang, jika orang Melayu tidak berhati-hati, akan menggigit hak Melayu di belakang mereka, dan kemudian meludahnya. Saya tidak bersendirian, banyak lagi orang Melayu merasakan hal yang sama. LGE berjaya dijadikan momokan kepada orang Melayu. Seseorang yangdahagkan kuasa yang ingin mendapatkan takhta untuk memijak orang Melayu. Tanpa diduga, berkat takdir, saya akhirnya berada di lorong bertentangan, bukan sekadar berjuang untuk tujuan yang sama tetapi bekerjasama untuk memastikan masa depan negara kita tetap mempunyai harapan. Ketika itu, saya mula menyedari bahawa lelaki yang selalu dimomokan itu sebenarnya tidak begitu mementingkan kuasa. Dia hanya seorang negarawan - matlamatnya cuma satu, matlamat mendorongnya menceburi politik pada tahun 1980-an, satu matlamat untuk membina sebuah Malaysia yang lebih baik. Ketika itulah saya mula mengenalinya dengan lebih dekat dan mereka yang menyokong dan mengikuti karier politik LGE akan mengetahui bahawa lelaki itu adalah seorang pejuang dan bersedia untuk berusaha memastikan bahawa keadilan bukan hanya didengar sebagai slogan, tetapi dilihat berfungsi. Dia pernah dihumbankan ke penjara semata-mata kerana mahu memastikan gadis bawah umur yang menjadi mangsa pemerkosaan mendapat keadilan. Walaupun di penjara, LGE tidak melupakan perjuangan. Dia boleh hanya diam dan menikmati kuasanya sebagai seorang wakil rakyat, tetapi dia memilih untuk berjuang. Perkara yang menyedihkan adalah tidak banyak rakyat, khususnya orang Melayu, tahu mengenai perkara ini, terutamanya hakikat bahawa gadis bawah umur itu berbangsa Melayu dan seorang lelaki Cina sanggup membantu dan akhirnya dipenjara kerana cuma mendapatkan keadilan buatnya.

Ketika dan kisah seperti ini adalah cerita yang harus diberitahu secara terbuka untuk menunjukkan apa yang dilakukan oleh rakyat Malaysia sejati. Ini adalah jenis cerita yang perlu disebarkan untuk menghilangkan mitos LGE sebagai momokan. Bergerak ke depan, semasa detik bersejarah Mei 2018, LGE dilantik sebagai menteri kewangan. Sekali lagi, dia dijadikan momokan bahawa lelaki Cina itu akan mengekang hak orang Melayu dan kedudukan menteri kewangan tidak seharusnya diberikan kepada orang Cina. Sekali lagi, ramuan rasis disebarkan untuk menyemai kebencian. Ini bukan perkara baru. Perkara itu pernah terjadi sebelum ini ketika mendiang Tan Siew Sin bertugas sebagai menteri kewangan di bawah perdana menteri pertama dan kedua. Saya tidak akan berbohong. Bekerja dengan LGE bukannya mudah seperti berjalan-jalan di taman. Bukannya dia secara terang-terangan menolak idea dasar kamu tetapi kerana dia (dan saya yakin masih) sangat tegas dalam memastikan cara setiap satu sen duit negara ini akan dibelanjakan dengan bijak dan bertanggungjawab. Dia adalah orang yang sangat terperinci yang menyusun kertas dasar bersama menteri yang mencadangkannya dan berusaha dengan tekun untuk menjadikannya lebih baik. Dia adalah antara arkitek terhebat di sebalik Malaysia @ Work yang kini terbengkalai. Ini adalah rancangan induk bernilai RM6.5 bilion untuk memastikan 350,000 pekerjaan dicipta dalam lima tahun. Skim ini ditetapkan untuk memastikan majikan akan mendapat insentif untuk mengupah, dan pekerja mendapatkan gaji yang lebih tinggi jika mereka memenuhi syarat dalam skim tersebut. Ini adalah projek kesejahteraan sosial yang tersusun untuk memastikan pelaburan belia dalam pendidikan tidak akan sia-sia. Sangat menyedihkan bahawa projek besar yang menggabungkan usaha pelbagai kementerian kini akan menjadi sia-sia.

Bagi saya, secara peribadi, saya berdepan pertarungan berterusan dengan LGE untuk memastikan belanjawan yang lebih besar untuk kementerian saya, Belia dan Sukan ketika itu. Tetapi dengan dirinya sebagai menteri kewangan membuat saya begitu teliti dan mencabar saya untuk mencuba penyelesaian kreatif untuk memastikan mendapat peruntukan lebih besar. Motonya adalah, "tidak ada gunanya membuat besar-besaran jika rancangan itu tidak akan bertahan lama." Jadi, kami mencadangkan belanjawan sukan yang lebih besar melalui pemotongan cukai gula dan pemotongan yang lebih besar dari Sports Toto. Tahap jaminan ini akan mewujudkan ekosistem sukan yang lebih mantap yang memberi keyakinan kepada atlet semasa dan akan datang. Contoh utama ini adalah peningkatan anggaran untuk NFDP dan rancangan agresif untuk merekrut lebih banyak atlet wanita melalui Wanita dalam Sukan. Saya memahami tugas Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia, saya memohon agar rakyat Malaysia tidak cepat menilai. Walaupun kes terhadap LGE ini akan diadili di mahkamah, saya mahu semua rakyat Malaysia memberinya ruang untuk membersihkan namanya. Saya percaya pada Lim Guan Eng yang saya kenali. Seorang lelaki berprinsip. - Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman

Muhyiddin heads to Johor 

amid Bersatu defections...

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will be spending time in his home state of Johor this weekend amid defections from his party Bersatu. At least one Bersatu division in Johor has already quit the party to side with Muhyiddin's rival, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and more are expected to follow suit. According to his schedule released by his office, Muhyiddin will be spending his Saturday in Johor Baru, where he will be meeting civil servants, attending a National Youth Day celebration and be going on a walkabout. Meanwhile, a circular, purportedly from Umno, states that the Bersatu president will be meeting with Perikatan Nasional leaders tomorrow night. The circular is being shared on social media. Malaysiakini is trying to determine if it’s authentic. Muhyiddin will then head to Desaru on Sunday to attend a development meeting.

On Tuesday, the Kota Tinggi Bersatu division collapsed after its central committee, together with eight branches, quit the party to side with Mahathir. Mahathir's new party Pejuang is being set up to fight against Bersatu, Umno, and PAS. It will not be aligned to either Pakatan Harapan or Perikatan Nasional.

Sri Gading MP Shahruddin Salleh, a former Muhyiddin strongman, believed that up to 70 percent of Johor Bersatu grassroots members would be defecting. A senior Johor Bersatu assemblyperson also told Malaysiakini that interest among the party's grassroots to join Mahathir's party was "quite evident". Previously, during the height of the Sheraton Move crisis, 19 out of 26 Johor Bersatu divisions had declared their support for Mahathir after Muhyiddin had reportedly greenlit a coup in the state. It is not clear if these allegiances remain the same as Mahathir camp's state leader then, Johor Bersatu chief Mazlan Bujang, is now part of the PN state government.  Mazlan and the other Bersatu assemblypersons have publicly dismissed any possibility that they themselves would defect or that there would be a revolt in the Johor party chapter. - mk Time will tell and traitors will drown!!!...

