Anyone, and there are millions of them both in and outside Malaysia, who has heard the sordid story of the mega thief Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak. might well feel sorry for the Malaysian people. To be publicly humiliated by the exposure of the head of one’s government as a common thief, would upset most decent people

And they would react. After all Malaysia is still theoretically a democracy with a Parliamentary system and it is headed by a Monarch who, unlike his British counterpart, has the unrestricted power to dissolve the Malaysian Parliament and force new elections.

The disclosures made publicly in many quarters, including the US Department of Justice, that Najib is a mega thief ought, in any functioning democracy, to result in either the resignation of the PM or his ejection from office and appropriate action by the criminal justice system.

None of this has happened. Why not? In the short term one who has stolen billions can buy votes and silence and Najib has been busy doing both. But even a mega thief eventually runs out of money to buy political support. Secondly, the public service and the judicial system have been manipulated by Najib so that the offices which should be bringing him to justice have fallen into the hands of his cronies and bought supporters. It may be personally humiliating to know that one is regarded as a corrupt hireling like the Attorney General or the Chief of the Police Force but it is also enriching and self-protective.

Thirdly, and most alarmingly of all, is the fact that a Malay politician can, despite being proven to be a mega thief, retain the support of the community from which he comes. It is sad but true that the Malay community seem unwilling, or even unable, to condemn a man of their own ethnicity even when he has been publicly shown to be a mega thief and suspected of worse. No society can so act and still be regarded as a true democracy.

Malaysia is at a crossroads. Either it respects its democratic nature and credentials and removes this cancerous criminal from his position or it accepts that the country has become a plaything for criminals whose racial origin allows them full liberty to commit any crime and escape punishment. In the latter instance how long do the Malays think such an attitude will be acceptable? Nationally and internationally.

The outside world has done its part. The criminals have been exposed. Proof of their guilt is public knowledge. Do honest Malaysians, and there are millions of them, really want to be viewed as accomplices to these massive crimes? Because that it what they will be if they

continue to look the other way as their democratic and law abiding society is perverted by a handful of