West Bank annexation plan put on hold...

On 13th August 2020 was another historic day. President Donald Trump has "crossed over into North Korea" again. The quite unthinkable has happened. President Trump has brokered peace and diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Before you read further the UAE comprises of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Fujayrah and a total of seven "emirates".  And the UAE is a huge partner in the GCC or Gulf Cooperation Council which comprises of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.  Meaning it is a matter of time before all the GCC countries (well maybe except Qatar) will also establish diplomatic relations with Israel.  Israel already has diplomatic relations with Jordan and Egypt. The Arab leaders have come out saying that the UAE's formal recognition of Israel has saved the Palestinians. Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed ..tweeted  “an agreement was reached to stop further Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories." While Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah a-Sisi similarly called it “the agreement to stop Israel’s annexation of the Palestinian Territories”...

This means that Malaysian Muslims can also visit and pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque. This will be a first since 1967. To make this deal happen Israel has had to give up their plans to annex portions of the West Bank. The entire West Bank annexation plan was just a red herring. It was never going to happen.  I believe the so called "annexation of the West Bank plan" (which was never objected to by the UAE, Saudi or the GCC)  and now Israel 'suddenly giving it up' was all just a pre-planned "face saving device" or camouflage to help the UAE (and soon Saudi Arabia and the GCC Arab countries) sell the idea of diplomatic relations with Israel to their own people. Wayang tinggi Donald Trump, Israel dan Pak Arab GCC. The Arab monarchs can now tell the people on Arab Street 'Look at what we have done. We have saved the West Bank from Israeli annexation. Recognising Israel and opening our embassy in Israel is just a small price to pay. We have saved Palestine." The question is where will they open their embassies in Israel? In Tel Aviv or in Jerusalem? This also confirms that the Salafis and the Wahabis will now be pro Israel.  Otherwise they may not get any more Saudi money.  The few countries that are not part of the equation here are Shia majority Iraq and Iran as well as Shia ruled Syria and Lebanon. The Sunni Arab countries are teaming up with the Jews.  

Bagi bani Melayu pula fahamlah baik-baik. Apa yang sedang berlaku adalah orang Arab sedang jaga periuk nasi mereka. Semuanya selalu pasal 'shoru' atau periuk nasi.  Serupa juga dengan Parti Lebai kita di Malaysia.  Hari ini dia boleh sumpah laknat geng yang tidak menguntungkan dia. Esok bila dia nampak ada untung bagi dia, sumpah laknat boleh bertukar menjadi peluk-memeluk, timang-timang dan cium-mencium orang yang dulu dia laknat itu. Pendapat saya begini - asalkan orang tidak kena dera, asal orang tidak kena bunuh. Asalkan orang mempunyai segala peluang hidup untuk mencapai segala cita-cita mereka dan bagi anak mereka di masa depan - untuk hidup secara aman dan makmur maka itu adalah peluang yang baik bagi masa depan umat manusia.  Untuk hidup dan maju dalam aman dan makmur. Soalan cepu mas : Habis Tabung Tin Milo Jihad Palestin nak jadi apa? - Syed Akbar Ali

The Real Reason Why Trump 

Wants To Ban TikTok?...

President Trump says TikTok is kaput in America. The president has vowed to ban the app as soon as today. He and other officials have cited national security concerns for doing this, publicly expressing worry that the Chinese-owned company will share user data with the Chinese government. But what if there’s another reason why Trump wants to turn off TikTok, something driven not by high-minded policy but by something as simple as hurt feelings. A theory explaining all this has quietly and persistently circulated among TikTokers since the ban was first discussed a few weeks ago: What if this has nothing to do with China, nothing to do with national security? What if this does have everything to do with Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June? The event was supposed to mark a return to the campaign assemblies that the president covets, a comeback show of force with nearly 20,000 people in attendance after months of Covid 19 lockdown. And it was totally ruined for him by TikTokers and other young people online who coordinated a campaign to register for tickets to the event and never show up. So, what if the ban on TikTok is retaliation for that? It’s a theory. And surely no one other than Trump and perhaps a few other White House denizens understand the president’s true motivations for the ban. But as a hypothesis, it makes sense and has a compelling timeline. “I think his people have told him enough that ‘Yeah, it did have an effect on your Tulsa rally,’” says Mary Jo Laupp, 51, of Fort Dodge, Iowa, who was an unlikely chief organizer of the movement on TikTok against Trump’s rally. “I think that these Gen Zers made him look bad.”

Shortly before June 20, the Trump campaign said it had nearly 1 million people registered to attend. But when the big night came, the BOK Center in Tulsa filled to perhaps to a third of its total capacity. Televised broadcasts showed Trump at a podium framed by large swaths of empty blue seats. The online campaign against him had worked, though TikTokers are fully aware that their efforts aren’t the only reason that attendance was low. Surely the pandemic kept a few people home; the Trump campaign blamed it on protests in Tulsa, though reporters there that night identified few protests happening. And for the community of TikTokers who’ve spent time mulling it over, they’re now considering another question: Was it worth it? Was poking the president—foiling his plans—worth losing something that has grown from a source of entertainment into a wellspring of political activism? “If TikTok goes down, it was fun while it lasted, and we did get to stick it to Donald Trump,” says Sawyer McDuffie, a rising junior at the University of South Carolina. “If anything being a member of Gen Z has taught me is that no matter what rules they make, we will get around them,” he says. “Whenever they banned Instagram and Snapchat on school wi-fi [in high school] we would just get VPN. Whenever they told us we couldn't go to certain websites on our school laptops, we would figure out a way to get around it.” - Forbes

cheers.

Sumber asal: Steadylah bang Mat... Baca selebihnya di Steadylah bang Mat...

[mideastsoccer]

Ripples of 1MDB scandal likely to complicate Malaysian ties to key Gulf states

By James M. Dorsey

A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Podbean, Audecibel, Patreon and Castbox.

Disclosures of taped phone calls between embattled former prime minister Najib Razak and a person believed to be United Arab Emirate crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed go a long way to explain Malaysian efforts to counter UAE and Saudi influence in the Muslim world.

The disclosures are the latest incident in what have been complex, if not strained relations with the UAE and Saudi Arabia since prime minister Mahathir Mohamad returned to office 19 months ago on the back of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

The scandal involves the siphoning off of billions of dollars from the government investment fund for which Mr. Razak is standing trial.

Strains in relations between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the kingdom’s closest ally, were on display last month when Mr. Mahathir convened in cooperation with Turkey, Iran and Qatar – countries with which the two conservative Gulf states are at odds -- an Islamic summit that did not involve the Saudi-controlled, Riyadh-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The OIC groups 57 Muslim countries and is the usual convener of Islamic summits.

In line with the summit that called for Muslim nations to jointly confront problems Muslims face, Mr. Mahathir earlier this week, in contrast to the Gulf states, condemned the killing in Iraq of Iranian general Qassim Soleimani in a US drone strike as a violation of international law.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE called for restraint in the wake of the killing but few in the two states mourned the commander’s death.

Mr. Mahathir’s critical view of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, rooted partly in their alleged associations with the 1MDB scandal, was evident almost from the moment he assumed office.

Mr. Mahathir appointed as defense minister Mohamed Sabu, known for his critical views of Saudi Arabia.

Within a few months, Mr. Sabu closed the King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP), a Saudi-funded anti-terrorism centre established together with the Malaysian defense ministry.

Similarly, Mr. Mahathir re-appointed Seri Mohd Shukri as head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Mr. Shukri noted in one of his first statements that “we have had difficulties dealing with Arab countries (such as) Qatar, Saudi Arabia, (and the) UAE.”

Mr. Shukri initially resigned in 2016 as the government’s anti-corruption czar because he had been pressured by Mr. Razak to drop his plans to indict the then prime minister.

Excerpts of tapes played by the MACC at a news conference this week suggested that Mr. Razak asked a person believed to be Prince Mohammed to assist in unidentified ways to resolve the scandal and as a “personal favour” help his stepson, Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz, evade charges of money laundering.

The voice of the person Mr. Razak was speaking to on the tapes did not identify himself but was addressed by the prime minister as “Your Highness.” The MACC believes on the basis of the context of the conversations that the voice is that of Prince Mohammed.

In the recordings, Mr. Razak advises the person that “it is important to resolve this impasse with respect to 1MDB… so that we put closure as soon as possible because it’s embarrassing to both countries, embarrassing Malaysia and embarrassing the UAE as well as personalities close to you.”

The person rejects a request by Mr. Razak to discuss the issue in person but delegates an associate to talk to the prime minister.

He “has the full authority from me and I really, genuinely, want to find a solution…. It’s in our both interests, Mr. Prime Minister, to solve it,” the person said.

It’s not clear from the tapes whether the UAE actually stepped in a bid to help Mr. Razak and his stepson out of their predicaments.

Approaching the UAE for help made sense for Mr. Razak not only because of the country’s alleged links to the scandal but also because it has established itself as a financial and/or physical safe haven for politicians, businessmen and others while in office or positions of influence as well as those who have fallen into disgrace like former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf and his former Thai colleagues Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra.

A Pakistani court last month sentenced Mr. Musharraf to death on charges of treason. Mr. Musharraf lives in Dubai where he is receiving medical treatment.

Mr. Shinawatra, who was toppled in a military coup in 2006, fled into exile in Dubai after escaping Thailand to evade serving a prison term for a conflict of interest conviction.

Ms. Shinawatra, Mr. Shinawatra’s sister, followed him in 2017 after being removed in 2014 by another military intervention and having been charged with negligence while serving as prime minister.

Political scientist Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, whose views are often seen as reflecting UAE government thinking, anticipating a possible change in relations, disparaged Mr. Mahathir and his election victory at the time.

Mr. Abdulla focussed on Mr. Mahathir’s age as well as the fact that he had forged an alliance with his former deputy prime minister and rival Anwar Ibrahim, an Islamist believed to be close to the Muslim Brotherhood, a bete noir of Prince Mohammed.

“Malaysia seems to lack wise men, leaders, statesmen and youth to elect a 92-year-old who suddenly turned against his own party and his own allies and made a suspicious deal with his own political opponent whom he previously imprisoned after fabricating the most heinous of charges against him. This is politics as a curse and democracy as wrath,” Mr. Abdulla said on Twitter, two days after the election.

Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture

[yervand63]

Malaysia anti-graft body says audio clips show Najib tried to cover-up 1MDB scandal By Reuters

Malaysia anti-graft body says audio clips show Najib tried to cover-up 1MDB scandal By Reuters

By Rozanna Latiff and Joseph Sipalan

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s former prime minister, Najib Razak, allegedly sought help from the United Arab Emirates’ crown prince to fake evidence to cover up for the 1MDB scandal, according to audio clips revealed by Malaysian anti-graft officials on Wednesday.

Najib rejected the allegations and the UAE government communication office, the…

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Malaysia’s (And Malays’) Darkest Moment...

Malaysia’s (And Malays’) Darkest Moment....

Latheefa Koya, Chief of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC), released wiretaps on then-Prime Minister Najib Razak’s phone. The world heard, among other things, a late midnight call by Dzulkifli Ahmad, then a public prosecutor, tipping off Najib on impending criminal charges against him, as well as his (Najib’s) groveling to the Crown Prince of UAE pleading to him to backdate a loan agreement to protect Reza Aziz, Najib’s stepson and one of the principals named in the DOJ’s Asset Forfeiture Lawsuit of July 2016. Hearing His Highness repeatedly giving Najib a not-so-subtle royal shove-off and Najib not getting the message was painful.] I had to take breaks more than a few times while watching MACC Chief Lateefa Koya’s press conference of January 8, 2020. I had to, my revulsion could not be restrained otherwise. Persevere I did, only to be cursed with the darkest of moods at the end. This is what Malaysia has turned into, her leader with utter impunity and unbridled arrogance betraying the sacred trust citizens have placed upon him. Not just him but also his coterie of top officials. I was gripped me with an even deeper melancholy, accompanied by utter shame and barely controlled rage, on realizing that those officials were all Malays. Many were later honored as Datuks, Datuk Seris, and Tan Sris. Is this what Malay leaders meant when a few months ago they held a much ballyhooed gathering addressed by no less than current Prime Minister Mahathir under the banner of Maruah Melayu (Malay Dignity)? Is this what the culture that I have been brought up in my old kampung only a couple of generations ago has degenerated into? Then amidst my gloom, a spark of hope, as in Dostoyesky’s The House of the Dead where in the depth and sea of unimaginable inhumanity of a Soviet Siberian prison, a glint of humanity–a young man crying over the death of a stranger-to-him inmate. He replied to the narrator, “He, also, had a mother.” After hearing those MACC tapes, I also was desperate to find any sliver of honesty, integrity, and dignity amidst Najib’s Malay crowd. Then, there it was! We Malays also had one with integrity and honesty. He (or she) was there all along, hovering over but unnoticed. This hero or heroine loomed large though unseen and unheard. I hope that that would remain so for I fear the consequences otherwise. This brave soul saw evil being perpetrated. He (or she) was guided by our hadith that says (approximately rendered) when you see evil being perpetrated, use your hand to stop it. Failing that or if it would be too risky, then use your tongue, meaning, voice your disapproval. And if that too is dangerous, then at least disapprove of it in your heart, though that is the path least favored by Allah. This brave soul used his (or her) hand to install the tapping device, and in so doing trapped the tongue of those evil doers.

I am assuming (or pinning my hopes) that the upright individual is a Malay. I desperately want him (or her) to be one. God help Malaysia and that soul if he or she were to be a non-Malay. Yet another sneaky pendatang trying to shame and “do in” an honest, upright Malay leader. Malays, in particular Najib, already have difficulty digesting the role of that other chubby Chinaman. Malays like me are in desperate need of that righteous figure now, even an anonymous one, upon whom we could share some sense of reflected dignity and integrity. Confirming the authenticity of those MACC tapes is an elementary forensic exercise. Meaning, those tapes are genuine. Further, no one has denied them or claimed that they were concocted by slick actors and actresses, or rather actress. There was not even a sly “Sounds like me but not me” or “taken out of context” denial. What surprised me was not the tapes’ content. That present Malay leaders are corrupt to the core and top civil servants (again mostly Malays and UMNO partisans) lack an iota of integrity are not news. You do not need those tapes to validate that. That is the saddest and most painful part for me as a merantau (expatriate) Malay to acknowledge. More revealing were the responses of the participants, or lack thereof. Most remained silent. Rosmah managed, “I have nothing to say!” Then there was the rubbish from Najib claiming that those tapes vindicated him! Note, he did not deny the contents. There is a term to describe those who have difficulty discerning fantasy from reality. The good news there is that the malady is treatable. I always knew that Najib was not terribly bright. However, I did not realize he was that stupid as to use an unsecured land line to speak to a foreign head of state on a very sensitive matter. The man also lacks dignity; his shameless groveling to the Arab Crown Prince was despicable. I wonder how many other heads of state who had communicated with Najib over the phone and discussed 1MDB would feel now? Rest assured that those tapes were only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. To those who claim the tapes’ release was sub judice, violated due process, or an invasion of privacy, it is significant that so far no one has filed a court motion or police report. The reason is obvious–the behaviors of those whose voices were recorded were so egregious and beyond the pale. I am surprised and saddened that those who complained about the propriety of the tapes’ release have not seen fit to condemn the participants in the tapes. Focus on what those tapes reveal. Does anyone approve of what they did?

Meanwhile Inspector-General of the Police (IGP) Hamid Bador was waiting passively to receive those tapes. He should have responded:  “This is serious! I am on my way to see Latheefa right away to secure those tapes.” Those who argue that the tapes should have been handed to the police first and dispense with the public release, consider the police “investigation” of the other infamous so-called semburit videotape of two consenting men frolicking in a Sandakan hotel. That dragged on and at the end, “No Further Action!” Those individuals in the MACC tapes thought they were doing the patriotic thing to protect their leader, the Hang Tuah excuse. It is this perversion of our noble values that is so destructive. That prosecutor who tipped Najib was later promoted to be MACC Chief and given a Tan Sri. There’s more. He was caught soon after holidaying abroad, probably celebrating his reward, I mean promotion, with a female other than his wife. Worse, this slimy character had the audacity to give a Friday sermon on–yup, you guessed it!–the evils of corruption! Next JAKIM would invite him to give a sermon on marital fidelity. That’s the degradation of Islam in Malaysia, but that’s another and very long chapter. Save unconditional denials, the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal should ask the Agung and his brother rulers to rescind the titles awarded to those knaves. Syed Danial should not be like IGP Hamid, menunggu arahan. I am proud that the Ruler of my state of Negri Sembilan had already rescinded 15 months ago Najib’s and Rosmah’s honorifics. There was another shocker on the Council of Rulers. Latheefa’s predecessor Shukri had apprised them twice on 1MDB and the need for immediate action. The Rulers refused. Shukri called Duzlkifli a pengkhianat (traitor). From what we know today, that term could apply to many more. In the pantheon of infamy, those MACC tapes would be with Nixon’s Watergate’s. With Nixon, it was the missing part that undid him; with Najib and his ilk, the contents. To MACC Chief Latheefa Koya, continue the good work. Give ’em hell! You already struck fear among the corrupt. Let them have more sleepless nights believing that their past conversations could also have been tapped. To that brave righteous soul who tapped Najib’s phone, my heartfelt gratitude. You are my North Star; you personify “Duty, honor, country! - Bakri Musa

Moga ujian air kencing  terhadap Adun tidak "kabur"...

Hari ini heboh ada adun dan pegawai khas Menteri dikatakan terlibat dalam "Private Party".. Soal betul atau tidak.. itu kerja Polis.. sapa suruh letak diri tu kat tempat mcm tu, soal dia terlibat dengan dadah atau perempuan tu soal kedua..Meletakkan diri dalam keadaan Fitnah itu pun melambangkangkan satu kejahilan.. Ok ..aku bukan nak cakap pasal depa yg terlibat.. Aku nak cakap Soal Dosa Peribadi.. Malam tadi, dalam laporan kononnya ada pengadu memberikan maklumat..Ada bunyi bising, Music dari dalam kediaman.. Apakah ini boleh ditakrif sebagai Dosa Peribadi hanya kerana mereka melakukan perkara tersebut dalam premis Persendirian.. Kebetulan aku pernah menulis tentang Dosa Peribadi, Dan apa yang dinukilkan oleh Imam Ghazalie di dalam Kitabnya Ihya Ulumuddin memberikan panduan jelas kepada badan hisbah bagaimana yang ditakrifkan sebagai maksiat yang tersembunyi..

Kes malam tadi, menepati apa yang dikatakan Imam Al Ghazalie.. ada yg buat laporan,( ada sangkaan yg kuat), ada bunyi Music yang melepasi dinding rumah..Jadi ini yang jadi Kontroversi bila Dr Mujahid membangkitkan persoalan " Dosa Peribadi.. " Bayangkan Kaedah Fiqh ini tak difahami hatta Mufti sendiri yang masih kata kita mahu menggalakkan maksiat.. Cuba lihat laporan akhbar sebelum ini terutama Harian Metro.. Berapa banyak tangkapan dibuat oleh Polis bahagian Narkotik dan maksiat terhadap pesta liar.. apakah ada Jakim atau menteri Agama larang ? kritik ? sampai anak menteri, pegawai menteri pun kena tangkap.. Apa yang dilarang dalam Islam itu ? sama seperti operasi maksiat selama ini, tidak ada laporan.. depa datang ramai ramai, lebai pergi tajassus.. Mengitai, mengintip.. ketuk dari bilik ke bilik mcm skuad badar, sampaikan ada yang dah kahwin diganggu.. ada yang tersalah tangkap hanya kerana tidak mempunyai sijil Kahwin.. Ini bukan nak banteras maksiat.." Kaki skodeng" yg dilarang dalam Agama.. Aku cuma nak bagi faham kepada Ustaz, Ulama dan Mufti yg jahil.. sebab depa kata takda Dosa peribadi dan tersembunyi dalam Islam.. Hj Hadi siap bandingkan kes Dadah dalam konteks Dosa Peribadi dan intipan.. jahil betul..selama ini depa kata kita nak galakkan maksiat.. Disiplin ilmu dan Agama pun tak faham.. Jadi sekarang faham tak ? - Ipohmali

Saya berada di tempat yang salah,

semalam kau kata kau ada kat rumah...

Kau kata, kau ke kondo utk berbincang. Woow... bincang apa 1.30 pagi ? Dgn geng tahi dadah pulak tu.  Kau nak buat benda salah, kau buatlah senyap-senyap... Kalau kantoi pun sebab nasib tak baik, nak buat macam mana memang kau bodoh, siapa suruh hisap dadah...? Kau lebih tahu benda tu salah, kau nak hisap jugak kau hisaplah tapi pandai-pandai lah... Dosa peribadi antara kau dengan Allah, itu kau hadaplah nanti. Korang wakil rakyat, pegawai menteri, kenapa bodoh sangat...? Tengah malam, korang buat parti liar, hisap pil kuda, hisap ganja, main judi, di sebuah premis milik seorang taukeh cina; itu dah kira habis bodoh dah, tapi kalau korang buat senyap-senyap, tahanlah sikit, tak ada orang tahu pun, korang orang politik, bukannya artis. Tapi, yang bangang sangat kau pasang muzik kuat-kuat tengah malam buta sampai jiran sebelah telefon polis, pasaipa...? Apa punya bangang lah korang. - Awang Adun Dengkil, Adhif Syan Abdullah, tampil membuat penjelasan yang dia berada di tempat yang salah pada masa yang salah ekoran serbuan polis di sebuah kondominum di Puchong dan memberkas beberapa orang yang positif dadah. Adun ini tidak perlu gusar dan gunda, jika beliau ditangkap dalam serbuan itu dan diuji air kencingnya tetapi didapati negatif dadah bermakna beliau tidak terbabit dengan kasus berkenaan. Kebenaran itu tetap mengatasi kebatilan. - mso

Kronologi tangkapan ke atas Adun dengkil

Setpol Dr.M mengaku 

menjadi tukang kutip duit...

Zahid Mat Arip adalah merupakan Setiausaha Politik kepada PM, Tun Dr Mahathir dan beliau juga merupakan Ahli Majlis Pimpinan Tertinggi BERSATU. Sebelum ini beliau pernah bertugas sebagai Pegawai Khas kepada bekas Pengerusi Felda, Tan Sri Isa Samad. Apabila membaca laporan dari perbicaraan kes melibatkan Isa Samad, teramat jelas peranan yang telah dimainkan oleh Zahid Mat Arip sewaktu beliau bekerja dengan Isa Samad. Beliau sendiri mengaku menjadi 'tukang kutip duit' untuk Isa Samad, ertinya beliau sedar beliau telah bersubahat dan bekerjasama dengan Isa Samad. Sila rujuk beritanya di sini  Tidak pelik dan menghairankan sekiranya beliau lantang di dalam menyerang Anwar Ibrahim sejak dulu hingga sekarang. Beliau di antara yang amat sensitif jika ada pihak yang bercakap tentang peralihan kuasa di antara Tun M dan Anwar. Tidak sukar untuk memikirkan mengapa Zahid Md Arip ini amat memerlukan Tun M terus menjadi PM dan terlalu gusar sekiranya Anwar mengambil alih jawatan tersebut dalam tempuh terdekat ini.

Sewajarnya, di dalam pemerintahan kerajaan Malaysia Baru yang mahu melaksanakan reformasi di dalam negara ini, orang seperti Zahid Mat Arip ini tidak patut dikutip apatah lagi bekerja di sebelah PM.  Apakah rakyat boleh yakin dengan kerajaan sekiranya Isa Samad diputuskan bersalah nanti manakala Zahid Mat Arip terus bekerja dengan PM? Kalau Isa Samad didapati bersalah menerima rasuah, tetapi 'tukang kutip duit' ini terlepas atas alasan menerima arahan, apakah kita boleh menerimanya? Jelas, mana-mana pihak atau individu yang terlalu gusar jika Anwar menjadi PM sudah pasti ada 'kes' yang menghantui mereka. Tun M selaku PM yang diberi mandat oleh rakyat melalui Pakatan Harapan harus berani bertindak sejajar dengan manifesto PH. - wf auzdin ns

Dengar khabar murid murid di sebuah negara jiran..

kerja dan latihan sekolah siap pada waktunya....

cheers.

Sumber asal: Malaysia’s (And Malays’) Darkest Moment... Baca selebihnya di Malaysia’s (And Malays’) Darkest Moment...

[kerahlekung]

Panglima Bugis kena tengking dengan bini....

Panglima Bugis kena tengking dengan bini.....

Mengikut rakaman perbualan telefon, yang tidak diketahui penghantarnya, kepada SPRM, Rosmah Mansor dikatakan berang dan tidak berpuas hati semasa membuat panggilan kepada suaminya Najib Razak pada 27 Julai 2016. SPRM, yang mendedahkan kandungan rakaman itu kepada media hari ini, yakin rakaman berkenaan adalah tulen. Jom dengaq... Rosmah: Hai. Najib: Hai. Rosmah: Apa cerita? Boleh saya nasihatkan kamu, boleh saya nasihatkan kamu tentang sesuatu? Najib: Sebentar... ya, ada apa-apa? Rosmah: Kamu, jangan, dengar cakap saya, mereka beritahu kamu untuk jaga (Ketua Pesuruhjaya SPRM) Abu Kassim Mohamed. Dia banyak membuat kenyataan (audio tidak jelas) ambil gambar dengan Pak Lah apa semua. Mereka buatnya, jadikannya seperti wira, dan kamu pula jadi penjahat. Dan semua lima orang ini, bolehkah mereka lihat keutamaan mereka adalah kamu, bukan orang lain?

Najib: Siapa mereka? Rosmah: Pejabat kamulah. Shahlan dah yakin, Tengku dah yakin, Ahmari dah yakin. Macam kita dah jadi penjahat. Najib: Tidak, tidak, tidak, saya benarkan Azwan membuat kenyataan, kesannya baik. Rosmah: Tidak, Azwan OK. Hari ini Abu Kassim di Berita Harian dan mereka benarkan Abu Kassim ambil gambar dengan Pak Lah. Dan ada muka dia nak berterima kasih kepada Pak Lah dan semua orang lain kecuali kamu. Ini tidak adil. Najib: Hmm, hmm, faham. Rosmah: Tolonglah, darling. Najib: Tidak, saya sudah tandatangani surat pelantikan Dzul. Rosmah: Dan Abu Zahar boleh buat kenyataan, oh, mesti (tak jelas) sebab mereka dah melobi, tahu? Mereka tahu mereka dah melobi. Najib: Abu Zahar jangan buat kenyataan, biarlah. Rosmah: Ya, tapi Abu Zahar dalam Berita Harian. Dia tahu ke dia cakap apa? Najib: Itulah dia. Okey, okey. Rosmah: Saya tak suka ni. Darling, awak PM, awak patut kawal, bukan orang lain. Najib: Ya. Saya faham. Rosmah: Dan awak ada orang-orang bodoh (goons) di sekeliling awak untuk nasihatkan awak. Sebab saya beritahu Shahlan, kalau nak tolong, kenapa tak tolong minggu lepas bila benda itu terjadi? Kamu (Shahlan) sepatutnya datang pada saya ‘Datin, bagaimana saya boleh bantu?’ (tak jelas) Lepas satu minggu, saya kata, kamu tak patut cakap (tak jelas). Saya tak faham. Sebab ada orang buat aduan ke atas Abu Kassim, dia dalam masalah, oh baru kamu nak datang nak bercakap. Kenapa kamu tak cakap seminggu sebelum tu? Najib: Hmm hmm...

Rosmah: Yang kita ni dah satu minggu sakit hati, sakit badan, sakit kepala. Najib: Hmm hmm... Rosmah: Hmm... Najib: Hmm...

Rosmah: Jadi saya dah beritahu Amhari, perkara ni tak susah pun. Tarik sajalah arbitration (timbang tara) (tak jelas). Mereka perlu percayakan kita sebagaimana kita percayakan mereka. Najib: Betul. Sebab tu Amhari beritahu saya. Saya kata, kamu pergi cakap dengan Khaldoon, cuba yakinkan dia. Tak guna buat arbitration. Saya kata, kamu buat arbitration, semua orang sakit. Nampak? Saya boleh cakap dengan putera mahkota. Putera mahkota (tak jelas) akan ulang cakap “Oh, saya kena runding dengan Khaldoon”. Balik pada kat situ. Rosmah: Awak tak boleh salahkan dia, itu budaya dia. Jadi kita kena buat kerja sekitar budaya itu. Mungkin Khaldoon patut datang sini dan bercakap dengan awak, dengan Amhari, untuk selesaikannya. Itu apa saya rasa, bukan setakat bercakap di telefon, tak jadi. Najib: Kita boleh jemput dia. Ya, sudah tentu. Rosmah: Jemput dia dan selesaikan semuanya sekaligus. Dia kenal kita, bukan tak kenal kita. Kau dah makan minum rumah kita semua. Tolonglah jemput dia. Najib: Itu idea yang bagus, kita boleh jemput dia ke sini. Sudah tentu, saya akan beritahu dia. Rosmah: Awak dan Amhari, duduk untuk selesaikannya (tak jelas). Dan sementara tu, kita boleh selesaikan Riza. Riza punya masalah, bukan payah. Masalahnya hanyalah, ada benda dalam proses tu (along the line) yang tak lengkap. Itu saja. Najib: Sudah tentu. Sudah tentu. Rosmah: Saya fikir jalan terbaik adalah beritahu Khaldoon. Dia boleh bawa peguam dia datang sini. Saya rasa banyak perkara boleh diselesaikan. Berbanding Amhari cakap dengan dia dekat LA, dia nak tunggu siang, tunggu malam. Awak tahu? Najib: Saya boleh cadangkan kepada Amhari, jemput dia ke sini. Rosmah: Kemudian kita beritahu putera mahkota, Khaldoon ada di sini bercakap dengan kami, untuk selesaikan semuanya sekaligus. Kita dah bazirkan satu minggu dah. Najib: Ya, ya. Kita boleh jemput dia ke sini. Tak bazir, banyak benda dah bergerak dah. Mereka ni, dia nak tengok ada pergerakan di belah sana, belah China. Belah China sudah bergerak, tahu?

Rosmah: Itulah sebabnya, darling, tak banyak benda boleh kita cakapkan di telefon. Najib: Kita boleh jemput dia ke sini. Rosmah: Jemput dia ke sini segera, kemudian kita boleh beritahu putera mahkota, beritahu dia yang Khaldoon datang sini kita selesaikan (tak jelas). Saya tahu dan pasti Sheikh Mansour mahu selesaikan ini (tak jelas). Saya tahu putera mahkota mahu selesaikan ini. Tapi mereka bukanlah jenis orang yang duduk dan bercakap dengan awak, tahu? Najib: Hmm.. Ok. Kita boleh buat itu. Rosmah: Dia (tak jelas) ada duit saja. Najib: Saya akan cakap dengan Amhari selepas ini, saya akan beritahu dia untuk jemput Khaldoon. Rosmah: Atau awak cakap dengan Khaldoon. Tak apalah, darling, kita tak payah nak (tak jelas). Selesaikan perkara ini. Tolonglah datang sini, selesaikan semuanya sekaligus (tak jelas). Ini siang tunggu malam, malam tunggu siang, kamu tahu? Siang ke malam, ada senggang 24 jam. Najib: Ok, ok. Rosmah: Please darling. Najib: Saya akan cakap dengan Amhari. - mk

Perbualan didakwa antara Dzulkifli, Najib dan Rosmah

When can Khaldoon come here? - Najib Razak

Thats why your highness is important for us" - Datuk Seri Najib Razak

Perbualan didakwa antara Datuk Seri Najib Razak dan Ketua Eksekutif  Mubadala Development Company, Khaldoon Al-Mubarak.

"Dua kekal, kita tambah lagi dua" - Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad. 

Najib minta pinjaman UAE untuk filem Riza Aziz

Perbualan didakwa antara bekas Ketua Pesuruhjaya SPRM Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad  dan Tan Sri Shukri dari pejabat Perdana Menteri.

"Mr Khaldoon, this is Najib once again" 

"I can arrange a conversation with you"

 Perbualan Azeez dan Dzulkfli bincang siasatan 1MDB, kaitan Tabung Haji. (Andainya rakaman2 video di atas berulang/repeat, gua minta ampooon, gua pun dah jadi konfius...T/S)

Rakaman penuh...

SPRM dedah 9 rakaman audio didakwa konspirasi jenayah tertinggi. Sembilan set rakaman percakapan selama 45 minit yang didakwa konspirasi jenayah pada peringkat tertinggi didedahkan oleh Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) pada Rabu.

Sebahagian daripada petikan rakaman percakapan berkenaan ialah bekas Ketua Pesuruhjaya SPRM, Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad, mendedahkan maklumat siasatan mengenai skandal dana 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) kepada bekas Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, pada 2016.

Recordings Show Najib’s Effort 

to Seek Help on 1MDB Scandal...

Malaysian investigators played audio recordings of former premier Najib Razak seeking help from people including a member of Abu Dhabi royalty and former prosecutors to try to untangle himself from the 1MDB scandal in 2016.

One of the clips show Najib reaching out to Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed to secure a meeting to discuss how to resolve the “impasse” relating to 1MDB and Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co. in a July 26, 2016, conversation. That followed the U.S. Department of Justice filing lawsuits to seize assets linked to 1MDB and saying $3.5 billion

 had been misappropriated from the Malaysian state fund.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has verified the recordings and can vouch for their authenticity, Chief Commissioner Latheefa Koya told reporters in the administrative capital of Putrajaya. The agency will hand the clips to the police as they show elements of abuse of power, obstruction of justice and fabrication of evidence, which fall under the penal code, she said.

Najib is undergoing trial to face dozens of charges linked to his role in the troubled state fund 1MDB, which is at the center of global investigations into corruption and money laundering.

“I am shocked by the revelation and I am studying its content and I have referred the matter to my lawyer,” Najib said to reporters outside the Kuala Lumpur courtroom. He said he needed to review the matter when asked to confirm the veracity of the clips.

The nine clips also show conversations between Najib and people including his wife Rosmah Mansor and former anti-corruption chief Dzulkifli Ahmad.

Investigation Papers

In a recording dated Jan. 5, 2016, then-public prosecutor Dzulkifli said to Najib he was worried that the 1MDB investigation papers were known to about 20 people, and asked, “how can we cover this up?” Dzulkifli also said to Najib that he and former Attorney-General Apandi Ali can handle the matter on the legal side. Dzulkifli was appointed as chief commissioner at the anti-graft agency the following August.

On Jan. 26 of that year, Apandi held a press conference clearing Najib of all wrongdoing.

In Najib’s July 2016 discussion with Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, he sought help signing a loan agreement for his stepson Riza Aziz’s movie “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Najib said such an agreement would “show it’s a legitimate financing package, it’s not money laundering.”

The former premier said he was worried Riza would be made a scapegoat.

“I don’t want him to be a victim when he was totally unaware of the source of money,” Najib said in the conversation with Abu Dhabi’s crown prince.

In another recording, Rosmah told Najib to withdraw an arbitration between 1MDB and IPIC. They discussed inviting representatives from the United Arab Emirates to settle the matter without arbitration. -   Anisah Shukry,Hadi Azmi,Bloomberg Business

Nama2 yang disebutkan dalam 9 rakaman audio dipercayai cubaan menutup siasatan kes 1MDB/SRC International pada 2016. Tu pun dok kata DAP pengkhianat negara...

Amazing video of Qasim Sulaimani’s assassination...

cheers.

Sumber asal: Panglima Bugis kena tengking dengan bini.... Baca selebihnya di Panglima Bugis kena tengking dengan bini....

[mideastsoccer]

Disclosures of taped phone calls between embattled former prime minister Najib Razak and a person believed to be United Arab Emirate crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed go a long way to explain Malaysian efforts to counter UAE and Saudi influence in the Muslim world.

[mideastsoccer]

Sudan puts Saudi-UAE religious and cheque book diplomacy to the test

By James M. Dorsey

A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts and Tumblr

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates’ chequebook diplomacy driven-soft power strategy is being put to the test in Sudan where a stand-off between protesters and the country’s ruling military council is at a decisive point.

With protesters refusing to tear down barricades in front of the military headquarters in the capital Khartoum and surrender the street, breaking off talks with the military council and demanding immediate instalment of a civilian government, the stand-off has become a battle of wills.

Like in Algeria, Sudanese protesters have learnt from the 2011 popular Arab revolts that initially securing their success in forcing a long-standing leader to step down depends on their ability to sustain mobilization and street pressure.

Both Sudan and Algeria have, in the wake of the toppling of presidents Omar al-Bashir and Abdulaziz Bouteflika, promised elections and arrested and/or detained officials and/or businessmen on corruption charges in a so far unsuccessful bid to pacify demonstrators and persuade them to end their protests.

With elections scheduled for July in Algeria while Sudan’s military is talking about one or more years of pe-election transition, Algerian protesters may have a leg up on their Sudanese brethren.  

Nonetheless, protesters have also learnt that pledges of support by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt potentially are a Trojan horse. The UAE and Saudi Arabia led the regional effort to roll back the achievements of the 2011 revolts that toppled the leaders of Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia.

Egypt joined the counterrevolution after general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew Egypt’s first and only democratically elected president in a UAE-Saudi-supported coup in 2013.

As a result, protesters have also learnt that they are up against formidable opponents, who include not just the militaries and associated businessmen and politicians who have a vested interest in the ancien regime, but also their regional backers.

Saudi, UAE and Egyptian backing for renegade Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar in the battle for Tripoli, the seat of the United Nations-recognized government, serves as an immediate reminder of the obstacles and risks the protesters face.

It has prompted at least some Sudanese to demand that the ruling military council reject US$3 billion in aid offered in recent days by the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

So far Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt have paid lip service to the Sudanese and Algerian protesters while trying to bolster military efforts to be seen to be meeting their demands yet maintaining ultimate grip on their countries’ politics.

The removal of Mr, Al-Bashir in Sudan was of particular importance to the counterrevolutionary states because of the fact that he came to power with the support of Islamist forces, the Gulf states and Egypt’s bete noir.

Sudan moreover is geopolitically important because of its strategic location in the Horn of Africa, a battleground for rival camps in the Middle East, Mr. Al-Bashir’s playing of both sides of the Middle East divide against the middle, and the granting to Turkey of access to Suakin Island that faces the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah.

Initial indications are that protesters’ fears that Saudi and UAE cheque book diplomacy comes with strings attached are not unfounded. Anti-Saudi and UAE sentiment has also been fuelled by the two states’ acquisition of Sudanese agricultural land in recent years and opposition to the war in Yemen.

The head of Sudan’s military council, Lt. General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan, developed close ties to the Gulf states in his former role as commander of Sudanese forces that are part of the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen.

Mr. Burhan, in apparent recognition of the 22-month old UAE-Saudi led diplomatic and economic boycott of Qatar, refused to meet with Qatari foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani days after receiving a Saudi-UAE delegation. Sudan has since said it was working out arrangements for a Qatari visit.

Similarly, UAE and Saudi cheque book diplomacy has also bolstered Mauritanian support for their fight against Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood.  

This week’s visit by Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan to Iran during which the two countries agreed to form a joint quick reaction force to combat militant activity on their shared border, increase Iranian electricity sales to Pakistan and build a railway linking Islamabad, Tehran and Istanbul, puts the effectiveness of Gulf cheque book diplomacy to the test.

Pakistan appeared to be tilting toward Saudi Arabia in its dispute with Iran after the kingdom and the UAE pulled the cash-strapped South Asian nation back from the brink with $US 10 billion in financial aid and pledges of another $10 billion in investment.

Saudi Arabia’s greater emphasis on cheque book diplomacy coincides with a substantial cutback in global funding of Sunni Muslim ultra-conservativism to the tune of an estimated US$100 billion over the last four decades.

The cutback means that funding has been focused on regions that are of geopolitical importance to the kingdom such as the troubled Pakistani province of Balochistan that borders Iran and Yemen.

The cutback, however, does not mean that the fallout of the Saudi funding is no longer felt around the globe.

Some analysts believe that crown prince Mohammed bin Salman gives Saudi-backed ultra-conservative preachers a freer hand in Southeast Asia as opposed to Europe where he tries to project himself as an Islamic moderate. If so, its an approach that has produced at best mixed results.

Two Saudi-educated religious scholars, Bachtiar Nasir and Zaitun Rasmin, played a key role in ultra-conservative mass protests in 2016, the largest in Indonesian history, that brought down Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, aka Ahok, an ethnic Chinese Christian and ally of Indonesian president Joko Widodo.

Both students in the 1990s at the Islamic University of Medina, a key Saudi vehicle for the promotion of ultra-conservatism, Messrs. Nasir and Rasmin have since their return to Indonesia propagated a puritanical strand of Islam and built a substantial following among the middle class.

However, in contrast to the kingdom, that more recently has been pushing in countries like Algeria, Libya and Kazakhstan a quietist, loyalist interpretation of Islam, Messrs. Nasir and Rasmin have advocated political activism similar to the kingdom’s Sahwa or Islamic Awakening movement that called for peaceful political reform.

The movement, believed to have been partly inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood, lost ground with the banning of the Brothers in the kingdom and the arrest of many of its leaders after the rise of Prince Mohammed.

Messrs. Nasir and Rasmin have aligned themselves with the far-right Sunni Muslim Front Pembela Islam (Islamic Defenders Front, or FPI), whose leader, Muhammad Rizieq Shihab, a charismatic preacher and one-time vigilante of Yemeni descent, fled in 2017 to Saudi Arabia, where he has been allowed to reside to escape sexual harassment charges.

The alliance provides Messrs. Nasir and Rasmin a mass base that they can mobilize. The two men, moreover, huge followings on social media. Mr. Nasir has 1.1 million followers on Instagram, 526,000 on Facebook, and 217,000 on Twitter.

Mr. Rizieq was briefly detained and questioned in November by Saudi police after he flew a black flag inscribed with the Muslim principle of tawhid or the oneness of God at the back of his Mecca residence. The flag resembled ones used by jihadists, including the Islamic State.

“Are you a criminal for installing the flag on your house? I don’t think so... I think Rizieq is not a threat to my country. If he had violated any laws, he would have undergone a legal process. Rizieq doesn’t have problems,” commented Usamah Muhammad Al-Syuaiby, the Saudi ambassador to Indonesia.

Despite the seeming differences with Saudi policy, Mr. Rasmin appeared to be doing the kingdom’s bidding when he travelled to Malaysia in advance of the 2018 elections to support those segments of the Sunni ultra-conservative community that wanted to ensure that scandal-tainted prime minister Najib Razak would be re-elected.

Saudi Arabia had sought to help Mr. Razak, who stood accused of defrauding Malaysia’s 1MDB state fund of billions of dollars, by publicly supporting some of his questionable assertions. The Saudi strategy failed with Mahathir Mohamed’s defeat of Mr. Razak and the souring of Saudi-Malaysian relations.

Ultra-conservatives toeing the Saudi line argued that a defeat of Mr. Razak would lead to chaos. They denounced those who voted against him as khawarij, literally ‘those who walk away’ but frequently defined as ‘the dogs of hellfire.’

In an interview with Utusan, the newspaper of Mr. Razak’s party, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Mr. Rasmin backed the ultra-conservative argument that “it is prohibited to elect or let a non-Muslim be elected,“ a reference to the fact that Mr. Mahathir’s alliance included non-Muslims and liberals.

Taken together, developments in Sudan, Algeria, Pakistan and Southeast Asia, suggest that the effectiveness of Saudi and UAE religious and cheque book diplomacy hangs in the balance. The developments raise the question whether short-terms successes can be maintained long-term.

Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture.

[mideastsoccer]

JMD in SCMP:Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman must walk geopolitical tightrope during Asian tour

·        Saudi Arabia has sought to strengthen ties with Pakistan with one eye on neighbouring Iran

·        However, Saudi investment in Pakistan could complicate attempts to forge closer ties with India

James M. Dorsey  

Updated: Monday, 18 Feb, 2019 10:34am

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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s three-nation tour of Asia is as much about demonstrating he stands tall – despite Western criticism of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the war in Yemen – as it is about exploiting geopolitical and economic opportunity.

Prince Mohammed is betting on the optics of his visit to Pakistan, India, and China offsetting talk in the US and Europe about arms embargoes and sanctions.

Prince Mohammed changed his itinerary at the last minute, delaying by a day his arrival in Pakistan and postponing visits to Malaysia and Indonesia. The stakes are nonetheless high.

Saudi Arabia has sought to strengthen ties with Pakistan with one eye on neighbouring Iran. The crown prince’s visit coincides with Pakistan becoming increasingly dependent on Saudi Arabia while relations with China, its closest ally, have become strained.

Saudi financial support for Pakistan is designed to counter expanding ties with Iran. That support includes a US$3 billion deposit into Pakistan’s central bank to bolster the country’s balance of payments and another US$3 billion in deferred oil import payments coupled with an expected US$10 billion investment in the troubled province of Balochistan, which borders Iran.

Prince Mohammed could also seize upon Pakistani criticism of China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” and efforts to refocus the US$45 billion plus China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on job creation, agriculture and industry.

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan. Photo: AFP

However, Saudi investment in Pakistan could complicate Prince Mohammed’s attempts to forge closer economic and security ties with India, in light of the recent attack in Kashmir that killed at least 42 Indian military personnel, blamed on Pakistan. India has vowed to isolate Pakistan internationally, including seeking Pakistan’s blacklisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), with monitors financing of terrorism.

Managing the India-Pakistan minefield will test Prince Mohammed’s diplomatic skills. Iran’s India-backed, Arabian Sea deep-sea port of Chabahar is viewed by Saudi Arabia as encroaching on the kingdom’s national security and economic interests.

A study published in late 2017 by the Riyadh-based and government-backed International Institute for Iranian Studies identified Chabahar as a “direct threat to the Arab Gulf states”. The study warned Chabahar would enable Iran to increase oil exports to India at the expense of Saudi Arabia and raise foreign investment in Iran.

The study’s author, Mohammed Hassan Husseinbor, noted the expanse of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province.

“It would be a formidable challenge, if not impossible, for the Iranian government to protect such long distances and secure Chabahar in the face of widespread Baluch opposition, particularly if this opposition is supported by Iran’s regional adversaries and world powers,” Husseinbor wrote.

Iran has blamed a series of recent attacks in Sistan and Baluchestan on Pakistan-based militants allegedly supported by Saudi Arabia, the US and Israel.

Saudi Arabia’s economic and geopolitical investment in Pakistan will be on the agenda for the crown prince’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Saudi Arabia is a cesspool of constant rivalry among the princes Mohamad Sabu, Malaysian defence minister

China rejected Pakistan’s initial plan to incorporate into CPEC Saudi investment in a refinery in Gwadar, a crown jewel of the “Belt and Road Initiative” a mere 70km up the coast from Chabahar, and a gold and copper mine on the Iranian border.

Nonetheless, China has benefited from Saudi engagement in Pakistan despite concerns about the kingdom’s intentions. Financial support from Saudi Arabia and UAE has made a Pakistani request for a bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) less urgent. That has in turn shielded China from potentially embarrassing disclosures of the financial terms of CPEC-related projects the IMF was demanding as part of a Pakistani bailout.

While the crown prince gave no reason for the postponement of his visit to Malaysia, it is unlikely money and investment would have been enough to fix Saudi Arabia’s problems with the Southeast Asian nation.

Relations since Mahathir Mohamad’s upset electoral victory last year have been strained by Saudi efforts to protect Najib Razak while he was prime minister. Deposed by Mahathir, the former prime minister has since been charged with corruption. Mahathir’s election victory also brought to office Mohamad Sabu, a defence minister with a track record of criticising the kingdom.

“Malaysia should not be too close to a country whose internal politics are getting toxic,” Sabu warned in a commentary. “For the lack of a better word, Saudi Arabia is a cesspool of constant rivalry among the princes. By this token, it is also a vortex that could suck any country into its black hole if one is not careful.”

Sabu has since withdrawn Malaysian troops from the Saudi Arabia-based 41-nation, Saudi-sponsored Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition. He has also closed a Saudi-funded anti-terrorism centre, the King Salman Centre for International Peace, which was allocated 16 hectares of land in Putrajaya, close to the prime minister’s complex, by the Razak government. The centre was inaugurated in 2017 by Prince Mohammed’s father, King Salman.

Prince Mohammed may emerge from his tour reassured, having been feted – certainly he would be less welcome in Washington or Western European capitals. The ultimate measure, however, will be his ability to manoeuvre and master a minefield of conflicting geopolitical interests, something he has not yet shown he can do.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture.