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BENARNEWS- Nearly two decades after fleeing on a motorcycle to escape from police only to suffer a black eye while in their custody, Anwar Ibrahim is on a journey likely to propel him to the top spot in Malaysia's government.
Weeks earlier in September 1998, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad sacked Anwar as his deputy. Following the black-eye incident, Anwar was arrested, convicted and jailed on corruption and his first sodomy charge. In 2004, the sodomy conviction was overturned but his corruption conviction stood.
Almost two decades later, Anwar and his bitter foe Mahathir made amends as they joined forces in a mission to defeat Prime Minister Najib Razak and his powerful Barisan Nasional bloc with their upstart alliance of political parties.
On Wednesday, their four-party Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) coalition dealt BN a stunning defeat in the 14th General Election while running under the banner of Anwar's People's Justice Party (PKR). Anwar led the opposition in the previous election, in 2013, in which his side won the popular vote but could not win enough parliamentary seats to topple BN.
And as this week's historic vote unfolded, Anwar, 70, was confined as a prisoner at Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital, after suffering a shoulder injury while being transported in a prison van. In February 2015, he began serving a five-year sentence on a second sodomy conviction.
Now, he is waiting for a royal pardon and to be released from his prison sentence. Mahathir, 92, who was sworn in again as prime minister on Thursday, has promised to cede the office once Anwar is freed.
Mahathir said the handover should happen soon.
"In the course of our discussion with King yesterday, he said he is willing to pardon Anwar Ibrahim immediately," Mahathir said Friday.
Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who was named the country's new deputy prime minister, said her husband could be released next week if all goes well. Previously, no woman had held the position of deputy PM. She has matched her husband in that achievement.

"There are many things that we have to look through," she said. "What most is important is the King has expressed his willingness to give a full pardon to Anwar," she said at the hospital.
Even while locked up since 2015, Anwar has been seeking to change Malaysia and called on his supporters to challenge the ruling party.
"Yes, Anwar is inside the prison and still listening to our shouts for reform. He constantly reminds us to be strong and continue to unite against inhumane treatment," Wan Azizah said in February 2016 on the one-year anniversary of his incarceration.
Wan Azizah, who serves as PKR president, was among at least 113 Pakatan coalition candidates elected to the 222-seat parliament on Wednesday, giving it a simple majority needed to unseat BN. She campaigned under the PKR banner whose symbol is said to represent the 1998 attack on Anwar.
"Vote for Pakatan Harapan (whose) logo looks like an eye. The eye represents that of Anwar who was punched," she told supporters during a rally days before the election, local media reported.

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A supporter of Anwar Ibrahim holds a banner depicting Anwar's black eye during a peaceful demonstration to mark the opposition leader's 54th birthday, in Sungai Buloh, Malaysia, Aug. 12, 2001. [AFP]

Anwar's journey
The most recent roadblocks for Anwar assuming power began with his second sodomy conviction. He was acquitted on the charge in 2012, but the Court of Appeal reversed the decision two years later and ordered the five-year sentence.
On Feb. 10, 2015, a Federal Court panel rejected Anwar's appeal and he was taken into custody.
Anwar's accuser, former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan, called on his former boss to seek forgiveness while in prison, adding some people were misled to believe that Anwar was a political prisoner and not a felon.
"I was the victim in this case. Am I not human, that my rights as a victim are denied by human rights groups," Saiful said in 2016.
Last year, Anwar unsuccessfully challenged his conviction on two occasions, claiming Saiful offered perjured testimony and that the prosecuting attorney was paid 9.5 million ringgit (U.S. $2.2 million ringgit) to try the case.
One positive step occurred in September 2016 when Anwar met with his former boss for the first time since Mahathir dismissed his then-deputy. They were in court together as Mahathir backed Anwar's legal challenge against Najib's implementation of a tough national security law, which, rights groups said, would allow the party in power to trample on human rights with impunity.
After that meeting, Mahathir told reporters it was possible for the two men to join forces to oust BN.
"I cannot continue holding a grudge," Mahathir told BenarNews in an interview that month.
Later, the new opposition coalition involving Anwar's PKR, Mahathir's Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) along with the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the faith-based National Trust Party (Amanah), bickered over who would be prime minister if BN could finally be toppled. In June 2017, Anwar announced he would not be the candidate.
"With regard to the calls to focus full attention on the general election, therefore, I choose not to offer myself as a prime ministerial candidate," Anwar said.
"The friction (over who will be prime minister) is exhausting (the opposition), as the final decision lies with the people in the general election."
Mahathir pointed out that at 92, he was not interested in returning to the post he held for more than two decades. "If, in the end, nobody comes forward, nobody agrees to any candidate and they point out to me, it'll be churlish of me, just because I want to retire and rest and all that, not to respond to them," he said.
In the end, the coalition decided Mahathir would be its candidate who would serve until Anwar took over.
The coalition maneuvered through several more roadblocks leading up to the most monumental electoral upset in Malaysian history. One of those roadblocks was directed specifically at Anwar and Mahathir.
In November 2017, the government released a 524-page report recommending authorities investigate the pair in connection to billions of dollars in central bank losses during the 1990s when they were in power.
Wan Azizah stuck up for her husband, challenging the timing of its release.
"The report was ready and was sent to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong [Malaysian king] six weeks ago, it should have been given to us much earlier," she told reporters at parliament.
"Today, when we asked to debate the findings, it was rejected. This shows that whatever we have assumed before has now become true, that it is a political move over an issue that was resurrected after so many years to implicate their political opponents," Wan Azizah said.
Correction: This story was updated to reflect that Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was named but not sworn in as deputy prime minister.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia on Saturday barred former Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife from leaving the country, amid multiple reports that they had planned to depart on a private plane for Indonesia.
The ban was announced on Facebook as Malaysian reporters mobbed the entrance to the small Subang International Airport outside Kuala Lumpur, said to be the place where the former first couple would board the jet.
"The Immigration Department of Malaysia wants to confirm that Dato Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak and Datin Sri Rosmah Mansor have just been blacklisted from going abroad," said a notice posted on the department's Facebook page at around 11:20 a.m. local time. The plane had reportedly been scheduled to depart at 10 a.m.
Najib said he had been informed of the decision in a tweet sent around noon.
"I respect the order and will be with my family in the country," it said.
In a long statement posted moments earlier on his Facebook page, Najib said he would be going abroad to relax and ponder his political future.
"My family and I will be traveling abroad starting today to relax after the end of the 14th General Election," it said.
He added that he was "fully responsible" for the outcome of the election, as president of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and the coalition it anchored, the Barisan Nasional (BN).
"During this period, I will decide on my position as President of UMNO and Barisan Nasional Chairman, taking into account the deterioration of the people's support for Barisan Nasional in the 14th General Election," he said.
"Upon returning home next week, I will announce the decision and my future plans."
Najib apologized to Malaysians and said he was "taking a break" after a long political career and bruising electoral fight, in a series of tweets earlier in the day that had a farewell tone.
"I pray that after this divisive period, the country will unite. I apologize for any shortcomings and mistakes, and I thank you, the people, for the opportunity to lead our great nation. It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve you and Malaysia."
Resignation calls at UMNO anniversary
Najib's government was routed in an electoral landslide Wednesday after three years of fending off corruption allegations amid international money-laundering probes linked to billions of dollars allegedly siphoned from Malaysian state fund 1MDB, which Najib had founded.
New Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had pledged during his campaign to work to get back that money and to prosecute those who broke the law.
On Friday, a sombre Najib attended the annual celebration of the founding of UMNO, which had ruled Malaysia since the country gained independence in 1957.
Members of UMNO's youth wing used the occasion to demand that the 64-year-old resign from the party.
"Datuk Seri Mohd Najib is the main cause of Barisan Nasional's defeat at both the central and state levels," Rafizal Abd Rahim, an UMNO youth leader from Penang, told BenarNews.
"He needs to appreciate what he always called his 'big spirit' and immediately hand over UMNO's top leadership to a person more qualified than him."
In a press conference on Thursday in which he acknowledged his election defeat, Najib said his government had elevated Malaysians' quality of life, but "there are things that are not perfect in the time when we were in power."
While discussing plans for his cabinet on Friday, Mahathir told reporters that a few top government officials were facing the risk of being removed from their positions.
"Our intention is to go for people who have shown a tendency to be corrupt or who have committed known corrupt acts," Mahathir said.
Analysts said among those in the firing line could be Attorney General Apandi Ali, who had cleared Najib of corruption allegations related to 1MDB.
The U.S. Department of Justice is trying to recover more than $1.7 billion in real-estate and other assets allegedly siphoned off through complex transactions from 1MDB, which Najib formed in 2009 ostensibly to pursue projects that would benefit Malaysian citizens through development projects.
Court documents allege that about U.S. $681 million of 1MDB funds were diverted into Najib's personal bank accounts, but Najib said the money came as a political donation from a member of the Saudi royal family.
"At the moment the AG [attorney general] has undermined his own credibility. He has hidden evidence of wrongdoing and that is wrong under the law," Mahathir said.
Mahathir was sworn in as Malaysia's seventh prime minister on Thursday, a day after the coalition he led defeated Barisan Nasional, winning 113 seats of the contested 222 parliamentary seats.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday said police were ordered to remove the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) report from the Official Secrets Act to determine if legal action can be taken against those responsible for mishandling billions of dollars.
The prime minister also started the process of establishing his own government, naming three cabinet members. Meanwhile, Mahathir's expected successor, Anwar Ibrahim, who is waiting for royal pardon, is expected to be released from a prison hospital on Tuesday, Anwar's daughter said.
"We will be investigating as soon as possible money laundering and we have to contact America, Singapore, Switzerland and Luxembourg. We also have to sit through the evidence to determine whether it's valid. It will take time but we want to act as soon as possible," Mahathir said.
His announcement came minutes after the man he replaced as prime minister, Najib Razak, resigned as chairman of the United Malay National Organization (UMNO) political party and the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Najib has denied all allegations that he improperly received millions of those dollars from 1MDB.
Najib's resignation followed pressure from those within the party over BN's upset by Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan (PH) in Wednesday's election.

The U.S. Department of Justice is trying to recover more than $1.7 billion in real estate and other assets allegedly siphoned off through complex transactions from 1MDB, which Najib formed in 2009 ostensibly to pursue projects that would benefit Malaysian citizens through development projects.
Court documents allege that about U.S. $681 million of 1MDB funds were diverted into Najib's personal bank accounts, but Najib said the money came as a political donation from a member of the Saudi royal family.
Earlier on Saturday, Najib told reporters he decided to resign, calling it a moral responsibility because his party lost power for the first time since Malaysia's independence in 1957. Najib thanked party leadership and reminded everyone of its contribution to the nation over the last six decades.
"Maybe a lot of this had to do with the question of perception rather than reality, but that's how it is. ... Whoever wins the war on perception, they may be able to win the support of the people," he said in an attempt to explain the election loss.

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Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announces his resignation as president of the United Malays National Organization in Kuala Lumpur, May 12, 2018. (S.Mahfuz/BenarNews)

 
Najib's news conference was held after his plan for a short family trip to Indonesia was cancelled because the immigration department issued a travel ban for him and his wife.
Later, Mahathir confirmed he had asked the authorities to issue the ban.

"There are a lot of complaints against Najib so we have to look into all this," said Mahathir, adding he wants to settle a 1MDB investigation as soon as possible. "We do not want to be saddled with extradition requests."
New cabinet members

Mahathir turned to leaders of PH coalition parties to fill three of what is expected to be 10 cabinet seats. The prime minister named Lim Guan Eng of the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP) as finance minister, Mohamad Sabu from faith-based National Trust Party (Amanah) as defense minister and Muhyiddin Yassin from Mahathir's Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) as home minister.
Earlier this week, Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, was named deputy prime minister.

"We need this administration to be familiar with finance and defense initially," Mahathir said. "Then home/internal affairs would have to be familiarized after that. Other ministries will be familiarized accordingly." 

Anwar, the leader of the People's Justice Party (PKR), is expected to leave the prison hospital on Tuesday, a month earlier than his scheduled release in June, according to his daughter, Nurul Izzah. Mahathir has promised to serve as prime minister until Anwar, 70, receives a royal pardon for his second conviction on sodomy charges.
Mahathir also announced the formation of a "team of eminent persons" to advise the government on economic and financial matters during the transitional period.

"We realized, of course, that many of us have no or little experience in running a government. Of course this expertise must come from those with experience in running previous governments, or having held some responsible posts," Mahathir said.

The team will be headed by former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, former central bank governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, former president and CEO of Petronas Hassan Marican, businessman Robert Kuok and economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram.

"In the interim before we have proper ministries going, we need to investigate a lot of things and some may involve ministries and personnel themselves. So we need people who aren't involved to study the reports," Mahathir said.

The team is to exist for 100 days, according to a statement regarding its formation.

While those named to cabinet and transition roles have government experience, Mahathir told reporters he was committed to a diverse cabinet.
"There needs to be women and youth representation in cabinet. That'll be announced in due course," he said.

Since the election upset, women's rights advocates have been calling for greater representation in the government.

"While we celebrate Pakatan Harapan's decision to make Wan Azizah Malaysia's first deputy prime minister, her appointment alone is not enough," Rozana Isa, executive director of Sisters in Islam, and Angela M. Kuga Thas from the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, said in a joint statement.

"The new cabinet will be largely made up of people, including men, who have little or no experience in federal government. This presents a great opportunity to reflect the new government's commitment to include women in decision making posts."

Hareez Lee in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.
Correction: This story was updated to reflect that Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was named but not sworn in as deputy prime minister.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's new government on Monday ordered the attorney general to go on leave and barred him and several other top officials from leaving the country, amid a probe into an alleged cover up of ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak's links to a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal.
In addition, sources said, the nation's chief treasurer was relieved of his duties and the chairman of the country's anti-corruption agency (MACC) had resigned.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told a televised news conference that the solicitor-general would temporarily take over the duties of Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali.
"There have been lots of complaints against the attorney-general," Mahathir told reporters. "On that basis, we gave him a holiday."
"Once investigations are carried out, then we can suspend him and prevent him from leaving the country," he said.
In 2016, Apandi cleared Najib of any wrongdoing related to allegations of corruption tied to the state fund 1MDB, which, according to the U.S. Justice Department, was looted of $4.5 billion by associates of Najib. This included nearly $700 million that landed in Najib's private bank accounts, the department said. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Apandi had also halted domestic investigations into the alleged embezzlement.
The new prime minister made the announcement as he formally began his work on Monday, receiving his first official visitor – Brunei's leader, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah – and meeting newly appointed government officials.
Shortly after he was sworn in as the country's seventh prime minister on Thursday, Mahathir told reporters that "certain heads must fall" over the scandal-plagued 1MDB, which Najib formed in 2009 ostensibly to pursue development projects that would benefit Malaysians.
Mahathir, 92 and now the world's oldest state leader, sprang out of political retirement two years ago. He quit the ruling United Malays National Organization party then and later joined the opposition, accusing UMNO's leaders of shielding Najib from the 1MDB allegations.
Barred from leaving the country
After Mahathir's news conference on Monday, a government news release announced that treasury chief Mohamad Irwan Serigar Abdullah would "not be allowed to carry out his duties as treasurer general or any matters relating to the finance ministry."
Irwan, who also served as chairman of 1MDB, would also be barred from leaving the country, government sources told BenarNews.
Arul Kanda, chief executive officer of 1MDB, and Najib's former aide, Abdul Razak Baginda, were also barred from traveling abroad, according to the sources who requested anonymity and said they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Mahathir, during his news conference at the administrative capital Putrajaya, said the government decided to bar certain individuals from leaving the country because their assistance was needed for the 1MDB probe. 

"Their passports, however, have not been revoked. There is no blacklist, we are only investigating various officers against whom we have gotten reports of wrongdoings," he said. "We cannot allow them to leave the country in the interest of facilitating investigations."
Mahathir also said that ministry officials had been instructed not to destroy important documents. He announced that he would appoint a new anti-corruption commission chief. 

The hold-departure order against officials from the toppled administration came two days after Mahathir issued orders to bar Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, from leaving the country.

"We do not want to be saddled with extradition requests," Mahathir said, referring to Najib.
On Saturday, Mahathir said he had instructed the police to declassify a 1MDB report that was protected by the Official Secrets Act.

"We are investigating as soon as possible money laundering and we have to contact America, Singapore, Switzerland and Luxembourg," he said. "It will take time but we want to act as soon as possible."
MACC chief resigns

Four people are high on Mahathir's top list to head the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) after its head, Dzulkifli Ahmad, tendered his resignation on Monday, sources told BenarNews on Monday.
Among the four were Mohd Shukri Abdull, former MACC deputy chief commissioner for operations; and current immigration department director general Mustafar Ali, who served as MACC's deputy commissioner for prevention before his new appointment as immigration chief. 

The new MACC chief would be announced hopefully by Tuesday, Mahathir told reporters Monday.
Meanwhile, Abdul Razak Idris, MACC's former director of intelligence and investigation, lodged a report with the anti-corruption agency against Najib, accusing the former PM of abuse of power by preventing 1MDB investigations.
If found guilty, Najib faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine, legal experts said.
Abdul Razak told BenarNews that the report was only filed now because "previously it would have been a waste of time."
"The investigation will only be closed, because of who is involved," he said.
Anti-fake news law to be 'revisited'
Mahathir, in a short statement on Sunday, said he would redefine a controversial anti-fake news law introduced by Najib. 

The law will be revisited and a proper definition will be provided, so that media practitioners and the public can get a clear idea on what is fake, he said.
"Even though we support freedom of the press and freedom of speech, there are limits," Mahathir said, apparently backtracking from an election campaign promise to entirely abolish the legislation, which had been criticized as Najib's attempt to quell political dissent and freedom of speech in the run-up to the May 9 election. On the day he was sworn into office, Mahathir cited the anti-fake news law when he told reporters that his government would "abolish suppressive and unfair laws."
Just weeks ago, Mahathir himself became a target of the Anti-Fake News Bill 2018, which was passed in April. Under the law, making or sharing fake news would be punishable by up to six years in prison.
Police said Mahathir was being investigated for allegedly spreading fake news by saying he suspected that a private plane, which was to take him to campaign across the country, had been sabotaged.
Last month, a Danish citizen was convicted under the law after admitting he made false claims over the killing of a Hamas militant on a video that he posted on YouTube.
Meanwhile, in another move made by the new government on Monday, officials lifted a travel ban imposed on political cartoonist and BenarNews contributor Zunar, whose real name is Zulkiflee Anwarul Haque.
Zunar made the announcement on his Twitter page.

Zunar had created widely publicized illustrations criticizing Najib and his wife, Rosmah.
He had been arrested and charged with sedition for allegedly insulting Najib through his caricatures related to the 1MDB scandal.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday said he intends to remain the nation's leader for "one or two years" after leading the opposition to a stunning election victory last week.

Mahathir made the statement in an interview hours before the Pardons Board was expected to meet on Wednesday regarding his expected successor, Anwar Ibrahim, who is serving a five-year jail term on sodomy charges that his supporters say were orchestrated by ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak.
He also announced the release of an audit report into the financial scandal-plagued 1MDB state fund that had been frozen by Najib.
"In initial stages, in one or two years, I will be the prime minister and I would run the country," Mahathir said, according to a transcript of a video conference with Wall Street Journal (WSJ) writers in Tokyo.
Mahathir had pledged during the campaign that he would hand over power to Anwar, but it was the first time he gave a concrete timeline.
"The reason why the public supported us is that they have faith in the leadership of the opposition to resolve some of the problems and this partly depends on the experience of the entities of the opposition. That includes me, of course, I was the leader of the opposition," Mahathir told the WSJ.
"The public indicated they wanted me to lead for some time until some of the problem is resolved, but I myself am 93 years old. ... will step down, but I will play a role in the background," said Mahthir who turns 93 in July. "For the time being, I will run the country."
Earlier, analysts said the lack of a fixed timetable for the turnover of power could provide a litmus test for the durability of the former political enemies' alliance. Last week, when asked about turning power over to Anwar, Mahathir replied that the process could take a long time.
"There is likely to be a deal of early goodwill between the pair, given the historic nature of the election outcome," Hugo Brennan, a Jakarta-based senior Asia analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, told Bloomberg News. "The question is to what extent this can be maintained over the longer term."
The four-party opposition bloc Pakatan Harapan (PH) devastated the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition at the polls after Mahathir agreed to become the opposition's driving force.
The WSJ said it obtained audio remarks from Anwar earlier Tuesday and quoted the jailed politician as saying that Mahathir should be given time to achieve his immediate objectives. 

"It may take a year or slightly more, it's up to him," Anwar said, according to the WSJ. "I'm not in a rush."
Responding to Mahathir's statement, Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail agreed that her husband, Anwar, would not immediately take over from Mahathir.
She said the opposition coalition wants Mahathir's government to run smoothly.

"We have discussed this together and we hope that under Dr. Mahathir everything will be dealt with smoothly," she told reporters at the Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital, where Anwar, 70, has been undergoing treatment.
Mahathir, who governed the Muslim-majority nation for 22 years beginning in 1981, sacked Anwar as his deputy in September 1998. After he was fired, Anwar was arrested, convicted and jailed on corruption and sodomy charges. He consistently denied the charges.
His first sodomy conviction was overturned in 2004, but his corruption conviction stood and he is in jail on a subsequent sodomy conviction and would require the royal pardon to bypass a five-year ban for him to re-enter politics.
'He was unsuitable to succeed me'
In his book "A Doctor in the House," published in 2011, Mahathir recalled how he transformed his country from an agricultural backwater into an industrial powerhouse that became the 17thlargest trading nation in the world. But he also defended his decision to dismiss Anwar.
"He was unsuitable to continue serving in the government and he was unsuitable to succeed me as prime minister," he wrote. "I may have made many mistakes, but removing Anwar was not one of them."
Last week, Mahathir told reporters that Anwar will have to be a member of the parliament first before he can become prime minister.
"Whether he will immediately join the cabinet or not will be decided when the time comes," Mahathir said.
1MDB audit report declassified
On Tuesday, Mahathir summoned senior government officials, including the auditor general to Putrajaya, the country's seat of government, four days after he instructed the police to lift the restriction placed on the 1MDB audit report.
In 2016, Najib's government made it illegal to leak parts of the report by classifying it under the Official Secrets Act.
Malaysia made that classification as the United States was pursuing allegations of multi-billion dollar corruption involving officials at the scandal-plagued state fund.
According to the executive summary of the declassified report obtained by BenarNews, senior 1MDB officials "did not follow fully the decisions made by the board" and withheld information from its board.
"In a few instances, the management of 1MDB had presented information that was not complete nor accurate to the board of 1MDB before an important decision was made," the report said.
In December 2017, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions described the corruption allegations as "kleptocracy at its worst" and the U.S. Department of Justice said about $700 million had been siphoned off from 1MDB and had gone to Najib's bank accounts.
Najib has denied allegations of wrongdoing and said the money was a political donation from the Saudi royal family.
Mahathir, in the WSJ video interview, vowed that no deal will be cut with Najib regarding the 1MDB probe. He said that many of the senior officers under Najib have been bringing in documents.
"I am now facing the problem of trying to trust people to investigate him because some of these people sided with him and we don't know who is going to be loyal to this new government," Mahathir said. "We are slowly getting to the bottom of things."


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim received a royal full-pardon Wednesday, his lawyer and a Royal Household statement said, as he walked freely out of a Kuala Lumpur hospital where he had undergone treatment while in police custody.
Anwar, a twice-jailed 70-year-old former deputy prime minister, was freed after spending three years in prison and days after the opposition alliance that he jointly led pulled off a surprise election triumph and ushered the political downfall of Prime Minister Najib Razak.
"His Majesty the King, Sultan Muhammad V, under the advice of the Pardon Board ... has declared that the appeal for full pardon and immediate release of Anwar Ibrahim is approved," Wan Ahman Dahlan Abdul Aziz, comptroller of the Royal Household, said in a statement.
Anwar's lawyer, Sivarasa Rasiah, told reporters that the king's full pardon would mean that all of the former opposition leader's past convictions have been expunged.
"He is not only physically free, but also free to participate in the country's politics as though the past conviction did not exist," Sivarasa said.
Wearing a custom-tailored black suit, Anwar smiled, gave thumbs up and waved while dozens of cameramen snapped his photographs as he emerged from the hospital where he had undergone surgery for a shoulder injury.
He immediately boarded a car without issuing any statement.
Anwar has spent eight of the past 20 years in prison on what his supporters claimed were politically-motivated sodomy charges, including one that was orchestrated by Najib.
But prospects that Anwar will immediately take over as the country's prime minister appeared bleak on Wednesday, a day after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad issued a statement saying he intends to remain the nation's leader for "one or two years."
The opposition bloc devastated the country's dominant coalition during the May 9 general election. Anwar's party, PKR, won 48 of the 113 parliamentary seats captured by the four-party opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan (PH) and he is widely expected to succeed Mahathir once the 92-year-old premier steps down from office.
Mahathir had pledged during the electoral campaign that he would hand over power to Anwar. He stunned the nation in February 2016 when he left the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the anchor party in a ruling bloc that has dominated Malaysian politics since independence from Britain in 1957. Mahathir then joined forces with Anwar, his former arch nemesis, whom he once sent to jail on a sodomy charge.
Sodomy carries a jail term of up to 20 years in Muslim-majority Malaysia. Without the absolute pardon from the king, Anwar would have been disqualified for five years from running for office after his release. The king's pardon would pave the way for his return to national politics, lawyers said.
Anwar was kicked out as Mahathir's deputy prime minister on Sept. 2, 1998, amid reports he was under police investigation. He was sentenced to six years in prison for corruption in April 1999 and nine years in prison for sodomy in August 2000. He was freed four years later after the country's top court dismissed his sodomy conviction, but his corruption conviction stood.
The most recent roadblocks for Anwar assuming power began with his second sodomy conviction. He was acquitted on the charge in 2012, but the Court of Appeal reversed the decision two years later and ordered the five-year sentence.
Anwar solidified his image as a stalwart opposition figure when he suffered a black eye while under police custody in September 1988, shortly after he was detained for allegedly leading an anti-government rally. His photo with a black eye and one hand raised became a symbol of the political opposition in many posters.
As this week's historic vote unfolded, Anwar was confined as a prisoner at Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital in the country's capital, after suffering a shoulder injury while being transported in a prison van.
Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, stayed with him at the hospital. She has been named as the country's new deputy prime minister after being elected to the 222-seat parliament while representing the PKR party.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, in a statement emailed to BenarNews, reminded Malaysians not to forget the injustice that Anwar faced while serving "a long sentence for a crime that should never have been considered a crime."
"It's not surprising that there has now been this political solution, in the form of a new government granting his freedom, to his case which former Prime Minister Najib shamelessly politicized from the very start to sideline a formidable political opponent," Robertson said.
On Tuesday, Anwar's daughter, Nurul Izzah, told reporters that she grappled with the possibility that her father could observe Ramadan, the holiest month for Muslims, together with his family.
"This is one of the sweetest gifts we can have as a family," she said.


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BENARNEWS- Police searched the home of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and four other locations for evidence of money laundering, his lawyer said early Thursday (local time), after a momentous day that saw longtime political prisoner Anwar Ibrahim walk free after receiving a royal pardon.
Authorities confirmed the search, but did not immediately release any details, as new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad appeared to move quickly on his pledge to probe the alleged looting of billions of dollars from the state fund 1MDB.
"They checked every room. That's why it took them so long," Najib's lawyer, Harpal Singh Grewal, told reporters, referring to a six-hour search at Najib's private residence.
"We believe it is under the money-laundering act, but they found nothing incriminating," Harpal said, adding that Najib and his family were cooperating with police. 

No documents were seized, but police took some personal possessions, including handbags and presents, he said.
Amar Singh Ishar Singh, the head of the commercial crime unit at Malaysia's national police, confirmed a police raid at Najib's home to Astro Awani, a Malaysian TV network.
Witnesses described seeing more than 10 police cars and a pickup truck parked outside the residence about 10:15 p.m. shortly after Najib returned from prayers at a mosque.
The police search took place hours after Mahathir spoke during a news conference about an ongoing investigation into the scandal-ridden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), in which Najib was allegedly implicated.
"It is clear that there are more wrongdoings than those known by the masses, as well as by me," Mahathir said earlier.
Anwar's walk to freedom
Meanwhile on his first day of a newfound freedom, Malaysia's reformist leader Anwar Ibrahim said he would not rush to become prime minister, hours after he had received a full pardon and walked free from prison.
Anwar, a 70-year-old former deputy prime minister, was released from police custody seven days after the opposition alliance that he jointly led pulled off a surprise election triumph that ushered Najib's political downfall.
"I will be kept informed but I don't need to serve in the cabinet for now," Anwar told reporters after meeting the country's king, Sultan Muhammad V.
Wearing a black suit and tie, Anwar smiled, gave thumbs up and waved while dozens of supporters chanted "Reformasi" (Reform) – the movement he launched two decades ago – as he emerged from a Kuala Lumpur hospital, where he had been recuperating for months for shoulder surgery while serving a second prison term for sodomy. 

Anwar was freed Wednesday after serving more than three years of a 5-year sentence. He then boarded a car and proceeded to the National Palace, where he was met by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad for an audience with the king.
Anwar is widely expected to succeed Mahathir once the 92-year-old premier steps aside. Mahathir had pledged during the electoral campaign that he would eventually hand over power to Mahathir.
But postings on social media and newspaper commentaries had raised questions on how Anwar could work with Mahathir, who was once his political ally before becoming his nemesis, and then his ally again.
"I have forgiven him," Anwar told the news conference at his home in Kuala Lumpur after returning from the palace.
He acknowledged that Mahathir had facilitated his release by securing a royal pardon. "I and Dr. Mahathir buried the hatchet already, it was a long time ago," he said.
Mahathir, who had also served as prime minister for 22 years, starting in 1981, had shown his commitment to the reformist movement, Anwar said. "Why should I harbor any malice toward him?" he said.
After his news conference, Anwar spoke at a rally attended by thousands of ecstatic supporters.
"Enough of corruption. Enough of intimidation. No more," the newly freed political icon roared into the microphone. "We have entered a new era for Malaysia."

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Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim waves to his supporters upon his return home after he received a royal pardon in Kuala Lumpur, May 16, 2018. [S.Mahfuz/BenarNews]

 
Past convictions expunged
Sivarasa Rasiah, a lawyer representing Anwar, told reporters that the king's full pardon meant that all of the former opposition leader's past convictions had been expunged.
"He is not only physically free, but also free to participate in the country's politics as though the past convictions did not exist," Sivarasa said.
Anwar had spent eight of the past 20 years in prison on what his supporters claimed were politically-motivated sodomy charges.
But prospects that Anwar would immediately take over as the country's prime minister appeared in doubt on Wednesday, a day after Mahathir told the Wall Street Journal that he intended to remain the nation's leader for "one or two years."
In the May 9 general election, the four-party Pakatan Harapan (PH) opposition alliance devastated the country's dominant coalition, garnering 113 out of the contested 222 parliamentary seats.
Anwar told reporters after his release that the opposition triumphed "because there was a travesty of justice."
"We appealed because there was a clear conspiracy to condemn me and assassinate my political character," he said.
Anwar, who was Mahathir's deputy when he was removed from office in 1998 over charges of corruption and sexual misconduct, thanked his former political adversary for his help in securing his pardon and release.

He said he and his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, had expressed their wish to meet Mahathir soon, perhaps on Thursday, to convey their gratitude. 

"What's most important is that we must look forward. We have a duty to bring the nation forward," he said. "We have to move on."
 
Mahathir, in a separate news conference after Anwar's release, skirted direct answers on questions about the future role of his former political protégé in the new government.
"His role is in the party. He is the leader of one of the parties in Pakatan Harapan," Mahathir said, referring to Anwar. 

He explained that the opposition coalition was composed of four equal partners, as he took credit for Anwar's release from prison. 

"In the past it was said that I put him in prison," Mahathir said. "Now I have freed him."

Mahathir also said he would also meet with top PH officials to talk about Anwar. "If there's any changes on Anwar's position, it will be decided at the council," he said.
Mahathir stunned the nation in February 2016 when he left the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the anchor party in the ruling Barisan Nasional bloc that has dominated Malaysian politics since independence from Britain in 1957. He later joined forces with his former foe Anwar, whom he once sent to jail on a sodomy charge.
'One of the sweetest gifts'
Sodomy carries a jail term of up to 20 years in Muslim-majority Malaysia. Without an absolute pardon from the king, Anwar would have been disqualified for five years from running for office after his release.
Anwar was kicked out as Mahathir's deputy prime minister on Sept. 2, 1998, amid reports he was under police investigation. He was sentenced to six years in prison for corruption in April 1999 and nine years in prison for sodomy in August 2000. He was freed four years later after the country's top court dismissed his sodomy conviction, but his corruption conviction stood.
Anwar became a rallying figure for the opposition after he suffered a black eye while under police custody in September 1998, shortly after he was detained for allegedly leading an anti-government protest. His photo with a black eye and one hand raised became a symbol of the political opposition in many posters.
The most recent roadblocks for Anwar assuming power began with his second sodomy conviction. He was acquitted of the charge in 2012, but a court of appeal reversed the decision two years later and ordered the five-year sentence.
While last week's historic vote unfolded, Anwar was confined as a prisoner at Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital in the country's capital, after suffering a shoulder injury while being transported in a prison van.
Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah, stayed with him at the hospital. She has been named as the country's new deputy prime minister.
On Tuesday, Anwar's daughter, Nurul Izzah, told reporters that she grappled with the possibility that her father could observe Ramadan, the holiest month for Muslims, together with his family.
"This is one of the sweetest gifts we can have as a family," she said.
On the same day, Wan Azizah, told reporters that there were no plans to hold a special election in the near future for Anwar to become a member of parliament, a necessary step before he could become prime minister.
"Anwar will contribute but not as part of the government," she said in an event welcoming her as the nation's first female deputy prime minister. She asked her supporters to give Mahathir enough time to form his cabinet.
At his news conference, Anwar echoed that statement.
"I said to Tun Mahathir that it is better for him and Wan Azizah to continue. Give time for me and family," Anwar said. "I think I need that time and space and I think he welcomes that decision."
Sidelining a formidable rival
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, in a statement emailed to BenarNews, reminded Malaysians not to forget the injustice that Anwar faced while serving "a long sentence for a crime that should never have been considered a crime."
"It's not surprising that there has now been this political solution, in the form of a new government granting his freedom, to his case which former Prime Minister Najib shamelessly politicized from the very start to sideline a formidable political opponent," Robertson said.
Regional lawmakers also welcomed Anwar's release, expressing hope that the move signaled Mahathir's commitment to reform and to addressing human rights concerns in Malaysia.
"Anwar's release is a step in the right direction for human rights and democracy in Malaysia, as well as the ASEAN region as a whole," said Teddy Baguilat, a board member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).

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Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad reads a note during a news conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia, May 16, 2018. [AP]

 
UMNO members joining PH
Mahathir, meanwhile on Wednesday, confirmed that many members of UMNO were trying to join Pakatan.
"But we find that the public are unable to accept that," he told a news conference. "Therefore, they will not be accepted."
They can leave their old party and swear allegiance to the new government on their personal capacity, but they will not become members of the administration, Mahathir said.
"We will not want the new government to be seen [as] similar to the old government, so their membership will not be accepted," he said.
Mahathir pledged that his government would repatriate billions of dollars in money stolen from 1MDB that was currently in foreign countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
"Najib did not acknowledge that the money is from Malaysia," Mahathir said on Wednesday. "We would like to inform here that these monies belong to Malaysia and we would like to have it back."
Najib, who has been barred from leaving the country, lost power as a result of an electoral landslide in favor of the opposition while fending off international money-laundering probes linked to billions of dollars allegedly siphoned from 1MDB, which Najib had founded in 2009.
Washington is trying to recover more than $1.7 billion in real-estate and other assets allegedly embezzled from the state fund, including $681 million that were diverted into Najib's personal bank accounts, court documents allege. Najib has consistently denied the allegations.
Mahathir on Wednesday hinted about possible arrests.
"We will make a police report and once we get to a level where we can make arrest, we will make an arrest," Mahathir said.
An earlier version misspelled the name for Najib's lawyer.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian police have hauled jewelry, handbags, cash and documents out of residences and offices linked to ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak as part of investigations into a financial scandal tied to state fund 1MDB, a senior Malaysian official said early Friday (local time).
After a whirlwind of police activity that began more than 24 hours earlier and saw locksmiths sent in to crack open a safe inside Najib's large house, the head of the Malaysian police's Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) held an early morning news conference outside a posh condominium building in Kuala Lumpur, where officers had seized boxes full of valuable items.
"We seized 72 luggage bags, carriers of various sizes containing jewelry, watches, cash of various currencies and other valuables which values we have yet to determine," Amar Singh Ishar Singh, the head of the unit, told reporters at the Pavilion residences.
"We are investigating the 1MDB case and the searches conducted at all six premises since yesterday are linked to this case," he said.
"During the checks, we also seized 284 boxes of branded handbags. Among them were Hermes Birkins," the police official said, referring to the fashionable bag that retails from U.S. $12,000 to U.S. $300,000.
The searches began Wednesday night, and included one where police officers and vehicles were seen swarming around Najib's main residence, soon after the former prime minister had returned home after taking part in prayers at a local mosque on the eve of start of Ramadan in Malaysia. Exactly a week earlier, Najib fell from power after his ruling coalition, which had controlled Malaysian government for 61 years, lost a general election for the first time.
Days later, Najib and his wife were barred by immigration authorities from leaving the country as the couple reportedly was planning to board a private jet bound for Indonesia. Soon after, he resigned as chief of the Barisan Nasional coalition and its anchor party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
 
The searches took place at six locations in Kuala Lumpur and nearby Putrajaya – Malaysia's administrative capital. These included the official Prime Minister's Office and Najib's former official residence as prime minister.
"Four others were his residence," Singh said.
Going into the election Najib was shadowed by allegations of corruption linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state investment fund which he started in 2009 during his first term as prime minister. He has denied allegations of criminal wrongdoing over the deposit of nearly U.S. $700 million of 1MDB-linked money into his bank accounts, saying the money was donated by a member of the Saudi royal family.

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Police cars are seen outside the home of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, at Jalan Langgak Duta in Kuala Lumpur, May 17, 2018. [S.Mahfuz/BenarNews]

 
Najib: Key lost
When asked whether the locksmiths had managed to crack open the safe in Najib's main residence, Singh replied, "We are still working on it."
According to Malaysian news reports, the locksmiths arrived at the house in the early afternoon on Thursday, after the authorities had discovered the safe.
It was an old safe but Najib, in a statement to media, said it had remained locked for two decades because the key to it had been misplaced.
According to a lawyer representing the ex-PM, it took six hours for the police to search the house after they first arrived on Wednesday evening.
No documents were seized, but police took some personal possessions, including handbags and presents, attorney Harpal Singh Grewal told BenarNews.
Later on Thursday, after authorities had been on the premises for as many as 18 hours, and as people were still drilling away at the safe located on the house's first floor, the lawyer complained that the police were harassing Najib and his family and causing them distress.
"The family is very stressed and tired with the noise and the long duration of the whole thing," Grewal told Benar.
"The continued presence of police officers in his residence and the drilling of the old safe suggests unwarranted harassment on my client," he added, saying the items seized from the house were of insignificant value.
At a press conference on Thursday in Petaling Jaya, Mahathir Mohamad, the new prime minister, said the searches were conducted at the discretion of the Royal Malaysia Police.
During the electoral campaign, Mahathir had vowed to recover for the Malaysian people billions of dollars that were allegedly stolen from 1MDB and to prosecute any officials who were complicit in the scandal. Mahathir, 92, led the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition to a shock upset against Barisan.
"The police have their standard operating procedure," Mahathir told reporters. "I suppose the police have enough reason for a raid. I don't have any information, this is a police matter."
On Thursday, Pakatan was formally registered as a political coalition and a Council of Eminent Persons, which had been set up by Mahathir, announced the establishment of a six-member committee dedicated to looking into matters related to 1MDB.
In a press release, the council said it recognized the importance of having a separate committee to look into matters relating to 1MDB.
"Until and unless the issue of 1MDB is resolved, there will be questions that undermine public confidence in the Government and its Institutions," the statement said.
Anwar's daughter slams police actions
In leading Pakatan to victory in the election, Mahathir formed an alliance with a former foe Anwar Ibrahim, the founder of the People's Justice Party (PKR) who was released from prison on Wednesday, after he had served three years on a sodomy conviction, which critics said was politically motivated.
On Thursday, there was some criticism from within Pakatan's ranks against the police actions. Anwar's daughter, MP Nurul Izzah, questioned the timing and the manner of the raids targeting Najib's residences.
On her Twitter account, she said that "as a former victim of early dawn police raids, I must stress my disagreement in ransacking any home at such an ungodly hour."
"Elections are over and now is the time for nation building and to reflect on our actions," Nurul Izzah added.
In 2015, Nurul Izzah was arrested under the Sedition Act and was remanded for a night in police lockup over comments she made in parliament that were deemed seditious.
Reacting to her comments, the spokesman for UMNO's youth wing issued a statement expressing appreciation at the gesture made by one of the key figures of the new ruling coalition.
"Najib is a former prime minister who had given a lot to the country since becoming a member of parliament at the age of 23," Shahril Hamdan said.
"He has not been charged in court therefore he should be accorded the fair treatment under the principle of innocent until proven guilty."
Enough evidence to charge Najib: Anwar

Meanwhile, the newly freed Anwar, who walked out of custody after receiving a full pardon from Malaysia's king, said Thursday he believed the former prime minister could be arrested and booked on criminal charges.
"Do I believe there is enough evidence to prosecute Najib? I do. Based on the notes I received, it is strong enough but can I instruct him to be prosecuted? No. It has to follow all the process of a prima facie case," Anwar said after taking part Thursday night in a prayer at his house in Bukit Segambut.
And, in a stunning revelation, Anwar told the Reuters that a "totally shattered" Najib had telephoned him twice in his jail cell to seek his advice on the night of the election, as Najib's tenure as a titan of Malaysian politics began to crumble.
"When he called on the night of the election, I advised him as a friend to concede and move on," Anwar told the news service Thursday.
"He was just very evasive ... he refused to concede early," Anwar said.
An earlier version misspelled the name for Najib's lawyer.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad unveiled 13 members of his cabinet Friday, nine days after leading an alliance of opposition parties to their first electoral victory since independence six decades ago, but he left the vital foreign minister portfolio unfilled.
The cabinet, approved by Sultan Muhammad V, Malaysia's king, is split evenly among the four parties of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition. It reflects the country's multi-ethnic population and Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is set to become the highest-ranking female leader in Malaysian history when she is sworn in as deputy prime minister. She will hold a second portfolio as minister of women and family development.
Mahathir named three members of his Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu), three from Wan Azizah's People's Justice Party (PKR), four from the ethnic Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP) and three from the faith-based National Trust Party (Amanah).
From Bersatu, Mahathir named Muhyiddin Yassin as home minister, Maszlee Malik as education minister and Puan Rina Harun as minister of rural development. Mahathir dropped his earlier promise to serve as education minister because of a coalition pledge prior to the election where PH upset Barisan Nasional (BN), the coalition that ruled Malaysia for 61 years.
"That's the position of the manifesto and I can't break it," Mahathir said in a Bersatu Facebook posting on Friday. "I failed to realize that the prime minister cannot hold any other portfolio. I thought that the restriction only applied to the prime minister holding the finance portfolio."
Najib Razak, who led BN and was seeking a third term as prime minister, also served as finance minister. Since the election, Najib has been ordered not to leave the country and residences linked to him have been searched by police officials who reported recovering stashes of money and jewelry along with hundreds of high-priced designer hand bags.
Joining Wan Azizah from PKR are Mohamed Azmin Ali as minister of economic affairs and Zuraida Kamaruddin as minister of housing and local government.
Wan Azizah's husband and founding leader of PKR, Anwar Ibrahim, was pardoned by the king on Wednesday and freed from his prison sentence on a sodomy conviction. The coalition campaigned on Anwar succeeding Mahathir as prime minister, a move that could take place in a year or two, according to Mahathir.
The new prime minister also named Lim Guan Eng from DAP as minister of finance, along with Anthony Loke Siew Fook as minister of transportation, Gobind Singh Deo as minister of communication and multimedia and M. Kulasegaran as minister of human resources.
Lim is scheduled to be in court on Monday where he has pleaded not guilty to two corruption charges, the Straits Times of Singapore reported. Despite the ongoing court issue, Anwar endorsed Lim for the role during a public rally hours after his release from prison on Wednesday.
The Amanah party cabinet members are Mohamad Sabu, as defense minister, Salahuddin Ayub, as agriculture and agro-based industry minister and Dzulkefly Ahmad, as health minister.
Sabu, like others linked to the new administration, has served time following his imprisonment twice under the nation's defunct Internal Security Act, according to Malaysian media. Working as a cook during his second incarceration 30 years ago, Sabu established relationships that carried through his political career.
The swearing-in of the new cabinet is scheduled to take place on Monday in Istana Negara, the king's official residence.


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BENARNEWS- Former Prime Minister Najib Razak is to appear Tuesday before Malaysia's anti-graft commission as investigators reopen a probe into how nearly U.S. $700 million of 1MDB state-fund money ended up in his bank accounts in 2013, agency sources confirmed Friday.
A source said Najib was to appear before the investigators on Tuesday morning at the headquarters of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Putrajaya.

"So far he is the only one called in for questioning," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity and was not authorized to speak to the media, told BenarNews.
In 2015, MACC launched a probe into SRC International, a subsidiary of indebted state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad following the discovery that hundreds of millions of dollars linked to 1MDB had been deposited into two of Najib's personal bank accounts. He has claimed the money was a gift from a Saudi royal.
The investigation ceased on Dec. 31, 2015, as then-Attorney General Apandi Ali declared his department had found that Najib committed no criminal offense.
Najib has been the subject of a police searches at his residences and former office since Wednesday night, when he was served with a warrant. Early Friday, investigators said they had seized 72 suitcases that held cash, jewelry, watches and other valuables from an apartment unit in an affluent neighborhood of Kuala Lumpur. They said they also confiscated 284 boxes containing luxury handbags.
The raid at a Pavilion Residences condominium building was one of six simultaneous raids, which police said were linked to a 1MDB investigation. The police said they searched four current residences linked to Najib, as well as his former official Prime Minister's Office and former official residence as PM.
On May 9, Najib's Barisan Nasional coalition lost the general election, after which he was replaced as prime minister by Mahathir Mohamad the next day.
Najib's lawyer, Harpal Singh Grewal, acknowledged that he had heard about the notice to appear before the anti-graft agency but declined to elaborate.
"I was not there when the document was delivered so I cannot say anything about it," Grewal told BenarNews, telling a reporter to contact the MACC as "they will know more."
On Monday, Dzulkifli Ahmad, a Najib-appointed MACC chief commissioner, resigned from the post he held since Aug. 1, 2016.
Dzulkifli had replaced Abu Kassim Mohamed who was transferred to a minor position at a local university. Abdul Razak Idris, former MACC director of intelligence and investigations, told BenarNews that Abu Kassim's transfer was a retribution for his investigation into 1MDB.
Also on Monday, Abdul Razak went to the Kuala Lumpur MACC office to lodge a report against Najib on a charge that could carry a jail term of up to 20 years.
Jho Low whereabouts
In other developments on Friday related to the 1MDB affair, former Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin said he had a rough idea "where Jho Low is," referring to Low Taek Jho, an adviser for 1MDB and close friend to Najib who has been described as being the mastermind behind the financial scandal.
Daim called Jho Low, who has denied any role in 1MDB, the best witness in the scandal and urged the 36-year-old businessman to return to Malaysia and testify.
"I hope since he claims he is innocent, he would come back and assist us," Daim said.
He also called for the authorities investigating the case to observe the rule of law, especially with regard to the individual rights of persons of interest.
"People must be treated with dignity. It doesn't matter, there must be equal treatment for everybody," Daim said.
Reminding investigators that Najib is a former prime minister, Daim asked police to "give him due respect.
"Nobody is stopping police from doing investigations, but not at 3 a.m.," he said.
Police began searching Najib-linked properties and his old office as prime minister Wednesday night and continued into Friday.
On Thursday, after investigators had been in the former prime minister's private home for hours and safe crackers were drilling open a first-floor safe, his lawyer complained that police were harassing Najib and his family.
"The family is very stressed and tired with the noise and the long duration of the whole thing," Grewal told BenarNews.
Najib's successor responded, saying the searches were conducted at the discretion of the Royal Malaysia Police.
During the electoral campaign, Mahathir, 92, vowed to recover billions of dollars allegedly stolen from 1MDB and to prosecute any officials complicit in the scandal.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Justice is trying to recover more than $1.7 billion in real-estate and other assets allegedly siphoned off through complex transactions from 1MDB. Najib formed the investment fund in 2009 ostensibly to pursue projects that would benefit citizens through development projects.
CORRECTION: An earlier version erroneously reported that 284 designer handbags were seized as part of the police searches in Najib-linked residences.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's probe into the corruption scandal that helped topple its last government gained momentum Monday with the formation of a task force on the matter and ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak preparing to report to the anti-graft agency for questioning.
Just hours before he was to appear before the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to answer questions about alleged graft linked to the 1MDB state fund, Najib hired a new legal team, according to media reports and one of his lawyers who had been speaking to the media on his behalf.
Mahathir Mohamad, the new prime minister, said the task force would meet for the first time Tuesday and investigate crimes committed in relation to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which Najib founded in 2009 as a sovereign wealth fund to support economic development in the country.
Mahathir announced the task force's formation the same day that Malaysia's king, Sultan Muhammad V, presided over an oath-taking ceremony for 13 ministers in the prime minister's cabinet during an evening ceremony at the National Palace. They were sworn in 11 days after the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) coalition defeated Najib's Barisan Nasional coalition in a historic general election.
"It is hoped that the task force will help reclaim some of the country's dignity which has been severely tarnished by the scandal and will return cash and assets belonging to the Malaysian people," Mahathir said in a statement issued Monday night.
He said the task force would also cooperate with its counterparts in the United States, Switzerland, Singapore, Canada and other countries as needed.
"It has been mandated to take full responsibility over all aspects including investigations, tracing the movement of funds and the seizure of assets obtained from wrong-doing and embezzlement of 1MDB funds kept or laundered within and outside Malaysia," Mahathir said in a statement issued Monday night.
Najib, who also held the portfolio of finance minister during his time in office, has been summoned to appear before MACC at its headquarters in Putrajaya. He is to be questioned specifically on SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB.
The probe into SRC International is in addition to the discovery of about 2.6 billion ringgit (U.S. $681 million) from 1MDB in two personal bank accounts belonging to Najib.
In 2015, a separate investigation into the 1MDB scandal ended after Najib terminated then-Attorney General Gani Patail who apparently was preparing a charge sheet to prosecute the prime minister. Gani's replacement, Apandi Ali, who was handpicked by Najib, cleared the PM from any wrongdoing in connection with 1MDB in January 2016, bringing the investigation to an end. Last week, the new government put Apandi on leave.
Gani is a member of the new task force, along with a former MACC chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed, who was also dismissed by Najib while looking into the 1MDB affair. The other two members of the task force are former Royal Malaysia Police Special Branch Deputy Director Abdul Hamid Bador and current MACC chief Mohd Shukri Abdull.
The U.S. Department of Justice has described the 1MDB affair as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," pointing to more than U.S. $4.5 billion being stolen from the fund since its inception in 2009.
Najib has denied any criminal wrongdoing, saying the money deposited into his bank accounts was a donation from a Saudi royal. Over the weekend, while visiting his home state of Pahang, Najib reiterated his earlier claim.
"I did not steal money from the people," Reuters quoted him as saying.
A police raid last week at private properties in Kuala Lumpur linked to Najib resulted in the seizure of luxury items including designer handbags, watches and cash. In separate raids at Najib's apartments and offices that lasted more than a day, police said they had seized 284 boxes of high-priced designer handbags and 72 suitcases containing cash, jewelry and other luxury items.
Amar Singh Ishar Singh, director of the national police's Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID), confirmed that the searches were tied to the 1MDB case.
In a statement through his lawyer following the search, Najib described the items as "donations and gifts" and insisted that the raids were meant to harass him.
Najib shakes up legal team
On Monday, Najib overhauled his legal team, according to attorney Harpal Singh Grewal, who had been serving as a spokesman for the former PM. Harpal confirmed media reports about the shake-up.
News portal Malaysia Decides reported Harpal and another lawyer, M. Athimulan, had been told their services were no longer needed and that Najib had replaced them with former solicitor-general II Yusof Zainal Abiden and his team of six lawyers.
Harpal confirmed the change to BenarNews, but insisted he was not removed.
"Yes, I have withdrawn," he said in a text message shortly before midnight. "Yusuf wants his own team."
Meanwhile, over the weekend as news about the seizure of luxury items dominated headlines and lit up Malaysian social media, Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor, issued a rare statement through her lawyers calling on the authorities to stop spreading leaks.
"It is our hope that the authorities would observe the rule of law and due process, to avoid a premature public trial," read the statement, according to multiple news outlets.
"Enforcement agencies should not be feeding social media trolls, but observe and uphold strict professionalism at all times," the statement said.
Singh, the CCID chief, said he took the allegations against his officers seriously.
"The officers were categorically reminded by me to conduct the searches professionally and accord utmost respect to the occupants," Singh said, adding he had reminded them that the properties were occupied by the former prime minister and his family.
To ensure the searches were conducted professionally and prevent a trial by media, Singh said he had prohibited his officers from carrying their mobile phones while on duty.
Exceptions were made for the search commander and his deputy, "and that is only for the purpose of communication."
"The police urge the relevant parties to provide the details of the leaked photographs if any, to enable us to conduct an investigation to verify if in fact the photographs came from the police," Singh said, adding that Najib's family members and friends were present during the searches.
Leadership in place
The new cabinet inducted Monday was led by Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, president of the People's Justice Party (PKR) and wife of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was recently freed from prison and given a royal pardon over a sodomy conviction. Wan Azizah was sworn in as Malaysia's first female deputy prime minister.
The removal of Anwar from office in 1998 led to a falling out with then-Prime Minister Mahathir and the start of Malaysia's "Reformasi" movement to topple Mahathir's government. The pair rekindled their relationship as they focused on defeating Najib and Barisan Nasional coalition in the May 9 election.

After being sworn into office again as prime minister, Mahathir announced his picks for the new cabinet, splitting the seats among the four parties in the PH coalition. He has yet to select a foreign minister.
Describing the governing Pakatan alliance as being inexperienced, Mahathir also announced the formation of a "Council of Eminent Persons" to advise on economic and financial matters during the transition period.
"We realized, of course, that many of us have no or little experience in running a government. Of course, this expertise must come from those with experience in running previous governments, or having held some responsible posts," Mahathir said.
Speaking to civil servants on Monday morning, Mahathir said Malaysia was no longer as respected on the global stage as it once was.

"It is our collective duty to repair the country's image so that we will once more be looked highly upon by the world," he said in his first such address since reassuming his role as prime minister, an office he held for more than two decades before leaving office in 2003.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's anti-corruption commission questioned former Prime Minister Najib Razak for four hours on Tuesday, while in a press conference its chief described pressure and threats the agency endured when attempting to probe the theft of millions of dollars from the state fund 1MDB.
Najib, 65, reported to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in the nation's administrative capital early Tuesday and left about five hours later, telling reporters the questioning would continue on Thursday.
"I would like to inform that I have given several statements to MACC in 2015 on the issue of SRC and my statement today is a continuation of those previous statements in more detail," he said, referring to the energy company SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
According to the Wall Street Journal, about 42 million ringgit (more than U.S. $10 million) from SRC ended up in Najib's bank accounts, where hundreds of millions of dollars of 1MDB funds allegedly landed as well.
Shortly after Najib entered the MACC offices to give a statement, the agency's chief Shukri Abdull told reporters that the ex-prime minister would not be arrested.
"Today we continue to record his statement. Why? Because we received extra information. We are not going to arrest or charge him," Shukri said, without clarifying if such actions could be taken in the future.
Investigators questioned Najib days after police seized hundreds of boxes of designer handbags and 72 suitcases containing cash, jewelry and luxury items from properties linked to him.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has described the 1MDB affair as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," pointing to more than U.S. $4.5 billion being stolen from the fund since its inception in 2009.
Court documents filed in California allege that almost U.S. $700 million of the stolen funds ended up in Najib's bank accounts in 2013. Najib has denied any criminal wrongdoing, saying the money deposited into his bank accounts was a donation from a Saudi prince.
Over the weekend, while visiting his home state of Pahang, Najib reiterated his earlier claim.
"I did not steal money from the people," Reuters quoted him as saying.
'Treated like traitors'
Najib arrived at the MACC in a white van escorted by two motorcycle-riding officers and three other vehicles. He did not speak to reporters who swarmed him outside the MACC building.
As Najib met with investigators at the agency's headquarters, Shukri held his maiden news conference at the same building.
Shukri said he briefly fled to the United States in 2015, when he was the agency's deputy chief, after hearing he would be arrested and charged with conspiracy.
"You know, Abu Kassim and I were treated like traitors when we were trying very hard to bring back the stolen money," he said of his boss at the time, Abu Kassim Mohamed, who had assigned him to investigate millions of ringgits found in Najib's bank accounts.
When Abu Kassim was about to indict Najib in July 2016, then-Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail was suddenly removed from his position, Shukri said. At the height of the 1MDB probe in 2015, Najib also removed several of his critics from office, including four Cabinet ministers.
Shukri said he and Abu Kassim had urged federal ministers to replace Najib with either Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who was then deputy prime minister, or the then defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein.
"But out of all the ministers we approached, only three spoke up," he said. The three were Muhyiddin Yassin, Shafie Apfdal and Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.
"When our attempts to convince the ministers were unsuccessful, we ... met with the Council of Rulers twice but to no avail," he said.
Shukri said he was the target of threats and bribery attempts and once received a live bullet in the mail, but did not report it to police.
"We had our own intelligence sources, that I would be arrested and locked up, because I was accused as being part of a conspiracy to bring down the government," he said.
Shukri almost broke down into tears as he recalled how he felt guilty when he was told that some of his staff had been sent to jail, while he was in Washington.
"I felt helpless and was frustrated for failing to protect my men," he said.
Referring to Najib's claim that the millions of dollars in his personal bank accounts came from the Saudi royal family, Shukri said investigators from his agency traveled to Saudi Arabia and interviewed the prince, whom he did not identify. 

"The standard operating procedure is for us to look for our own witnesses. But in this case, the questionable prince was introduced to us by someone," he said. "The prince confirmed that the funds were a donation but he couldn't produce supporting documents."
'Kleptocrats'
On Monday, the DOJ issued a statement saying it "looks forward to working with Malaysian law enforcement authorities in investigating transactions related to 1MDB."
"DOJ is committed to ensuring that the United States and its financial system are not threatened by corrupt individuals and kleptocrats who seek to hide their ill-gotten wealth," the statement said. "Whenever possible, recovered assets will be used to benefit the people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office."
During the Friday raid at a Pavilion Residence condominium unit linked to Najib, police said they confiscated 284 boxes containing Hermes Birkin handbags, each worth U.S. $12,000 to more than U.S. $200,000.
The police search was one of six simultaneous raids that authorities said were linked to the 1MDB probe. Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, have been barred from leaving the country.
Just hours before he was to appear before the MACC, Najib hired a new legal team, according to media reports and one of his lawyers.
Meanwhile, over the weekend as news about the seizure of luxury items dominated headlines and lit up Malaysian social media, Rosmah issued a rare statement through her lawyers calling on the authorities to stop spreading leaks.
"It is our hope that the authorities would observe the rule of law and due process, to avoid a premature public trial," read the statement, according to multiple news outlets.
"Enforcement agencies should not be feeding social media trolls, but observe and uphold strict professionalism at all times," the statement said.
Najib, son of a former prime minister and nephew of another, met the investigators almost two weeks after his ruling coalition suffered a devastating defeat in the May 9 general election
New Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has convened a task force to investigate crimes committed in relation to 1MDB, which Najib founded in 2009 as a sovereign wealth fund to support economic development in the country.
Hareez Lee contributed to this report.
Updated to include additional comments made by MACC chief Shukri Abdull during his news conference.


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BENARNEWS- In a move to trim bureaucratic spending and cut the national debt, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday slashed cabinet ministers' salaries, ordered a review of major projects and augmented a probe into corruption allegations linked to the previous government. 

Mahathir announced the salary reductions, which would affect his own paycheck, after his administration's first cabinet meeting in Putrajaya, Malaysia's administrative capital.
"We have no plan to raise the salary of the ministers," Mahathir told reporters. "We will reduce it by 10 percent."

Malaysian cabinet ministers receive a monthly salary of 19,400 ringgit ($4,890), on top of the allowances they get for being in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. The country's prime minister receives a monthly salary of 22,800 ($5,747).

Mahathir, 92, has started deep reforms across the government, taking steps to fulfill promises after leading the opposition bloc to an election triumph on May 9. It led to the ouster of former protégé Najib Razak, who is facing accusations of siphoning off millions of dollars from the state fund 1MDB. 

1MDB, or 1Malaysia Development Berhad, is insolvent, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told reporters Wednesday, explaining that one of its directors had confirmed the fund could not repay its debts.

Lim said Kamal Mohd Ali, a director of 1MDB, had told him that one of the state fund's purported investments overseas – amounting to about 9.8 billion ringgit (U.S. $2.4 billion) – was a scam. 

"According to the directors, since they joined the board in 2016 the company was already insolvent," said Lim, who was told that, as early as 2016, 1MDB had accumulated losses of more than 500 million ringgit ($126 million).

Kamal and Norazman Ayob, the two remaining members of 1MDB's board, were summoned by Lim after auditors found that the government had been making debt payments on behalf of the state fund since April 2017.

To date, the ministry has shouldered about 6.98 billion ringgit ($1.76 billion) of 1MDB debt payments, Lim said. 

During their 50-minute meeting with Lim, the two 1MDB board members also revealed the state fund had one person on its payroll: CEO and President Arul Kanda.

Arul met Lim in a separate 40-minute session and was accompanied by 1MDB chief financial officer Azmi Tahir and former general counsel Ivan Chen.

Arul, who was smiling as he entered the finance ministry on Wednesday, was last seen in public while campaigning for Barisan Nasional, the ruling coalition led by Najib, during road tours prior to the May 9 general election.

Lim said Arul claimed he could not ascertain the value of 1MDB investments overseas.
"I have found Arul Kanda to be utterly dishonest and untrustworthy," Lim said.
"It is completely unbelievable that a highly paid and 'experienced' investment banker can be so irresponsibly clueless as to not know whether 9.8 billion ringgit worth of investments are even real," Lim said. 

If those investments are still available, Lim said, "then the government of Malaysia would not need to fork out 7 billion ringgit to pay the debts of 1MDB so far."

Arul evaded the media and left the building through a side exit before speeding away in his black Toyota Vellfire.

Authorities raid five sites linked to Tabung Haji

As Mahathir's new government sought to find new streams of revenue, authorities on Tuesday raided five sites linked to Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, the former government-appointed chairman of Tabung Haji, a fund for Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, officials from the nation's anti-corruption agency (MACC) told Reuters.

On Tuesday, the agency questioned Najib for four hours and was expected to finish taking his statements on Thursday. MACC was trying to establish how 42 million ringgit (more than $10 million) from the energy company SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB, landed into Najib's personal bank accounts.
The U.S. Department of Justice has described the 1MDB affair as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," pointing to more than $4.5 billion being stolen from the fund since its inception in 2009.
Court documents filed in California allege that almost $700 million of the stolen funds ended up in Najib's bank accounts in 2013. Najib, who ruled the country for almost a decade, has denied any criminal wrongdoing.
Trimming salaries
On Wednesday, Mahathir told reporters he would seek to hack down the national debt, which, officials said, had reached more than 66 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
His government will also review mega projects, such as a high-speed rail line to Singapore and a $14 billion rail project that would connect Peninsular Malaysia's east and west coasts, according to state news agency Bernama, which cited the economic affairs minister, Mohamed Azmin Ali.
Mahathir had earlier announced plans to revoke a controversial goods and services tax that could provide 43.8 billion ringgit ($11.05 billion) in revenue this year.

He said the reduction in the basic salary of cabinet members would show that his government was concerned about the nation's financial problems.

On Tuesday, Lim said the nation's debt obligations had surpassed 1 trillion ringgit ($251 billion), mostly due to the 1MDB scandal and mega projects sponsored by the previous government. As of June 2017, data from the Ministry of Finance showed that the federal debt stood at 685.1 billion ringgit.
CORRECTION: An earlier version incorrectly reported that the high-speed rail link to Singapore was a China-backed project.


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BENARNEWS- A missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine in July 2014, killing everyone on board, originated from a Russian antiaircraft military unit, a Dutch-led international criminal investigation has officially concluded for the first time.
The Joint Investigative Team (JIT), comprising authorities from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Ukraine, made the announcement about its latest findings at a press conference in Bunnik, Netherlands, on Thursday.
The JIT "has come to the conclusion that the Buk-TELAR that shot down MH17 came from the 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade based in Kursk in Russia," top Dutch investigator Wilbert Paulissen told reporters. "The 53rd Brigade is part of Russia's armed forces."
Flight MH17 was shot down over a conflict zone in Ukraine's Donetsk region on July 17, 2014, as the Boeing 777 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The 298 passengers and crew included 200 Dutch citizens, 43 Malaysians, and 13 Indonesians.
The announcement came a day after Malaysia's new government announced that it would soon end its search for another Malaysian airliner, flight MH370, which disappeared while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing four years ago. The plane was carrying 239 passengers and crew when it vanished from radar screens not long after take-off on the night of March 8, 2014. There were 153 Chinese nationals and 38 Malaysians on board.
In July 2016, Malaysia, Australia and China announced they were ending a massive international search in the Indian Ocean for wreckage from the plane, another wide-bodied Boeing 777. In January 2018, Malaysia's previous government hired a private U.S. firm, Ocean Infinity Ltd., to resume the hunt.
But on Wednesday, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the government would not renew its contract with the Houston-based underwater exploration firm, as of May 29, according to the state-run Bernama news agency.

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A fragment from Malaysian Airlines flight 17 is seen at a crash site in Hrabove (Grabovo), Ukraine, Sept. 9, 2014. [AFP]

 
Following Thursday's JIT news conference in the Netherlands about MH17, Russia's Defense Ministry reiterated that it had nothing to do with the downing of the airliner.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department later issued a statement expressing "complete confidence" in the latest findings by the JIT.
"Today's announcement confirms and adds detail to what we have said from the earliest days of this tragedy: MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia and Russia-led forces," the State Department said.
"It is time for Russia to cease its lies and account for its role in the shoot down," the U.S. statement went on to say.
Bellingcat, a British-based team of open-source researchers investigating the disaster, had already identified the 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade as being the likely source of the Russian-made Buk missile, which, according to investigators, brought down the passenger jet.
Russia denies interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs, despite compelling evidence that Moscow has provided military, economic, and political support to separatists fighting against Kiev. Russia and the separatists deny shooting down MH17 and have offered several other theories to explain the incident, all of which have been rejected by investigators.
In 2016, the JIT determined that MH17 was shot down from separatist-held territory in the Donetsk region by a Russian-made Buk antiaircraft system provided by the Russian military. The JIT report said the Buk system entered Ukraine near Krasnodon and was spirited back into Russia immediately after the airliner was shot down.
The Bellingcat investigation, conducted jointly with the independent Russian website The Insider, said in December it had identified a senior Russian general as a figure of interest in the downing of the airliner.
The Bellingcat investigative group – which uses sophisticated digital technics to analyze open-source audio and visual data – alleged that a man identified on intercepted communications as Delfin (Dolphin) was a retired Russian colonel general, Nikolai Tkachyov, who was currently serving as chief inspector of Russia's Central Military District.
Tkachyov denied that he was Delfin or that he was in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
This report was produced mostly by Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty (RFE-RL), a sister entity of BenarNews.
CORRECTION: An earlier version misreported that a Russian military unit had shot down MH17, according to findings by the Joint Investigation Team.


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BENARNEWS- Reeling from the discovery that national liabilities have ballooned to 1 trillion ringgit (U.S. $251.7 billion), Malaysia's new finance minister said Thursday the country would honor its financial obligations, while anti-graft investigators questioned ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak for a second time this week.
As Najib entered the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) building on Thursday morning, members of a taskforce investigating a massive financial scandal at the 1MDB state fund that he had founded held talks with U.S. Justice Department officials and FBI agents, officials said. 1MDB, or 1Malaysia Development Berhad, has become a target of probes in several countries including the United States, where investigators allege that Najib's associates bought properties and laundered $4.5 billion in money siphoned from the fund.
"[T]he Federal Government debt and liabilities amount to a total of RM1,087.3 billion, or 80.3% of the GDP, as at 31 December 2017. Malaysians are rightly concerned with our debt situation, as we did when we were in the Opposition," Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said in a statement.
"However, let me emphasize that the obligations and financial commitments of the federal government are unchanged before May 9 and after elections today," he added. "The only change is that the new federal government has decided to call a spade a spade."
'Necessary to bite the bullet'
Lim was responding to Facebook posts by Najib late Wednesday in which the former leader criticized Lim's claims that the nation's debt had swollen to more than 1 trillion ringgit.
"As a result of these alarming and confusing statements, our Bursa Malaysia index fell the most among all worldwide stock markets resulting in tens of billions of ringgit in market value wiped out in one day," Najib said. "Our Bursa index fell 40.78 points today or 2.21 percent while the Indonesian stock index added 0.71 percent."
Najib, the subject of domestic graft investigations, was toppled after serving a decade in power, when the opposition bloc, led by Mahathir Mohamad, demolished the ruling coalition in the May 9 general election.
Najib accused the new government of making moves "to slander and put all the blame on me to give a perception of a dire financial position to justify why you cannot deliver on your manifesto promises and to massively cut the civil service." 

Najib's criticisms came amid confusion over Mahathir's claim on Wednesday that the federal debt had reached more than 65 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), surpassing the previous government's official figure.
Lim said his ministry arrived at that figure by looking at the complete picture of the government's financial commitments.

He said the official debt stood at 686.8 billion ringgit ($173.2 billion) or 50.8 percent of GDP, but the nation was committed to pay for government guarantees for entities that have been unable to service debts amounting to an additional 199.1 billion ringgit ($50.2 billion), or 14.6 percent of GDP.

"Based on the two items above, the federal government debt would amount to 885.9 billion ringgit ($223.4 billion)," Lim said, explaining that with other commitments and obligations, including lease payments, the nation's total liabilities had breached the trillion ringgit threshold equivalent to 80.3 percent of GDP, as of Dec. 31 last year.
"It is necessary to bite the bullet now, work hard to solve our problems, rather than let it explode in our faces at a later date," Lim said.
Malaysian, US investigators meet for first time
The United States had sought mutual legal assistance twice – in 2016 and in 2017 – as Justice Department (DOJ) officials launched a corruption probe, but received no cooperation from Kuala Lumpur, U.S. investigators told the 1MDB taskforce in Putrajaya, the country's administrative capital.
FBI and DOJ officials met for more than an hour with the taskforce members. These included former Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail, former MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed, police Special Branch director Abdul Hamid Bador and the anti-graft agency's current chief, Mohd Shukri Abdul. The two nations agreed about what must be done to bring the stolen assets back to Malaysia, officials said.
Najib grilled again
Meanwhile, Najib smiled and waved to photographers but declined to give a statement as he arrived at MACC headquarters in Putrajaya on Thursday. He spent almost seven hours with the anti-graft body before leaving at about 5 p.m.
Najib, who had also served as finance minister, was grilled over why 42 million ringgit ($10.6 million) landed into his bank account from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary.
Before leaving, Najib told reporters that he was informed by MACC officers that his "questioning sessions are completed."
"I have answered all the questions to the best of my ability and the MACC have done their job with professionalism," he said.

Najib, 64, was interviewed by the anti-graft commission for four hours on Tuesday, the first time the former leader was formally questioned regarding the scandal.
Najib founded 1MDB in 2009 as a sovereign wealth fund ostensibly to pursue projects beneficial to Malaysians. But, according to U.S. court documents, the fund was used instead to satiate ostentatious lifestyles between 2009 and 2014.
When U.S. prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture case related to 1MDB in July 2016, they described a breathtaking level of fraud in which more than $730 million of what seemed to be 1MDB money was rerouted in a maze of transactions before ultimately landing in the personal bank accounts of "Malaysia Official 1," a veiled reference to Najib.
Najib has denied any criminal wrongdoing, saying the money deposited into his bank accounts was a donation from a Saudi prince.
Washington has described the 1MDB affair as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," pointing out that more than $4.5 billion (17.9 billion ringgit) was stolen from the fund since its inception.
Mahathir, 92, has vowed not to make any deal with Najib and promised to investigate the corruption scandal fully.
As part of the larger 1MDB probe, Malaysian police raided six residences and a former office linked to Najib, carting off hundreds of boxes of designer handbags and dozens of suitcases containing cash, jewelry and luxury items.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian police said Friday they found close to U.S. $29 million in cash in suitcases confiscated during raids last week on Kuala Lumpur residences linked to former Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The searches of at least six properties connected to Najib's family in and around the Malaysian capital were done as part of an investigation into a massive financial scandal around a state fund known as 1MDB, officials said at the time.
Also on Friday, the country's new finance minister said he asked tax officials to probe whether Malaysian tycoon Low Taek Jho – better known as Jho Low – was holding assets or profits linked to the sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
Najib, the ex-PM whose ruling coalition lost a general election on May 9, has denied allegations that he took money from 1MDB.
The huge amount of cash in 26 currencies was found in 35 suitcases seized from an unoccupied unit in the Pavilion Residences, a luxury condominium building in Kuala Lumpur, during a raid on May 18, the chief of the national police's Commercial Crime Investigation Division told reporters Friday.
"I can confirm since 21 May to 23 May 2018, with the assistance of 21 officers from Bank Negara (Central Bank) and one officer from the Islamic Bank, we sat down and counted the money in the 35 bags out of 72 bags," CCID Director Amar Singh Ishar Singh said.
The bulk of the cash was in Malaysian ringgit and Singaporean dollars.
"The total amount of this as of yesterday, 24 May, is RM 114 million [U.S. $28.75 million]," Singh said.

The other confiscated bags contained jewelry and luxury watches, which the police were planning to authenticate starting Monday with help from experts, Singh said.

During the 28-hour raid at the Pavilion Residences, CCID officers also seized 284 boxes containing handbags, mostly from the high-end Hermés Birkin line, the senior police official said.
"We have had discussions with Hermés, and we will take pictures and send them to Paris to verify their authenticity and their value," he said.
'Doesn't my daughter deserve wedding gifts?'
The May 18 raid targeted three apartments in the condo building, two of which were occupied by Najib's son and daughter, Norashman and Nooryana. Police found the 72 suitcases and 284 boxes in the unoccupied third unit, officials said.
The raids were among searches conducted by police with warrants at various locations, including Najib's former office as prime minister and his main home, Singh said. But he declined to reveal the names of the owners of the three condo units.
Najib has criticized the police raids on his and his children's residence as being illegal. The luxury items were gifts from friends and the packets of cash were donations for his Barisan Nasional coalition's election campaign, media reports quoted him as saying.
During their search of his daughter's apartment, police said they had confiscated another 150 luxury handbags. They also seized luxury watches and at least 50 more handbags, as well as 500,000 ringgit ($125,620) in cash, during their search of Najib's main house.
"What has 1MDB got to do with wedding gifts?" Najib said Sunday while addressing a crowd of his supporters in Pekan, his parliamentary constituency, referring to items seized from his daughter's house, which included wedding gifts and baby shoes for his grandson.
"Doesn't my daughter deserve wedding gifts? She is married to someone who can afford it in Kazakhstan," the former PM said.
Najib's daughter is married to Daniyar Kessikbayev, nephew of the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

"If they want to take items, they must have proof. There must be a prima facie case against me that the items were illegally obtained," Najib told the crowd.

"The people of Pekan know me. I am not a thief. I am not a rogue," he said. "To topple the party, they had to target the president. They would do anything as long as my brand was destroyed."
Police said the confiscated cash was being kept at the Central Bank while all of the seized jewelry and luxury items were under lock and key at police headquarters in Bukit Aman.
In addition, police said they were holding onto documents related to 1MDB that were confiscated during searches at a host of sites in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, Malaysia's administrative capital.
UMNO wants money back
After Barisan Nasional lost the election two weeks ago, Najib and his wife were barred from leaving the country as the new government launched an investigation into the 1MDB corruption scandal. He has since also resigned as president of both Barisan and its anchor party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
On Thursday, UMNO, which dominated Malaysian politics for 61 years until its May 9 defeat, issued a statement implying that the money confiscated by police during the raids on Najib-linked properties was in fact the party's money.
As UMNO's president, Najib was responsible for obtaining and managing such funds, including money that was supposed to be used for the general election, the statement said.
UMNO asked the police to return the money.
"It is sad to say that the balance of campaign and party funds has been seized by the police while it is in a process to be transferred to UMNO's new leadership after Dato Sri Najib's resignation as president of UMNO and BN," the party said.
"UMNO is currently in the process of rebuilding the party and the return of the party's fund will assist in the process," it added.
Probe ordered against Jho Low

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said in a tweet Friday that he had asked the Internal Revenue Board "to investigate Jho Low and his family in relation to any of his [tax] returns or anything received in the 1MDB scandal."
Jho Low is at the center of investigations by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) into the alleged laundering of billions of dollars that, it says, were looted from 1MDB and used to purchase high-priced real estate, art pieces and other valuable items.
DOJ has been trying to seize a $250 million yacht, which it alleges was purchased by Jho Low with laundered 1MDB money. But last month, an Indonesian judge agreed to release the ship, the Equanimity, after Indonesian police and FBI agents had seized it off Bali in late February.
Jho Low has denied any criminal role in the 1MDB affair, but his whereabouts are unknown.
The DOJ has described the affair as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," pointing out that more than $4.5 billion (17.9 billion ringgit) was stolen from the fund since its inception in 2009.
When U.S. prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture case related to 1MDB in July 2016, they described a breathtaking level of fraud in which more than $730 million of what seemed to be 1MDB money was rerouted in a maze of transactions before ultimately landing in the personal bank accounts of "Malaysia Official 1," a veiled reference to Najib.
Najib has denied any criminal wrongdoing, saying the money deposited into his bank accounts was a donation from a Saudi prince.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian authorities said they seized more than a ton of methamphetamine disguised as food and arrested six people, including a store director, following a raid at a supermarket in Selangor state, south of Kuala Lumpur.
The methamphetamine, broken up into 1,187 packets wrapped in gold paper and each weighing a kilo, was valued at more than 71 million ringgit (U.S. $17.8 million), police said. The size of the haul, which equaled 2,617 pounds, was the largest ever in Malaysia for crystal meth in terms of amount and value, officials said.
The packets apparently were smuggled into the country from Yangon, Myanmar through Port Klang, 27 miles (43.4 km) west of central Kuala Lumpur, according to officials who conducted the raid last week and announced the bust on Monday.
Police also confiscated 750 grams of heroin valued at 120,000 ringgit ($30,000), according to Bernama, the state-run news agency.
Investigators arrested five men between the ages of 22 and 48, Customs Director General Subromaniam Tholasy told reporters.

"The five suspects comprised three from Myanmar and two local men who had just received the container," Subromaniam said.
After interrogating the suspects, police arrested the supermarket director, a 31-year-old woman, that same day. Those arrested could face the death penalty, if convicted.
In addition, police confiscated more than 1 million cigarettes and 2.5 metric tons of tobacco along with 1.3 metric tons of undeclared medicines.
Investigators believe the drugs were to be distributed in Malaysia.
Drugs are often transported into a targeted area or country through shipments hidden in food cans, exported coffee bags or even food such as pickles and fruits, according to Suhana Ismail and Norhaya Jaafar, both with the narcotics section of the Department of Chemistry Malaysia.
"Very often, the drug products were seized by the authorities but the responsible people for the crime often escape except the packers," the two said in a report published in the Malaysian Journal of Forensic Sciences in 2015.
Methamphetamine production increases
Last week, as it hosted a regional drug policy conference in Myanmar, the United Nations warned that methamphetamine production and trafficking in Southeast Asia was rising at alarming levels.
Asia's Mekong region of Cambodia, China, Lao, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam was notorious for production of opium and heroin, but has undergone significant transformation in recent years. The U.N. reported that gangs had increased production of low-grade yaba methamphetamine and high purity crystal methamphetamine to "alarming levels."
"What we've seen is steady, year-on-year increases, but on top of that in the last couple years, we've seen huge cases – where you see a ton of methamphetamine at a time. And they're being traced back to the same areas in the north of this country (Myanmar)," said Jeremy Douglas, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) representative for Southeast Asia, according to CNN.
Meanwhile, despite Malaysia's tough drug trafficking law, the country remains a transit point for drugs, especially methamphetamine to Brunei Darussalam, New Zealand and Singapore, as reported by UNODC.
Speaking to BenarNews, criminologist Geshina Mat Saat attributed the prevalence of drug trafficking in the region to profit.

"The amount of benefits has been weighed as to being more, compared to the probability and risk of capture," she said. 

Aside from economic factors, Geshina said, Malaysia's geographical position comes into play in making the country a profitable transit hub for drug traffickers.
"Malaysia also has coastlines with dense mangroves and trees that grow right at the water's edge making water-to-land transfers difficult to be seen or traced," she said.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's new government says it wants to renegotiate terms for a China-backed multibillion-dollar rail link project and has scrapped a planned high-speed rail link to Singapore, citing "huge" costs and a lack of return on investment.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who pulled off a stunning electoral victory this month, said his government's decision to cancel plans to build a bullet-train line between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore was final.
"It's not beneficial," Mahathir, 92, told reporters Monday. "It's going to cost us a huge sum of money, we'll make no money at all from this operation."
And, in a weekend interview, Mahathir said his government would renegotiate terms of a $14 billion East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) – one of the signature projects of his predecessor, former Prime Najib Razak – which would span 688 km (430 miles) and connect the South China Sea at the Thai border in the east with strategic shipping routes of the Straits of Malacca in the west.
Those moves, he said, would cut about a fifth of Malaysia's national debt and liabilities.
"We are renegotiating the terms," Mahathir told the business and investment weekly The Edge, explaining that doing away with mega projects could reduce the country's national debts by $50 billion. "The terms are very damaging to our economy."
The country's new leader made the twin moves days after the new finance minister, Lim Guan Eng, said Kuala Lumpur's liabilities had ballooned to 1 trillion ringgit (U.S. $251.7 billion), or more than 80 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product.
Najib's former economics minister, Rahman Dahlan, on Tuesday slammed Mahathir's decision to discard the bullet-train project, known as High Speed Rail (HSR), as "short-sighted," saying it would deny the country of 209 billion ringgit (U.S. $50 billion) in gross national income and the opportunity to generate some 70,000 jobs.
"It is too simplistic for the prime minister to say that the project would not be beneficial because it's going to cost our country a huge sum of money and it will make no money at all from the operation," Rahman said in a statement.
Rahman quoted a Japanese-funded study showing that the bullet-train line would have delivered an annual 4 billion ringgit (U.S. $1 billion) economic gain for Malaysia. 

He also questioned the 110 billion ringgit (U.S. $27.7 billion) figure cited by the prime minister for the project, arguing that it greatly differed from the 50 billion (U.S. $12.6 billion) to 70 billion ringgit (U.S. $17.7 billion) cost that the governments of Singapore and Malaysia had estimated in early 2018.
Responding to Rahman's statement, Mahathir said the former minister should back up his statement with facts.

"Show me the proof. Do not just say it," said Mahathir told reporters Tuesday night after performing prayers with officers at the Federal police headquarters.
Mahathir said Singapore would soon be formally informed of his decision about the 350-km (218-mile) bullet-train line, which was expected to slash travel time to 90 minutes from the current the five or more hours by road.
The project, signed on Dec. 13, 2016, was aimed at providing an alternative to the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur air route, which recorded 30,537 flights between the two cities in 2017, making it the world's busiest, according to the World Economic Forum.
"With such large yearly passenger numbers, there would have been a strong case for the financial viability for the project," Rahman said.
He said the train stations in between that were relatively less developed than Kuala Lumpur or Singapore would stand to gain from development, mimicking the economic advantages experienced by smaller towns in Taiwan and Japan when the two countries built bullet-train lines.
In an interview with the Financial Times on Monday, Mahathir said that "the move was necessary to "avoid being declared bankrupt."
"We need to do away with some of the unnecessary projects, for example the high-speed rail, which is going to cost us 110 billion ringgit (US$28 billion) and will not earn us a single cent. That will be dropped," Mahathir said. .
Mahathir's decision would impact construction companies from Japan, South Korea, Europe and China that have expressed interest in bidding for the project, which was targeted to begin operating in 2026.
Anthony Dass, chief economist at AmBank, told BenarNews he agreed with the government's decision to scrap the project.
"How long would it take for this project to break even?" he said in a phone interview. "I think it will take a long term. And this had yet to take in other costs, such as maintenance."


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Wednesday his government might reconsider resuming a search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 if new information emerged, while his transport minister announced that a final report on the joint international hunt would be publicized in July.
Ocean Infinity, a U.S. seabed exploration company, on Tuesday ended its search for the airliner after more than three months of using the latest underwater imaging technology to sweep an area of the southern Indian Ocean. The company had signed a "no cure, no fee" contract with a 90-day timeframe in January, a year after Australia, China and Malaysia officially called off a joint search.
"If we find any new information, we may resume the search. But for now, we have to end it," Mahathir, 92, told reporters after his second cabinet meeting since leading the opposition bloc to a surprise election triumph this month.
Flight MH370 vanished on March 8, 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 12 crew and 227 passengers, most of them from China. The disappearance of the Boeing 777 has been as dubbed one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.
"The coverage area is vast and we have yet to find any evidence," Mahathir said.
Mahathir expressed regret over his government's decision, but said "we cannot keep searching for something we cannot find."

Transport Minister Anthony Loke told a news conference later on Wednesday that the joint international investigation was expected to release its report in July. 

"There are many people interested in studying the report, including the never before-released data," Loke said. "If any experts can provide evidence which can help us track the aircraft, we will revisit the location."

When asked by reporters if the report would include controversial elements, the minister said: "To me, whatever elements, we will just publish it."

"I can assure you the final report will be published with full disclosure," he said. "There will not be any edits or anything hidden."

In Oct. 3, 2017, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) published a report saying that the plane's captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, had flown a route on his home simulator six weeks before the plane's disappearance and it was "initially similar" to the course actually taken by the aircraft.
But aviation intelligence agency Flight Global reported that then-Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai played down the ATSB data, saying that the simulator had contained "thousands of simulations to many destinations."
Calvin Shim, whose wife was a crew member on the plane, told BenarNews that while he found the theory of a murder-suicide by the pilot hard to believe, he could not totally discount the possibility.

"If he really had suicidal intentions, then I believe the police will somehow be able to find some clue about it through his closest kin," Shim said. "But the police cleared him as a suspect, I think, in the early days [of the probe]."

Other next-of-kin also spoke to BenarNews and shared their frustrations regarding the new government's decision to end the search, directing their ire at Loke, the transport minister.

"He has only been in office for a week and has already come to a conclusion to end it all," said Jacquita Gomes, whose husband, Patrick Gomes, was also among the plane's crew.

"Has he really sat down and gone through and questioned all the discrepancies and mistakes made by those responsible during the initial search of the plane until this date?" she said. 

A few pieces of aircraft debris have been found on Indian Ocean islands and along the east coast of Africa, but the search had cost Malaysia about 500 million ringgit (U.S.$125 million), Loke said. 

Officials said Ocean Infinity was expected to get paid up to $70 million if it found the jet or its flight data and voice cockpit recorders, also called black boxes.
Mahathir's government stopped the search days after finance minister, Lim Guan Eng, said that Kuala Lumpur's liabilities had ballooned to 1 trillion ringgit (U.S. $251.7 billion), or more than 80 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product.
On Monday, Mahathir announced he would revisit the terms for a China-backed multibillion-dollar rail link project and also scrapped a planned high-speed rail link to Singapore, citing "huge" costs and a lack of return on investment.


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BENARNEWS-Malaysian police said Friday they arrested and detained 15 suspected militants since March, including foreigners and a housewife accused of plotting to use a vehicle rigged with improvised explosive devices to run over non-Muslim voters at a polling station during the general election last month in Kuala Lumpur.
Six Filipinos, a Bangladeshi restaurant owner, a couple from north Africa and six Malaysians were arrested after police uncovered separate terror plots on churches and Hindu temples around the nation's capital, police Inspector-General Mohamad Fuzi Harun said in a statement.
"The woman was planning to launch attacks using a car, targeting non-Muslim voters during the general election," Fuzi said.
The 51-year-old housewife was arrested in Puchong town on May 9, the day Malaysia held a general election, Fuzi said. Police suspected her of planning to use a car loaded with cooking gas cylinders as improvised explosives to attack a voting center, he said, without elaborating.
Puchong, about eight miles from Kuala Lumpur, was the site of a grenade blast that injured eight patrons at the Movida nightclub on June 26, 2016. It was the only successful Islamic State (IS)-linked attack in Malaysia.
Student linked to IS
Among the arrested Malaysians is a 17-year-old high school student who was taken into custody April 20 and is believed to be an IS member. He allegedly made six molotov cocktails or crudely made gasoline bombs that he planned to use as part of his "lone wolf" attacks on churches, entertainment centers and Hindu temples in the capital, Fuzi said.
Fuzi said the teenage suspect had tested one of his explosives in an open field in Damansara Damai, about 12 miles northwest of the capital. The suspect was arrested about an hour after he uploaded videos on social media and warned that he would launch an attack.
"The boy planned to launch attacks on churches, entertainment outlets and places of worship belonging to non-Muslims in the city," Fuzi said.
The arrests, which occurred between March 27 and May 9, took place days before neighboring Indonesia grappled with terrorist violence last month that, authorities said, killed 13 civilians, seven police and 31 terror suspects, including three families who killed themselves in suicide bombings.
One of the Malaysian suspects was a 33-year-old man who was arrested on March 27 at an airport in Selangor state after he was deported from Turkey for allegedly planning to join the IS militants in Syria, Fuzi said.
The 41-year-old Bangladeshi, who owned a restaurant in the shopping district of Bukit Bintang, was suspected of smuggling weapons to terror suspects, Fuzi said, without elaborating. The African husband and wife, age 25 and 22, respectively, have been deported on suspicion of having IS links, he said.
The six Filipinos were detained in April in Sabah on suspicion that they belonged to a militant cell that was collecting firearms to support extremist groups in the southern Philippine city of Marawi, Fuzi said.
More than 1,200 people died, most of them militants, after five months of vicious gun battles in Marawi last year.
During the past five years, Malaysian authorities have arrested at least 350 people suspected of having links to terror groups. At least 66 of those suspects have been freed, according to government figures compiled by BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian retailers and consumers are expected to cash in on a brief tax holiday following the election of a new government which has effectively scrapped an unpopular goods and services tax (GST) and replaced it with a new sales levy effective in September.
The government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, meanwhile, believes it can keep the country's budget deficit under control despite the abolition of the 6 percent GST, introduced in 2015 by his predecessor Najib Razak's Barisan Nasional administration.
Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan, which scored an upset May 9 election victory, pledged to scrap the GST if it came to power, saying the tax which brought in billions of dollars in government revenue jacked up the cost of living.
Instead the new government planned to impose a more modest sales-and-services levy effective Sept. 1.
Retailers and consumers alike said they would benefit from the lowering of the GST to 0 percent as of June 1. 

Amanullah Maideen, a member of the Malaysian Retailers Association, said the price of goods will continue to go down as old stocks are sold off and new zero-rated stocks arrive.

"Things will get cheaper, once new stocks arrive, it will."
Less paperwork
Amanullah, who is also Malaysian Muslim Wholesalers and Retailers Association (MAWAR) president, said retailers were relieved to have less paperwork following the GST abolition. There was a 10 percent daily penalty for those who were late in submitting their tax returns.
The government said businesses have been given a month to replace price tags on goods to reflect the adjusted pricing, which is expected to boost sales ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival marking the end of the Ramadan fasting month.
"We know that those wanting to purchase big ticket items such as TVs or refrigerators have been surveying the prices for the last few weeks so that they can make the purchase after GST has been zero-rated," Domestic Trade, Consumerism and Cooperatives Ministry enforcement director-general Datuk Roslan Mahyuddin was quoted in The Star newspaper.
"I believe now that prices are down, people will feel encouraged to spend," he said after inspecting prices at a sales center.
The government is set to lose 21 billion ringgit (U.S. $5.28 billion) in annual revenue from the GST removal, but it remains confident the budget deficit will not widen because of prudent spending measures, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told a briefing to foreign media at his office last week.
"The measures are focused on the review of expenditures, including the downsizing, delaying and abolition of overlapping and non-urgent programs and projects," he said, projecting 10 billion ringgit ($2.5 billion) in savings in annual expenditure costs. 

The government's projected budget deficit would increase slightly to 40.1 billion ringgit ($10 billion) in 2018 from 39.8 billion ringgit, with the deficit maintained at 2.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the value of the country's goods and services produced.
It also believes that the 21 billion ringgit ($5.2 billion) that went into government coffers through the GST will instead be injected into local economies in the form of disposable income.
Lim and other officials say the new government has inherited 1 trillion ringgit ($250 billion) in debt and liabilities, blaming it on alleged abuses by the scandal-plagued Najib administration. Najib is being investigated for corruption over a multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
The former prime minister had said that the GST was aimed at weaning the petroleum-producing country away from being overly reliant on oil.
Meanwhile, the new sales tax beginning Sept. 1 is expected to rake in an additional 4 billion ringgit ($1 billion) in revenue this year, the finance ministry has estimated.
The SST rate was expected to be around 10 percent. SST was Malaysia's tax system prior to GST's implementation in 2015.
"It will be a new tax, we are not re-implementing the previous SST tax. There are things that we are looking into right now. In the meantime there will be a three-month tax-holiday until we table the new SST in parliament in September," Lim said.

The GST was imposed on products and services at each level of the supply chain while the SST will be limited to manufacturing and services, and imposed at only one level.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's king has consented to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's choice for attorney general, a palace statement said early Tuesday (local time), assuring Malaysians that the appointment of an ethnic Indian Christian did not threaten Islam or herald the end of special protections for Malays and indigenous people.
The palace issued the statement after Anwar Ibrahim, leader of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition that took the reins of government last month, had an audience with Sultan Muhammad V on Monday night amid media reports that the ruler who confirms all government nominations was unhappy with the government's choice of a non-Malay for attorney general.
"The King under Section 154 of the Constitution and on advice from the prime minister has agreed to appoint Tommy Thomas as Malaysia's attorney general," the statement said.
It also said the king consented to terminate Apandi Ali as attorney general, following a recent decision by the new government to place him on leave.
"The Yang di-Pertuan Agong also called on all Malaysians to accept that the appointment of the Attorney-General should not create religious or racial conflict as every Malaysian should be fairly treated regardless of race and religion," said the statement, which was attributed to Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz, comptroller of the Royal Household.
The king was concerned over "inaccurate and negative media reports" that could threaten peace and harmony in the Malay Muslim majority country and he had an obligation "to uphold the Federal Constitution and preserve the special rights of the Malays and Bumiputeras, as well as to protect Islam," the statement said, using a term that refers to indigenous people.
But after considering the views of his fellow sultans of Malaysia, the king consented to terminate Apandi and appoint Thomas as the government's new top lawyer, the palace said.
The announcement came amid reports that Malaysia's royal council was scheduled to meet on Tuesday to resolve the issue of the new government's pick for attorney general. It was not immediately clear whether the Council of Rulers, a body of sultans and governors who represent Malaysia's 13 states and which selects the king on a five-year, rotating basis, was going ahead with the meeting following the palace's late-night announcement.
Local news reported Anwar had sought to meet with the king Monday night after meeting with seven rulers, including the Sultan of Johor, to discuss the matter of the attorney general's appointment.
Following the election, the king granted a full royal pardon to Anwar, who had been imprisoned on a sodomy conviction and is expected to succeed Mahathir as prime minister in a year or two.
Apandi: AG who cleared Najib
Attorney General Apandi Ali was placed on leave after the Pakatan alliance defeated the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in the May 9 general election by running on a platform to clean up government.
Apandi is noted for issuing a report in January 2016 that cleared former Prime Minister Najib Razak of alleged corruption in the 1MDB financial scandal, in which billions of dollars were allegedly syphoned from the state investment fund started by Najib in 2009, according to court documents filed by the U.S. Justice Department.
On Tuesday, Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor, is to be questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over its investigation into the transfer of funds from 1MDB, otherwise known as 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
She is expected to be asked about how about 42 million ringgit (more than U.S. $10 million) from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary, ended up in her husband's private bank accounts. Najib has denied that he committed any wrongdoing in connection with 1MDB, claiming the deposits were a donation from a Saudi royal.
The MACC questioned the ex-PM two weeks ago after government officers searched Najib's home, his office and several residences linked to him, confiscating hundreds of boxes of designer handbags and 72 suitcases containing cash, jewelry and luxury items. Later, Malaysian police said the suitcases were packed with nearly $29 million (115 million ringgit) in cash divided into various currencies.
Bar Association support
The Malaysian Bar Association, meanwhile, had issued a statement supporting Mahathir's right to appoint an attorney general. In a news release, association President George Varughese pointed out that the solicitor general had been serving in the role temporarily.
"The attorney general has a vital role to play as the principal legal adviser to the government and the public prosecutor, and it is therefore imperative that a new attorney general be appointed without further delay," Varughese said.
The association said the constitution "clearly stipulates that His Majesty must act on the advice of the prime minister."
The association said the next attorney general should be an experienced career lawyer with all-around legal skills and expertise in public law, possess an impeachable reputation, integrity and honesty.
"Such an appointment would augur well for the many institutional reforms that the government is introducing to birth a new beginning for our nation."


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BENARNEWS- The new Malaysian finance minister said Tuesday he had asked for the nation's anti-corruption commission to investigate a "highly suspicious" payment totaling U.S. $2 billion to a Chinese firm when only 15 percent of its work building gas pipelines in Malaysia was complete.
The 8.25 billion ringgit in transactions represented nearly 88 percent of the cost of the two pipeline projects, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said in announcing the latest revelation of potential misconduct by the previous government.
The projects were to be undertaken by a Malaysian state company with Chinese financing and constructed by the China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPPB), he said in a statement.
"We were shocked to discover that the amounts of 4.71 billion ringgit and 3.54 billion ringgit ... had already been drawn down and paid to CPBB," Eng said, adding Malaysia might seek assistance from the Chinese government to investigate the possibility of money-laundering.
"Based on the highly suspicious transactions above, I instructed my officers to file a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission last week."
Suria Strategic Energy Resources Sdn Bhd (SSER), a firm wholly owned by and set up by the previous Ministry of Finance two years ago to undertake the pipeline projects, had secured most of the funds from the Export-Import Bank of China, according to the minister.
SSER was "an offshoot by the same people behind SRC International," Eng said, referring to a subsidiary of the financial scandal-plagued Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which the country's new government is investigating over allegations of massive corruption.
In November 2016, the government of then-Prime Minister Najib Razak, who also served as finance minister, awarded the contracts to CPPB to build the two projects, Eng said. Najib has been implicated in corruption allegations linked to 1MDB, but has denied that he committed any criminal wrongdoing in connection with the state investment fund, which he started in 2009.
"The contracts were negotiated by the prime minister's department, without involving treasury officials," Eng alleged. "The attorney general's chambers have also confirmed that these contracts were signed despite numerous unanswered questions and red flags raised."
The president of SSER, Mohammed Azhar bin Osman Khairuddin, sat on its board of directors and was a director of Putrajaya Perdana Sdn Bhd, the new finance minister said. The latter firm, Eng noted, was "linked directly with Low Taek Jho," a Malaysian tycoon better known as Jho Low.
Jho Low is at the center of investigations by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) into the alleged laundering of billions of dollars that, it says, were looted from 1MDB and used to purchase high-priced real estate, art pieces and other valuable items.
Najib: 'Laws have been complied with'
Late Tuesday, Najib, whose Barisan Nasional coalition was swept out of power in last month's general election, responded to a request in Eng's statement seeking an explanation about "how he could possibly approve the above transactions."
"To my recollection, I am confident that all necessary process procedures and laws have been complied with in the negotiation and execution of the two pipeline projects raised by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng today," Najib said in a post on Facebook, adding that the two projects were negotiated on a "government-to-government basis with the People's Republic of China."
"While I welcome open and transparent investigations into these two projects, I believe that great care [must] be taken when making such serious politically motivated public allegations involving foreign state-owned companies as it may have a negative effect on foreign relations and international trade," Najib added.
 
Earlier in the day, Najib's wife Rosmah Mansor reported to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to give a statement about how 42 million ringgit ($10.5 million) in money from SRC International had ended up in his private bank accounts.
Sources within MACC told BenarNews that Rosmah was not a suspect in the case but she was appearing before the commission to serve as a witness.
Rosmah, 66, stepped out of a silver Mercedes Benz as she arrived at MACC's offices in Putrajaya late Tuesday morning. She emerged from the commission at 3:44 p.m. but did not speak to reporters.
Lawyers who accompanied her said their client had fully cooperated with the commission during three hours of questioning.
Rosmah visited the MACC two weeks after the commission had twice summoned her husband for questioning in the same case.
Since Najib's coalition lost the election, the new government has barred him and his spouse from leaving the country. In addition, Malaysian police have conducted raids at his home, former office and residences linked to him in connection with an investigation into the 1MDB scandal.
During the raids, police said they seized suitcases containing nearly $29 million in cash and expensive items, along with 284 boxes containing luxury handbags.
Najib lawyers quit
In related developments, members of Najib's legal defense team including Yusof Zainal Abideen and M. Puravalen decided they would no longer represent him because they could not reach a common ground for agreement with their client on several issues, according to the Malaysian Insight, a local news portal.
Their departure came days after Malaysian news outlets reported that Najib had hired a firm headed by former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to represent him. According to a document filed by the U.S. Department of Justice under the United States Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and which was seen by BenarNews, Najib Razak retained the services of the Ashcroft Law Firm earlier this year when he was prime minister.
Meanwhile, reports swirled that the governor of the nation's central bank, Muhammad Ibrahim, had offered to resign after Finance Minister Eng raised questions about the institution's alleged $520 million purchase of land from Najib's government as a way for the former administration to pay off some of the debts accumulated by 1MDB.
The central bank and prime minister's office did not issue any statements about the governor's status, but a source familiar with the process on Tuesday said he had tendered his resignation the day before.


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BENARNEWS- On his first day in office Malaysia's new attorney general pledged Wednesday to mount a rigorous and transparent probe into the 1MDB financial scandal, as the central bank governor appointed by the previous government resigned, saying he had lost the public's trust.
Attorney General Tommy Thomas said he would start by contacting the United States, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore and other countries to seek the return of billions of ringgit allegedly siphoned from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a state investment fund.
"All are equal before the law and no one shall be spared. There will be no cover ups and we will immediately contact our counterparts with the objective of having them return the billions stolen from the taxpayers," said Thomas, 66, a London School of Economics graduate.
He said there would be no interference by anyone, including the prime minister, as his office resumed the 1MDB probe.
"Those who commit no wrong should not fear the midnight knock of policemen, but those who broke the law will be met with the full force of the law regardless of their station in life," he said.
"I promise to do the right thing that is to tell the truth and to discharge my duty honestly, fairly, freely, independently and to the best of my ability."
Former Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Razak, whose Barisan Nasional coalition lost last month's general election, founded 1MDB in 2009 as an investment vehicle to spur development in Malaysia. While allegations have linked him to the missing funds, Najib, who was on the 1MDB advisory board until its dissolution in 2016, has denied any wrongdoing.
Since the election, the new government has barred Najib and his wife from traveling abroad. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission also interviewed the couple separately as part of an investigation connected to 1MDB.
'We abhor any semblance of corruption'
Also on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad announced that his cabinet had accepted the resignation of Muhammad Ibrahim, the governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the country's central bank, only two years into the job.
Muhammad said he resigned because he had lost the public's trust, according to a report published on Wednesday night by Bernama, the state-run news agency.
"As a central bank, we are only as effective as the trust and confidence that the people of Malaysia and its leaders place in us," he said.
"I am prepared to relinquish my post if I no longer have the strong trust and support of the public. I cannot in good conscience continue if it affects the bank's image and reputation."
On Tuesday, media reports began circulating that he offered to resign after Lim Guan Eng, the new finance minister, had raised questions about the bank's alleged $520 million purchase of land from Najib's government as a way for the former administration to pay off some of 1MDB's debts.
Muhammad denied that the central bank was involved in the 1MDB scandal.
"This is totally untrue. BNM will never be party to any such activities that would betray the public trust in us. We abhor any semblance of corruption and abuse of power," he said, according to reports.

Mahathir said the cabinet had not decided on the bank governor's replacement, "because we need to have the approval of the king before we can announce [an appointment]."
Former Deputy Governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus is a candidate to take over the bank, Reuters news service reported, citing two sources. Nor Shamsiah, who left when her term expired in 2016, assisted in the 1MDB investigation under Muhammad's predecessor, Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
Zeti retired from the post in April 2016 after having participated the previous year in a special task force investigating allegations of financial mismanagement and corruption at 1MDB.
Two years ago, the United States Justice Department (DOJ) filed a dozen lawsuits seeking the forfeiture and recovery of more than U.S. $1 billion (3.9 billion ringgit) in assets allegedly paid for with stolen 1MDB money. A source involved in the U.S. investigation identified Najib as "Malaysian Official 1" who figured prominently in DOJ court papers.
U.S. justice officials have described the 1MDB affair as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," pointing out that more than $4.5 billion (17.9 billion ringgit) was stolen from the fund since its inception.
In 2016, authorities in Singapore announced they had seized assets totaling S$240 million (U.S. $177 million) – of which S$120 million (U.S. $88.5 million) was from a close ally of Najib, Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho (also known as Jho Low) and his immediate family.
New attorney general
Mahathir named Thomas, an ethnic Indian Christian senior lawyer with more than 40 years of experience, to serve as attorney general in the new government.
But the prime minister's announcement spurred a backlash from rightwing Malay Muslims who were concerned that his appointment would compromise the status and the rights of ethnic majority Malays and indigenous people, as well as the status of Islam as the federal religion.
The controversy compelled Anwar Ibrahim, the de facto leader of the ruling Pakatan Harapan alliance, to intervene and assure that the rights of Malays and the standing of Islam would be preserved through the appointment of a non-Malay attorney general. Ibrahim, who had been jailed during the election but was pardoned of his sodomy conviction by the king, is expected to succeed Mahathir in a year or two.

Sultan Muhammad V, Malaysia's king, consented to approving Thomas as the new AG after consulting with the Council of Rulers as well as Mahathir on the matter.
Thomas replaces Mohamed Apandi Ali, who served under Najib and froze all investigations into 1MDB when he cleared him of allegations of wrongdoing tied to the fund in January 2016.
Apandi reached out to his successor. "Congratulations to Tommy (Thomas) and all the best to him in discharging his new duties as the AG," Apandi said in a text message to The Star.
In addition to investigating 1MDB, Thomas said he would focus on repealing oppressive laws and reviewing previous government contracts. 

"We have to independently study the obligation taken by the previous administration such as contracts in other countries to ascertain if there are any that go against the interest of Malaysia," he said.
Saying he understood concerns about his not being Malay, Thomas admitted that he needed to polish his fluency in Bahasa Melayu, a regional dialect, after critics questioned his ability to speak it fluently.
"Forty-two years of private practice, dealings with commercial clients I have neglected my Bahasa Melayu. I promise to brush up," he said with a smile.
Akhbar Satar, the president of the Malaysian chapter of graft watchdog Transparency International, welcomed Thomas' appointment, saying he brought strong credentials and many years of experience to the office.
"Public expectations are high and we are confident he will able to deliver," Akhbar said.


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BENARNEWS- Lawyers for fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho said Thursday he would assist the country's anti-graft body in its investigation of the massive 1MDB scandal after it ordered him to present himself for questioning.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) issued a statement ordering him and Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, the director of 1MDB subsidiary SRC International, to contact it immediately to assist in its investigation.
Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, was made aware through the media reports that MACC was ordering him to contact the agency.
"Following this, Mr. Low immediately instructed his lawyers to make contact with the MACC today with respect to offering such assistance," Robin Rathmell, an attorney with the international law firm Kobre & Kim, said in a statement Thursday.
Meanwhile, MACC has questioned another SRC director who had been sought as part of its investigation into the scandal at the state investment 1Malaysia Development Berhad, BenarNews has learned.
Suboh Md Yassin, who disappeared in 2015, discussed how 2.6 billion ringgit (U.S. $650 million) was siphoned from SRC into two personal bank accounts of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, a MACC official said.
"Suboh is in the country," Deputy Commissioner Azam Baki told Benar. "MACC had interviewed him last week."
Jho Low, Nik Faisal and Suboh were believed to have left Malaysia after failing to appear before MACC on Aug. 22, 2015, to assist with its investigation.
Suboh and Nik Faisal were shareholders of Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd, one of two companies allegedly used to transfer the SRC funds to Najib's accounts, according to reports.
Nik Faisal allegedly was a close associate of Jho Low and a middle man among a construction company UBG Berhad, 1MDB and Petro Saudi in channeling $260 million, which was siphoned from 1MDB in 2010 to buy stakes in UBG.
The initial investigation into SRC ended abruptly in 2015 after Najib dismissed Attorney General Gani Patail who was preparing a case to prosecute. Gani's replacement, Apandi Ali, who was handpicked by Najib, cleared the former prime minister of any wrongdoing in regard to 1MDB in January 2016.

Najib, who was defeated in his quest for a third term as prime minister last month, and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, have been questioned by MACC since his successor Mahathir Mohamad took office.
Their appearances followed searches of their home, his former office and other residences where police said they seized suitcases containing nearly $29 million in cash and expensive items, along with 284 boxes containing luxury handbags.
Interpol help

Malaysia has asked Interpol to assist it in tracking down Jho Low and Nik Faisal, whose whereabouts are unknown. Bloomberg news service reported Thursday that MACC had issued arrest warrants for the pair.
"They are super important to the investigation," Azam said, adding that the investigation would be considered incomplete without their statements.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said authorities had sufficient information that Jho Low was among the main criminals behind the 1MDB scandal.
U.S. justice officials have described the case as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," pointing out that more than $4.5 billion (17.9 billion ringgit) was stolen from the fund from its inception by Najib in 2009 until its advisory board was dissolved in 2016.
In court documents seen by BenarNews, the U.S. Justice Department accused Jho Low of laundering more than $400 million stolen from 1MDB through acquisitions of properties in California, New York and London, a jet purchased for $35 million and a mega-yacht estimated to be worth $250 million.
"Some people ask me why Jho Low is not arrested because information has been gathered. I say let's delay a little, but there are quarters who don't want to wait, they hope stern action can be taken not within today, but yesterday," the home minister said.
"I did not say that I want to give priority to regulations and the law, but in cases that are clear, stern action must be taken immediately according to the penal code or law on corruption," he told home ministry staff during a weekly meeting in Putrajaya, Malaysia's administrative capital.


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BENARNEWS- Faced with massive debt inherited from the previous government, Malaysia's new administration focused during its first month in power on campaign promises to cut costs and lower that burden, analysts said.
Led by the world's oldest prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government faces the task of delivering on electoral pledges that also include investigating alleged corruption committed by the old government, according to observers.
"They have honored their promises despite some financial restraint," Hisommudin Bakar, executive director of the Ilham Center, an independent think-tank, told BenarNews. "Overall, they have delivered and will continue to deliver, I hope."
The view was shared by Awang Azman Awang Pawi, a political analyst at the University Malaya, who said the new administration was doing its best to salvage the nation's economy.
Lim Guan Eng, the new finance minister, disclosed recently that Malaysia's debt and liabilities had exceeded 1 trillion ringgit (U.S. $251 billion).
During their campaign that led to last month's upset victory in a general election, in which the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition was ousted for the first time ever in Malaysia's 61-year history, Pakatan candidates promised to fulfill 10 goals in their 100 days in office.
The platform promises included: reducing fuel prices; abolishing student loans and a 6 percent good and sales tax (GST); alleviating the "non-working" status of housewives by putting them under a contribution scheme like other working adults; setting a nationwide minimum wage; and providing better health care.
In addition, PH promised to investigate financial scandals including the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state investment fund that lost Malaysia billions of dollars and to review Chinese-backed mega infrastructure projects to determine if money was being spent properly.
Democracy, transparency as main objectives
At the end of the new government's first month in office, half of the promises have yet to be fulfilled, but voters were able to evaluate government performance not just by manifestos but also by how the country was run, according to Hisomuddin.
Since taking office, the government of Mahathir – who will turn 93 next month – has announced that Malaysians will have a three-month tax break before it introduces a more modest sales-and-services levy, effective Sept. 1.
Additionally, instead of abolishing the student loan program, it decided to lift a travel ban on thousands of defaulters, while studying the best mechanism to get students to repay without facing financial hardships.
Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the first woman to hold that post in Malaysia, announced that a contribution scheme for women previously classified as non-working was under study. The government was able to set a fixed price for lower grades of fuel.
These efforts have drawn far less attention than the new administration's promise to quickly investigate former Prime Minister Najib Razak for alleged corruption along with financial scandals tied to 1MDB and its former subsidiary, SRC International. The government also moved to cut a high-speed rail link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, citing its cost against a return on investment.
Mahathir, who previously served as prime minister from 1981 to 2003, succeeded in convincing rural Malay voters to vote against BN this time, a move the opposition had never been able to pull off in Malaysia. Before he led the opposition to victory in the May 9 election, Mahathir was a longtime pillar of Barisan Nasional who developed a reputation as an autocratic leader during his first 22-year stint as PM.
"Surely with the progressive ideas thrown in by many of the newly [appointed] ministers and by many of the parliamentarians from PH, democracy and transparency will be the main objective. We can hope for a better future in terms of integrity and accountability," Hisomuddin said.
Since Barisan lost the election, Najib and wife, Rosmah Mansor, have been barred from leaving the country. They also have been questioned separately by the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over how 42 million ringgit ($10.5 million) in money from SRC International ended up in Najib's private bank accounts, when he was prime minister.
Their appearances before MACC followed searches of their home, his former office and other residences where, police said, they seized suitcases containing nearly $29 million in cash and expensive items, along with 284 boxes containing luxury handbags. U.S. justice officials have pointed out that more than $4.5 billion (17.9 billion ringgit) was stolen from 1MDB since its inception in 2009 until its advisory board was dissolved in 2016.
Najib has maintained his innocence.
"The investigation and the probe are done according to the rule of law. The confiscation of handbags, cash, and jewelry are part of the process," analyst Awang Azman told BenarNews. "But that does not mean that Najib and Rosmah are guilty.
"But the way they are treated on social media has somehow given us the idea that they are stealing our money, and that is not right."
A 'press conference' government
Meanwhile, an executive council member of the youth wing of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the anchor party of Barisan, disagreed with the new government's efforts to fix the economy.
Armand Azha Abu Hanifah said it had been flip-flopping for almost a month as major promises on student loans and fuel prices had yet to be fulfilled.
"The government of the day is nothing more than a 'press conference' government – announcing everything but not delivering on major promises," Armad told BenarNews.
Lambasting the new government, Armand said Najib's administration was able to deliver on its promises despite being hit with endless controversies and scandals.
"Now after realizing that the debt is high, they decide to cut down on mega projects and make hundreds of poor Malaysians jobless," he added.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia will reopen its Pyongyang embassy, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said in signaling a potential warming in bilateral relations that were strained after last year's assassination of the North Korean leader's estranged half-brother at a Kuala Lumpur airport.
Mahathir, who heads Malaysia's newly elected government, revealed the move during a three-day visit to Tokyo where he called for pursuing "good relations" with North Korea's young leader.
"Yes, we will reopen the embassy," Mahathir told the Nikkei Asian Review in an interview Monday, responding to a question about whether he would consider reopening Malaysia's embassy in North Korea.
The mission's Malaysian staff was repatriated amid a diplomatic row that erupted in the weeks following the February 2017 killing of Kim Jong Nam, the half-sibling of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Two women, Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, are standing trial in a Malaysian court on charges that they murdered Kim Jong Nam in a chemical weapon attack by smearing his face with the deadly VX nerve agent. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty, saying they were tricked into believing that they were participating in a TV "prank show."
The incident sparked the row between the two nations which had enjoyed bilateral ties since 1973. Malaysia recalled its ambassador, banned its citizens from traveling to North Korea and canceled visa-free entry for North Koreans.

In response, North Korea retaliated with a travel ban on all Malaysians in Pyongyang, trapping three diplomats and six family members, who were able to fly out only after Malaysia agreed to hand over Kim Jong Nam's remains and send home three North Koreans wanted for questioning.
At the height of last year's diplomatic crisis, the government of then-Prime Minister Najib Razak, along with South Korea and the United States, accused North Korea of being behind Kim's killing.
New North Korean attitude

But on Tuesday, Mahathir told a Tokyo conference on the Future of Asia, organized by Nikkei, that his administration was more interested in a new attitude displayed by Kim Jong Un during the North Korean leader's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore, according to reports.
"We used to think North Korea was a very belligerent country that doesn't care for the rest of the world, that they want to use nuclear weapons," Mahathir said. "But today he is making effort to establish better relations even with the United States."
Tuesday's historic meeting between the U.S. and North Korean leaders culminated in a joint statement that opened the door to the prospect of ending decades of hostility between Washington and Pyongyang. 

Mahathir, who will turn 93 on July 10 and who previously served as prime minister from 1981 until 2003, said the public should not be skeptical about the latest developments involving North Korea.
"We should take North Korea at face value and get it to participate in international negotiations to moderate the rigid attitude it had before," he said. "We should take it as genuine, and try to establish good relations including a trade relationship with North Korea."
During a joint news conference in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Mahathir said that when North Korea "makes a step forward to the right direction, a bright future may lay ahead."

Abe pledged to work closely with Mahathir to cooperate in addressing North Korea's nuclear and missile development, according to Japan's Kyodo news service.
"I will closely cooperate with Mr. Mahathir to send out a powerful message to North Korea," Abe told a joint news conference.
'Time to rebuild relations'
Back in Malaysia, Ahn Sang Wuk, a professor at University Malaya, echoed Mahathir's sentiment about pursuing a warming in bilateral relations.
"Malaysia's action back then to recall its ambassador was justified for that time to show they are angry at North Korea," he told BenarNews. "But now is the time to rebuild relations."


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BENARNEWS- Dozens of Malaysians who went to Syria to join or fight for the Islamic State group are desperate to come home because of terrible living conditions and constant fear for their lives, according to a counter-terrorist expert and a senior police official.
After the fall of IS bastions in the Middle East, Malaysian IS fighters feared for themselves and their families who had joined them in Syria, Ahmad El-Muhammady, an adviser to the Royal Malaysia Police on rehabilitation programs for terrorist detainees, told BenarNews.
"The desire intensified after the fall of Mosul, Raqqa and Aleppo. The international NGOs did inform police but police were careful because of safety concerns," Ahmad said. "Today the scenario is different. Many are dead and many foreign fighters have returned home, including Malaysians."
He said he began hearing about such concerns in 2016, but the fear of being arrested made the fighters and their families seek refuge with NGOs in Turkey and Syria instead.
Ahmad said he did not know how many Malaysian fighters were left in Syria. Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, the chief of the Malaysian police's counter-terrorist special branch, said more than four dozen remained in the country, but he could not break down the number of fighters to family members.
"But what I do know, they are living in a terrible conditions and want to come home. Not just because many IS bases have been defeated, but also because IS members who were caught in the war were killed and tortured," Ahmad said.
He said he had seen photos of a group of Malaysian fighters who were detained in a rural village in Syria with limited food and water.
"They were not allowed to leave the village and they looked so malnourished," he added.
Women are in Syria because they followed their husbands. "The women love and care about their husbands. That is why they abide with whatever the men say," Ahmad said.
Ayob said a Malaysian woman had reached out in January to seek help in returning with her small children after her husband was killed in battle.
"She wished to return home and we are facilitating the case," he told BenarNews.
Ayob declined to reveal the husband's identity, saying this could affect the process of repatriating the widow and her family to Malaysia.
Of 11 families who traveled to Syria to join IS's self-proclaimed caliphate, six have returned over the years after experiencing the reality of what they called a holy war, Ayob said.  But among the remaining five families, half do not want to return home, according to an intelligence report.
The widow and children of Mohamad Wanndy Mohamad Jedi are among the five families, although officials could not determine if she wished to return to Malaysia. Wanndy, Malaysia's most wanted terrorist, was killed in an air strike near Raqqa in April 2017.
He had claimed responsibility for a grenade attack at a nightclub on the outskirts of Kuala Lampur in June 2016, in which eight people were injured in the first and only terrorist act claimed by Islamic State on Malaysian soil.
The last Malaysian extremist to be killed in Syria, Muhammad Fudhail Omar, was Wanndy's successor. He was killed in an air strike in Raqqa two months later.
Ayob said 53 Malaysians remained in Syria, including the five families, but said the breakdown on the number of fighters to family members was classified.
Since February 2013, the Special Branch Counter Terrorism division has arrested 310 suspected militants, including 21 Indonesian militants and says it has stopped 18 terror plots.
Strict rehabilitation necessary
Security analyst Aruna Dewi Gopinath said the Malaysian government is obligated to help secure the return of any citizens in Syria, but must establish a strict rehabilitation program.
"However we do not want to be like certain militants in the Philippines where they undergo rehab for a few months but later rejoin militant groups," he told BenarNews.
"We must change their mindset. It may take years but that is the only way before we can let them join society."
Ahmad agreed.
"From the security aspect, we can manage to gather valuable information from them when they return," he said. "Of course there is a need for a rehab process and those who return must first be detained and they must undergo a strict monitoring process so they will not pose any threat to the public."


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BENARNEWS- A fugitive financier linked to criminal investigations into Malaysia's 1MDB financial scandal has made a $1 billion offer to the Malaysian government to stay out of jail, according to media reports published on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets reported that Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, sought the deal with the government of new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. He offered to drop his claim to more than U.S. $1 billion (4 billion ringgit) in assets in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Mahathir rejected it, according to media reports.
"I'm quite sure the kind of incentive he would readily accept is that he would not be prosecuted," Mahathir told the Journal. "But we can't do that. It's against the law. The law does not provide for what the American law provides, plea bargaining and all that."
The reports came out a week after a law firm representing Jho Low said he would assist the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in its investigation of the massive corruption scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) after it ordered him to present himself for questioning.
An article published on Thursday by Malaysia's Star newspaper quoted sources as saying that Jho Low was prepared to meet with MACC investigators in Dubai, but that dates had not been set between officials from the anti-graft agency and his lawyers.
U.S. justice officials have described the 1MDB affair as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," pointing out that more than $4.5 billion (17.9 billion ringgit) was stolen from the fund from its inception by former Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009 until its advisory board was dissolved in 2016.
The U.S. Justice Department accused Jho Low of laundering more than $400 million stolen from 1MDB through acquisitions of properties in California, New York and London, a jet purchased for $35 million and a mega-yacht estimated to be worth $250 million.
According to Thursday's article by the Journal, which cited a person familiar with the case, Jho Low told associates earlier this year that he felt safe because Najib had protected him. After Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan alliance defeated Najib's Barisan Nasional coalition in last month's general election, Jho Low reached out to the office of the new prime minister with his offer.
Najib, who has been barred from leaving Malaysia since last month, has twice been summoned for questioning by MACC in connection with the 1MDB probe. He has denied allegations that he stole money from the state fund.
Jho Low's lawyer, Robin Rathmell, an attorney with the international law firm Kobre & Kim, referred an email request for comment to a communications consultant.


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BENARNEWS- Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Tuesday his government had a near perfect case against predecessor Najib Razak over the alleged theft of state money, while a source told BenarNews that Malaysia's anti-graft agency had proposed criminal charges against the ex-PM.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) proposed charging Najib under the anti-money laundering act and for misappropriating properties in connection with a financial scandal around the 1MDB state fund, sources close to the case said. The MACC presented an investigation paper to Malaysia's new attorney general last week.
"The proposal on the charges never changed, it is the same as the one we proposed to then- Attorney General Apandi (Ali)," a source who was not authorized to speak to the media told BenarNews.
The investigation paper sent on June 12 focused on 42 million ringgit (U.S. $10.6 million) that was allegedly transferred from SRC International, a subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad, to Najib's personal bank account.
Serving as prime minister when the SRC investigation began in 2015, Najib sacked then-Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail who was preparing a case against him. Gani's replacement, Apandi, subsequently cleared Najib of all wrongdoing in relation to 1MDB and SRC.
A source said MACC was working on two other investigation papers into 2.6 billion ringgit ($650 million) in SRC money that ended up in Najib's account.
 
Najib became the focus as Malaysia's new government pledged to investigate the 1MDB scandal and other major cases involving corruption in its first 100 days after upsetting the former prime minister's Barisan Nasional coalition in last month's general election.
Since Mahathir was sworn in as prime minister on May 10, police said they had raided properties linked to Najib and confiscated 114 million ringgit ($28.75 million), along with 284 boxes containing luxury handbags.
U.S. Department of Justice officials have described the 1MDB case as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," pointing out that more than $4.5 billion (17.9 billion ringgit) was stolen from the fund since its inception by Najib in 2009 until its advisory board was dissolved in 2016.
"We think that we already have almost a perfect case," Mahathir told Reuters news service.

Najib played a central role in the scandal, Mahathir said.

"He was totally responsible for 1MDB. Nothing can be done without his signature, and we have his signature on all the deals entered into by 1MDB. Therefore, he is responsible," Mahathir told the news agency.
In response, Najib denied doing anything wrong and added that even if he had given orders at 1MDB, the management and fund board would not have been bound to act. "As far as I am concerned, I did not do anything that I thought was illegal," he told Reuters.
The statement was consistent with Najib's previous denials involving 1MDB.
Mahathir also confirmed that Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor, was being investigated.

"Some of the money is believed to have gone to her, lots of money," Mahathir told Reuters. "We know about this, but finding the paper trail is a bit more difficult in this case because she doesn't sign any papers. Najib signs a lot of papers."
Both Najib and Rosmah have been questioned by MACC as part of its investigation into SRC International.
Attorney general's priority
When he was appointed as Malaysia's attorney general on June 6, Tommy Thomas declared that 1MDB would be his top priority.
He said his office would need time to review the investigation paper but it appreciated "the urgency and sensitivity of their task." He said he had appointed two teams to study the paper, one to consider instituting criminal prosecution and another to consider civil proceedings.

"Members of both teams are experienced deputy public prosecutors and senior federal counsels who will report directly to me," he said.

In related developments, MACC officials earlier this month ordered businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, and SRC director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil to contact them immediately to assist in the 1MDB investigation.
Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said authorities had sufficient information that Jho Low was among the main suspects behind the 1MDB scandal.
The government also sought Interpol's assistance in locating the men and issued arrest warrants, according to media reports.
"They are super important to the investigation," MACC deputy commissioner Azam Baki said at the time.
Jho Low, identified as a close friend of Najib, agreed to assist, his attorney said in a statement in response to the order.
Later, reports surfaced that the fugitive financier sought a deal from the Malaysian government where he would give up his claim to assets valued at more than 4 billion ringgit ($1 billion) in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
In his interview with Reuters, Mahathir said he had turned down Jho Low's offer and would not consider any similar deal with Najib.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad has expressed interest in seeking justice in the gruesome 2006 killing of a Mongolian model linked to a submarines acquisition scandal that plagued the recently ousted ruling coalition, her father said Tuesday, ahead of a meeting with the prime minister.
Altantuya Shaariibuu was 28 years old and pregnant when she was shot dead and her body blown up with military-grade explosives in a remote jungle outside Kuala Lumpur in October 2006.
Her father, Setev Shaariibuu, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur he was surprised that Mahathir was willing to meet him, adding he would ask the PM to reopen the case.
"I understand the PM is interested in seeking justice for this case," Setev said through an interpreter after meeting with new Malaysian Attorney General Tommy Thomas for about an hour in Putrajaya, the nation's administrative center.
"I am full of hope that the new government will do everything under its power to render justice and bring an end to grief and suffering of my family."

Setev was accompanied by his lawyer, Ramkarpal Singh, who said he was confident the investigation would be reopened based on the existence of new "leads," but did not elaborate.
A BenarNews source confirmed that the meeting between Setev and Mahathir is to take place Wednesday afternoon. Prior to that, Setev is expected to lodge a police report and urge authorities to reopen the murder probe.
Altantuya Shaariibuu worked as a translator during the Malaysian government's negotiations for the purchase of two Scorpene-class submarines from French shipbuilding giant DCNI in 2002. She was also reportedly the mistress of Abdul Razak Baginda, a defense analyst close to then-Defense Minister Najib Razak.
Two police officers who were serving as members of Najib's personal security detail at the time were convicted of the murder and sentenced to death, but the court did not establish their motive. One of them fled to Australia, where he is being held at an immigration detention center since January 2015.
Abdul Razak was tried but acquitted of abetting the crime. The court has not determined who planned the killing. Najib, the now former prime minister whose Barisan Nasional coalition was trounced in the May 9 general election, has denied any links to the killing and rejected allegations of corruption in the purchase of the submarines. 

When contacted by BenarNews on Tuesday, Abdul Razak declined to comment on the latest developments which took place less than a month after Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga wrote a letter urging the new government to find justice.
Altantuya's alleged affair with Abdul Razak emerged after reports said that, soon before her death, she had demanded a payoff for working as a language translator in the submarine deal.
Altantuya left behind two sons who now are 20 and 14. The younger boy is disabled and bedridden. Her death devastated her family as she was the breadwinner, Setev said.
Malaysia struck the U.S. $1.1 billion (4.4 billion ringgit) deal in 2002 with France's state-controlled warship builder DCN International.
Malaysian human rights group Suaram alleged that the sale resulted in about $130 million (520 million ringgit) in commissions being paid to a shell company linked to Abdul Razak.
Najib, who was ousted from office after the stunning defeat of his coalition in the May 9 election, has also been questioned by the anti-graft commission probing allegations that billions of dollars had been siphoned from the state fund known as 1MDB.


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BENARNEWS- The Malaysian government on Wednesday announced a review of its military presence in Saudi Arabia amid the Arab nation's involvement in a protracted war in Yemen.
Mohamad Sabu, Malaysia's new defense minister, said the review was necessary because troops had been sent to the Middle East by the previous government to prepare for the evacuation of Malaysians from Yemen.
"Malaysia has never taken part in the operation against Yemen, which is a fellow Islamic country," Sabu said in a press release. "Nevertheless, the presence of the Malaysian armed forces in Saudi Arabia indirectly entraps Malaysia in the Middle East conflict."
Sabu did not release details on the number of troops in Saudi Arabia nor did he announce a timetable for possible changes.
"The government will make a decision in the near future on the subject after the revaluation is completed," he said.
The statement confirmed the previous administration's claim that Malaysia was not involved in the Saudi-led coalition war in Yemen.
The conflict escalated in March 2015 following a military operation led by Saudi Arabia in support of Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi against rebels said to be backed by Iran.
Last year, then-Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia's relationship with Saudi Arabia did not involve troop participation in any military offensives or operations, whether in Yemen, Syria or Iraq.
His comments followed media reports citing an annual report by the U.N. sanctions monitor that investigated 10 coalition air strikes between March and October 2016 in Yemen. At least 292 civilians died, including about 100 women and children.
The coalition's chief of joint operations told U.N. officials that officers from France, Malaysia and Britain were present at Saudi headquarters during the airstrikes.
"When we were there, the Saudi Arabia leadership gave our armed forces some lessons at headquarters. I don't think that is a problem," Hishammuddin said at the time. "Our policy to stay within Saudi Arabian borders has not changed."
The troop review follows an earlier decision by the new government to review the operation of a Saudi-supported counter-terrorism center. On May 22, Sabu's first day on the job, he announced plans to review the King Salman Center for International Peace.
Details need to be made clear: analyst

International security analyst Mohamad Abu Bakar, meanwhile, urged the new government to dig deeper into the military presence in Saudi Arabia.
"We need to know how far we have gone with our troops' presence in Saudi Arabia and in the Yemen issue and whether it can drag us further into conflicts in the Middle East," he told BenarNews. "Just like the Saudi-backed counter-terrorism center in Malaysia, it's good that Mohamad Sabu will have a relook at the defense cooperation with the Saudis."
The analyst was referring to the King Salman Center, which is operating at its temporary office in Kuala Lumpur until the main building in Putrajaya is finished.
The former head of Universiti Malaya's Department of International and Strategic Studies said Sabu needed to get the details of the Malaysian military's mission in Saudi Arabia.
"How many troops and equipment are involved, what kind of expertise do we share and how much this mission costs us? These aren't clear," he said.
"Yemen is a very poor country but the Saudis keep bombing the country. Getting ourselves involved in the conflict can backfire," he said.
Saudi connection
Sabu was critical of Malaysia's Saudi Arabia connections even before last month's general election.
He lambasted both the Malaysian army's presence there and the approval of the King Salman Center following Saudi monarch Salman Abdul Aziz's visit to Kuala Lumpur last year. The previous administration had planned for the counter-violent extremism center to be located on a massive plot in Putrajaya, Malaysia's federal administrative center.
Shahriman Lockman, a senior analyst at the KL-based Institute of Strategic and International Studies, said the new scrutiny would affect Malaysia's relationship with Gulf nations.
"The new defense minister has previously said that we need to maintain a certain distance from Saudi Arabia," Shahriman told BenarNews.
"That, combined with the inevitable difficulties that Malaysian investigations into 1MDB will face in the Gulf states, means our relationship with Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be less cordial than it was before."
The new government has reopened an investigation into the alleged theft of billions of dollars from state development fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad. That investigation could examine the involvement of Saudi oil company PetroSaudi in 1MDB.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia will re-investigate the murder of Mongolian model Altantunya Shariibuu, the nation's police chief told BenarNews on Wednesday, after her father lodged a police report and met with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
The re-opening of the murder probe, confirmed by Police Inspector-General Mohamad Fuzi Harun, will take place almost 12 years after the gruesome killing led to a scandal in the highest levels of Malaysian government.
"A new investigation paper (IP) will be opened and the IP will be submitted to the attorney general once it's completed," Fuzi said, without giving a timeframe on the new probe.

The police chief said the case would be investigated under Section 302 of the nation's Penal Code for murder, the same provision used in the previous investigation.

"We will determine whether a new investigation team will be set up as soon as possible," Fuzi said. His statement was remarkable given that, late last month, he said his department had found no grounds to re-open the case of the murdered Mongolian woman, according to local media reports at the time.
Fuzi's statement to BenarNews came hours after the victim's father, Setev Shaariibuu, met Mahathir at the prime minister's office on Wednesday evening.
Setev's lawyer, Ramkarpal Singh, indicated that Malaysia's new prime minister would also support a new probe.
"He (Mahathir) agreed that it is a case that warrants further investigation and the prime minister was also adamant that the process must follow the rule of law," Singh told reporters after the 30-minute meeting, which was also attended by a Mongolian interpreter and a Mongolian consulate official.
"We are confident that the rule of law will take its course," he said. On Tuesday, he and his client met for about an hour with Tommy Thomas, Malaysia's new attorney general.
Altantuya Shaariibuu was 28 years old and pregnant when she was shot dead and her body blown up with military-grade explosives in a remote jungle outside Kuala Lumpur in October 2006.
Altantuya worked as a translator during the Malaysian government's negotiations for the purchase of two Scorpene-class submarines from French shipbuilding giant DCNI in 2002. She was also reportedly the mistress of Abdul Razak Baginda, a defense analyst close to then-Defense Minister Najib Razak.
Two police officers who were serving as members of Najib's personal security detail at the time were convicted of the murder and sentenced to death, but the court did not establish their motive. One of them fled to Australia, where he has been held at an immigration detention center since January 2015.
Abdul Razak Baginda was tried but acquitted of abetting the crime. The court has not determined who planned the killing. Last year, Reuters news agency reported that Abdul Razak Baginda and two French defense industry executives had been placed under formal investigation in France as part of a probe into alleged kickbacks in connection with the submarine deal.
The French probe was launched in 2010 after Malaysian human rights group Suaram alleged that the deal had led to some U.S. $130 million in commissions being paid to a company linked to Najib Razak.
Najib, the now former prime minister whose Barisan Nasional coalition was defeated in the May 9 general election, has denied any links to the killing and rejected allegations of corruption in the purchase of the submarines.
Victim's father: Najib's former aide a 'crucial witness'
Before meeting Mahathir, Setev filed a police report at the Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur. In the report, Setev named Musa Safri, Najib's former aide-de-camp, as a "crucial witness" in the case.
Singh, Setev's attorney, questioned why the state prosecutor during the previous trial had not called Musa to testify and explain his role.
"I believe the previous investigation has already identified the person, or if there is more than one, who ordered the murder," Singh told reporters outside the police station.
Deputy Superintendent Musa Safri had ordered police officers Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar to pick up Altantuya from Razak Baginda's home on the night she was murdered in October 2006, according to a report published on May 23 by online news portal Asia Sentinel, quoting documents from French prosecutors. Musa was the personal assistant of Najib, who was then serving as defense minister.
But Musa, who has retired from the police force, was never questioned by investigators nor called up to testify, the report said. Azilah is currently on death row in Kajang prison in the Malaysian state of Selangor, while Sirul fled to Australia.
Altantuya's alleged affair with Abdul Razak Baginda emerged after reports said that, soon before her death, she had demanded a payoff for working as an interpreter in the French submarine deal.
Investigators believe Altantuya was shot dead before her body was blown up with plastic explosives known as C-4 in a forested area.
Setev, in his police report, which was seen by BenarNews, said Azilah and Sirul had no motive to kill Altantuya because both men had never met his daughter.
Musa "is a very crucial witness as he would be able to provide information as to who instructed him to secure Azilah and Sirul's attendance," Setev said.
"I believe if not for Musa, Azilah and Sirul would not have come to Razak's house that day and taken my daughter away, and she would still be alive today," he said.
Hadi Azmi from Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's new government will complete a skyscraper project started by former Prime Minister Najib Razak even though U.S. $765 million for it was allegedly embezzled by the scandal-plagued state fund 1MDB, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said Thursday.
The government will invest 2.8 billion ringgit ($700 million) to finish the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) project, he said.
After meeting with master developer TRX City Sdn Bhd (TRXC), Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the cabinet agreed on Wednesday to invest in the project to complete the infrastructure work as a form of "damage control."
"The TRX project will be completed despite more than RM 3 billion of government funds misappropriated from TRX City Sdn Bhd by 1MDB," Lim said in a statement, referring to the cash-strapped sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
The 70-acre project includes 26 buildings highlighted by The Exchange 106, a 106-story skyscraper. The entire project is named after Najib's late father, Malaysia's second prime minister.
"As a result of the misappropriation of funds, TRX City Sdn Bhd does not have enough money to fulfill its obligations as the master developer," Lim told a news conference at the Finance Ministry in Putrajaya.
He said 3.07 billion ringgit ($765 million) from a total of 3.7 billion ringgit ($923 million) in government guaranteed borrowings, extended advances and transfers as well as land purchases for TRX had been misappropriated "mainly for 1MDB loan repayments."

"The alternative of not coming up with a funding of 2.8 billion ringgit and not completing the project, is to pay 3.51 billion ringgit ($875.6 million) in compensation claims and have the eyesore of an abandoned mega-project in the heart of Kuala Lumpur."

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Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng (right), discusses a government plan to fund the Tun Razak Exchange project, June 21, 2018. (Hadi Azmi/BenarNews)

 
Najib responds
Lim's comments drew praise from TRXC but condemnation from Najib, whose Barisan Nasional coalition was voted out of power in last month's general election.
In a Facebook post, Najib welcomed the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government's decision to continue with the project that would bring "tens of thousands of new jobs and establish a world-class financial center right here in Kuala Lumpur."
But the former prime minister accused Lim of "spreading half-truths and outright lies in his statement today about TRX City Sdn Bhd."
The new government has launched an investigation into alleged massive corruption committed at 1MDB, which Najib founded in 2009.
Since losing the election Najib has been barred from leaving the country and has been questioned twice by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in connection with the 1MDB affair. But he consistently has denied that he committed any wrongdoing with money linked with the fund.
The scandal, however, has led to money-laundering investigations in the United States and other countries. The U.S. Justice Department has described the alleged theft of billions of dollars from 1MDB as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times."
Aside from the Tun Razak Exchange, 1MDB was involved in the redevelopment of a Royal Malaysian Air Force airfield in Kuala Lumpur into "Bandar Malaysia" a transport-oriented development built around the planned northern terminus of the proposed Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail link.
In December 2015, 1MDB sold a 60 percent stake of Bandar Malaysia to a joint consortium between Malaysia and China for 7.41 billion ringgit ($1.85 billion). The deal fell apart in May after the consortium failed to meet its payment obligations.
Former 1MDB subsidiary
Azmar Talib, the CEO of TRX City who attended Thursday's press conference with Lim, said that while construction of the skyscraper was 92 percent complete, the project as a whole was only 20 percent finished.
The state news agency Bernama reported that Lim instructed TRCX to lodge reports with police and a special 1MDB investigation panel over project-related funds that were allegedly taken by 1MDB.
TRXC began as a subsidiary of 1MDB under the name of 1MDB Real Estate Sdn Bhd. Its name changed when it became a subsidiary of the Ministry of Finance in March 2017 after it was unable to secure bank financing. Najib served as prime minister and finance minister at the time of the transfer.

"Completing TRX will allow the full value of the project of at least 7.6 billion ringgit ($1.9 billion) to be realized," Lim said in announcing the financing.

"This will help to recoup and repay the TRX City borrowing, including the sums misappropriated by 1MDB, recover all funding investments and opportunity costs as well as potentially achieve a small surplus."
1MDB insolvent since 2016
Najib questioned how the funding could be considered a bailout if the goal was to achieve a profit.
Previously, in a 2017 speech at an event called Invest Malaysia, Najib praised TRX as proof of the success of his "rationalization" plan to fix 1MDB which he attributed to a "lapse in governance."

"Rather than funnel good money after bad to cover up any issues 1MDB may have faced ... I instructed the rationalization of the company and it is progressing well," Najib said at the time. 
"Indeed, many of the assets formerly owned by 1MDB are thriving."

On May 23, just days after the new government took over in Malaysia, 1MDB director Kamal Mohd Ali told the finance ministry that investments were "a scam" and the development fund had been insolvent since 2016.

Kamal and Norazman Ayob, the two remaining members of 1MDB's board, were summoned by Lim to brief the ministry on the company's state of affairs after he learned that the Malaysian government had been making debt payments on its behalf since April 2017.
"It was no longer effectively a growing concern. It was already insolvent," Lim said after the briefing.
In his Facebook posting, Najib said no TRXC funding was misappropriated by 1MDB.
He said there were inter-company loans of about 3 billion ringgit ($748 million) from TRXC to 1MDB, but those loans were repaid by March 31, 2017, through cash payments and other means.
"Once again, I caution YB Lim Guan Eng against making such factually incorrect statements as part of the PH's political vengeance against me and the previous [Barisan Nasional] government," Najib said.
"Not only is it unprofessional, it spooks investors in the currency, bond and stock markets. Surely the well-being of our economy is much more important than the issuance of politically motivated statements?"


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BENARNEWS- Two women's advocacy groups are urging the new Malaysian government to fulfill an electoral pledge to declare 18 the legal age to wed and ban child marriage because, they say, this violates human rights.
Religious conservatism, patriarchal beliefs and reasons of sexual impropriety are the main drivers of child marriage in Malaysia, the NGOs Sisters in Islam (SIS) and the Asia Pacific Resource and Research Center for Women (Arrow) said in a new report published ahead of an international conference next week in Kuala Lumpur that will focus on the issue.
"The solution must be a total ban on child marriage through reform legislation. The minimum age of marriage must be raised to 18 for both genders, regardless of faith and ethnicity, with no exceptions," said Rozana Isa, executive director of SIS.
In its election manifesto, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition promised to introduce a law requiring citizens to be at least 18 years old to marry.
Malaysia has a civil legal system and a separate Islamic (Sharia) legal system, and Muslim scholars have argued that a girl should be allowed to marry once she reaches puberty.
The report by the two NGOs quoted 2010 government statistics showing that 153,000 people below the age of 19 were married. Of those, 80,000 were girls and most were from the Malay Muslim community, the country's ethnic and religious majority.

Child marriages are most prevalent in the Borneo state of Sarawak with about 1,745 recorded, followed by northern state of Johor with 999, and Selangor with 687, according to the report, which based its information on data from the Ministry of Home Affairs, from 2000 to 2014.
Rozana said reforms must include strong outreach and public education campaigns demonstrating how child marriage can bring about irreparable social and economic damage to girls.
She made her comments in preparation for the three-day Girls Not Brides 2nd Global Meeting beginning Monday in Kuala Lumpur. The organization describes itself as a global partnership of more than 900 civil society organizations committed to ending child marriage and enabling girls to fulfill their potential.
Islamic law
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, which has also called for a ban on child marriage in Malaysia, said the country's civil law sets 18 as the minimum age for marriage, but its Sharia system has a younger age requirement for girls.
The Islamic Family Law (Federal Territory) Act of 1984 sets the legal age for marriage at 16 for girls and 18 for boys, allowing for exceptions with Sharia court permission.
In 2014, the National Fatwa Council discouraged such practices but did not explicitly reject or label it as prohibited. It declared that child marriage was not a healthy practice.
During a parliamentary session last year, Shabudin Yahaya, a lawmaker from the then ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, caused an uproar when he said 9-year-olds were "physically and spiritually" ready for marriage.
The former Sharia court judge also said there was nothing wrong with an underage rape victim marrying her rapist because it could serve as a remedy to an increasing number of social problems.
He spoke out while debating the Sexual Offenses against Children Bill of 2017 after several then-opposition lawmakers suggested amending it to include child marriages. Their proposal was shot down by the majority in parliament.
In May, Barisan Nasional, which had ruled Malaysia since its independence, lost the general election and government power to the opposition PH coalition.
Debate
In Sabah, another state in Malaysian Borneo, a mufti said discussions needed to focus on the call to raise the legal age to marry to 18 and not on marriages involving children.
"Some communities, including those in Europe, are debating lowering the legal age to 16. So why should we set it at 18? On what grounds are those 18 and above ready for marriage?" Bungsu Aziz Jaafar told BenarNews.
He said Sharia court mechanisms are adequate to ensure that marriages involving those younger than 18 did not cause harm.
He said a Sharia judge would take into consideration the bride's or groom's maturity as well as family support and religious upbringing before deciding whether to approve the application for marriage.
"I don't agree that a legal marriageable age should be set. It all depends on the circumstances and what's provided for in Islam is adequate for this matter," he said.
But Geshina Ayu Mat Saad, a psychologist at Science University of Malaysia, disagreed.
"It is very short-sighted to use parental power to approve a marriage to go forward and expect the child to be able to function overnight as a married adult," she said, adding that the range of problems related to such marriages were interrelated.
"The physiological and health condition, especially if both parties are under age, the psychological preparedness and maturity, social environment, educational growth and financial stability of a person are interrelated. These problems are experienced to varying degrees by the child wife or child husband," she said.
Meanwhile, a 34-year-old man who asked not to be identified, spoke out in favor of child brides. The man said he had married a 13-year-old in 2005 when he was 21.
A husband's good character is what makes or breaks a marriage, regardless of his wife's age, he suggested.
"The husband must tend to his wife's needs, be a loving and caring husband, expose her to religious and good values, and treat her with respect. Insha Allah (God willing) all will be OK," said the father of three.


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BENARNEWS- A longtime official of Malaysia's central bank who had investigated the 1MDB scandal until she resigned in 2016 has been named its new governor, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said Friday.
Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus, 54, joined Bank Negara Malaysia in 1987 and served as its deputy governor from 2010 until November 2016. After leaving, she was assistant director of the monetary and capital markets division at the International Monetary Fund.
"Bank Negara Malaysia will continue to focus on delivering its mandates of maintaining monetary and financial stability in the best interest of the nation," Shamsiah told reporters Friday at a joint press conference with Eng.
Lim announced that Shamsiah's five-year appointment would begin on July 1.
During her tenure at the bank, Shamsiah was primarily responsible for the health of the banking sector, financial intelligence, and enforcement, the Finance Ministry said, and she was involved in helping the financial sector recover from the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.
She also assisted with a 1MDB investigation under former central bank governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, who retired in April 2016.
"She is experienced and she will hit the ground running," the Malay Mail quoted Zeti as saying of Shamsiah.
"By appointing her, the government has demonstrated its respect for the institution, and I think this is what the market wants to see, an institution that remains independent in performing its function," Zeti said.
Shamsiah's 2016 resignation fueled speculation of conflict with former Prime Minister Najib Razak's administration over her work investigating 1MDB, according to Bloomberg News. Najib, who has denied any role in the 1MDB scandal, also served as finance minister.
U.S. Department of Justice officials have described 1MDB as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," saying that more than $4.5 billion (17.9 billion ringgit) was stolen from the fund from its founding by Najib in 2009 until its advisory board was dissolved in 2016.
Changing the Lineup
Shamsiah replaces central bank governor Muhammad Ibrahim, who resigned on June 6, saying he had lost the public's trust after it emerged that $520 million raised through a land sale by the central bank had been used to pay off some of 1MDB's debts.
Muhammad insisted the central bank was not involved in the 1MDB scandal.
"BNM will never be party to any such activities that would betray the public trust in us. We abhor any semblance of corruption and abuse of power," he said at the time of his resignation.
Shamsiah's appointment is part of the shuffling of top posts in the government and government-linked corporations since Mahathir Mohamad's political coalition toppled Najib Razak's government in May.
Earlier this month, Mahathir questioned the loyalty of civil servants who openly campaigned for Najib's coalition, saying those individuals could pose trouble in his new administration.
Northern University of Malaysia political analyst Azizuddin Mohd Sani told BenarNews that new government leaders typically bring in new people to fill high-ranking positions.
"When [the] government changes and a new administration come in, first thing they will normally do is to change the lineup," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's new government will carry on with the country's role in brokering peace talks between the Thai government and Deep South rebels, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad indicated Monday.
Since 2015 Malaysia, under then-Prime Minister Najib Razak, facilitated several rounds of exploratory peace talks in Kuala Lumpur between the Thai military government and MARA Patani, a panel representing armed insurgent groups in Thailand's Malay-speaking southern border region.
But after a new government took over in Malaysia last month, questions arose about whether Kuala Lumpur would continue acting as a peace broker.
During a press conference in Kuala Lumpur Monday night, when a BenarNews reporter asked Mahathir whether his administration would continue the previous government's effort in brokering peace talks in southern Thailand, the prime minister replied, "Yes ... yes, we are."
After the press conference, the reporter asked Mahathir whether he would name a new negotiator to represent Malaysia as a facilitator of the talks.
"We will announce later," Mahathir said.
Thai officials and other stakeholders in the peace initiative, meanwhile, have been waiting to hear from the Mahathir's government about whether it planned to continue as a moderator of the talks and, if so, what changes would be made, if any, according to Don Pathan, a Thai-based security analyst who is an expert on the decades-old conflict in the Deep South.
"Many believe that Ahmad Zamzamin bin Hashim, the designated facilitator of the current official peace process, will be replaced following last month's change of governments in Malaysia. Zamzamin was deemed too close to former Prime Minister Najib Razak," Pathan wrote in a June 4 column for BenarNews.
Three years ago, officials representing the Thai junta and MARA Patani began discussions, with the Malaysian government serving as an overseer. Negotiations have failed to produce a so-called Safety Zone, or geographically limited ceasefire seen as a linchpin to prospects of future peace in the Deep South.
Nearly 7,000 people have been killed in violence since the insurgency in the predominantly Muslim region re-ignited in 2004.
Prior to the talks between MARA Patani and Thailand's military government, Malaysia had facilitated efforts to settle the conflict. Kuala Lumpur brokered talks between the Thai government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the largest and most powerful of the southern insurgent groups, but those negotiations stalled in December 2013.
And, when Mahathir previously served as prime minister from 1981 to 2003, he and the Thai military gave impetus to a track of informal talks with rebels requested by Thailand's monarchy, but the government of then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra "was kept out of the loop," security analyst Zachary Abuza wrote in his 2016 book, "Forging Peace in Southeast Asia: Insurgencies, Peace Processes, and Reconciliation."
In May, the latest talks came to a standstill because the rebel side felt insulted by Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha for "jumping the gun" when he announced the likely site for a pilot Safety Zone in Cho I-rong, a district of Narathiwat province, according to Pathan. He said MARA Patani had felt humiliated because they were expecting a more formal launch for what they considered the breakthrough announcement.


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BENARNEWS- A former aide to ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak has been remanded for a week to assist an investigation into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) financial scandal, anti-corruption officials said of the first person arrested in Malaysia in connection with the probe.
Escorted by officers of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, 42, arrived at the Putrajaya High Court on Monday morning to appear before a judge.
Sources said he had been summoned to MACC headquarters late Sunday to have his statement recorded as part of an investigation into money allegedly stolen from 1MDB, the state investment fund established by Najib in 2009.
Two sources at MACC confirmed the arrest and the remand to BenarNews, but spoke on condition of anonymity.
Amhari had served as a special officer to the prime minister and, since 2009, worked directly with Najib on national economic policies and the annual budget, according to profiles uploaded on the networking site LinkedIn and the website of the Eisenhower Fellowships, a U.S. organization that granted Amhari a scholarship in 2013.
He will be held until July 1 and investigated under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act for receiving bribes, a MACC official said.
Previously, Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, appeared before the MACC to be questioned in the investigation into a scandal relating to SRC International, a subsidiary of 1MDB which saw 2.6 billion ringgit (U.S. $647.1 million) allegedly syphoned from the company into two personal bank accounts belonging to the then-prime minister.
Amhari first came into the public eye in April 2017 when he represented Malaysia in negotiations over a dispute between 1MDB and Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC), along with 1MDB Chairman Irawan Siregar Abdullah and CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy.
His name came back into the spotlight when Rafizi Ramli, vice president of the then-opposition People's Justice Party (PKR), claimed that 2 million ringgit ($498,000) from Najib's personal account had moved into the accounts of a company owned by Amhari in 2014.
The firm, Orb Solutions Sbd Bhd, which was registered as a "web management and communications strategy solutions" company, is jointly owned by Amhari and a former senior executive of Malaysia's satellite TV provider, Astro.
Najib and his Barisan Nasional coalition were ousted in last month's general election by an opposition alliance headed by his former mentor, Mahathir Mohamad, who ran a campaign focusing on Najib and the 1MDB scandal.
Since then, the new government headed by Mahathir has been reviewing projects and deals signed by Najib and his administration. This has led, among other moves, to a review of a deal for a high-speed rail link connecting Kuala Lumpur with Singapore, as well as a number of resignations of politically linked government officials and corporate heads, including the former chief justice and attorney general.
Most recently on Thursday, the Malaysian government announced that it would need to inject 2.8 billion ringgit ($697 million) into completing a skyscraper project started under Najib to prevent further losses after funds meant for its development were allegedly misappropriated by 1MDB for other purposes.
The 1MDB scandal has led to money-laundering investigations in the United States and other countries.
The U.S. Justice Department has described the alleged theft of billions of dollars from 1MDB as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times."
Najib, who was barred from leaving the country soon after he lost the May 9 election, has denied that he committed any criminal wrongdoing in relation with the sovereign wealth fund.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian police are increasing security along the Thai border, Malaysia's deputy police chief said Tuesday while conceding that insurgents from Thailand's Deep South may have made bombs just across the frontier in Kelantan state.
Meanwhile in Narathiwat, a neighboring province in Thailand where police recently arrested a suspect transporting 41 pipe bombs "from a neighboring country," the provincial police chief expressed frustration that his jurisdiction would be peaceful if Malaysia cracked down on suspected militants residing within its borders.
"There is a possibility that the southern insurgents sneaked into Malaysia and produced the bombs in Kelantan," Malaysian Deputy Police Inspector-General Noor Rashid Ibrahim told BenarNews.
"We are looking into that angle and we are probing it."
"So far there have been no arrests in Kelantan," he said. "The police are stepping up security in the area."
Noor Rashid was reacting to a report from the Malaysian state news agency Bernama that the homemade bombs seized from a suspected insurgent in the Thai Deep South five days earlier were assembled in Malaysia.
The news service quoted the Thai Army's Fourth Army Region commander, Lt. Gen. Piyawat Nakwanich, as saying that the bombs were meant for use in staging militant attacks after Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, which ended in mid-June
"From our investigations, we found that the bombs were smuggled in from Malaysia," Piyawat, Thai Army's highest-ranking officer in the Deep South, was quoted as saying.
The bombs were seized at a checkpoint when Thai police intercepted a suspected insurgent who was driving a pickup truck from Sungai Kolok town to Yi-ngor, a district in Narathiwat, officials said.
The 39-year-old suspect, identified as Zanuzi Yatae, was attempting to smuggle the pipe bombs into the inner areas of Narathiwat, police said, adding that an alleged accomplice, identified by Zanuzi as Abdulaziz Samoe, escaped.
Police found the metal tubes with explosives and timing devices, along with walkie-talkies and other devices that can be used to remotely detonate the bombs.
Maj. Manas Sikasamat, commander of Narathiwat provincial police, said many suspected supporters of Deep South insurgents are dual citizens.
"Some are couples or have relatives on both sides of the borders, very hard to control," he said. "But it would be easy if Malaysia could help tighten border-crossings and crack down on the accused who reside there."
Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the Thai military's ISOC Region 4, said he could not confirm that the pipe bombs were built in Malaysia.
"I cannot name the country of origin," he told BenarNews, citing lack of documents. "I am not sure about the report quoting the 4th Army Region as saying the bombs were from Malaysia. Initially, I don't see official reports saying so."
Pattani is one of the provinces of the Deep South, where nearly 7,000 people have died in violence since a separatist insurgency re-ignited in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking region 14 years ago. On May 20, 16 bombs exploded within 50 minutes in four provinces in the insurgent-wracked region, police said.
Senior Assistant Commissioner Din Ahmad, the deputy police chief of Kelantan, told BenarNews that smuggling contraband was "not a new thing" for people living near the Sungai Golok River, which acts as a natural border between Malaysia and Thailand.
"The police can't be checking each car and vehicle entering Malaysia," he said. "But now since the bombs are believed to be made in Malaysia, the police are stepping up its investigation and tightening the border. Every car is searched thoroughly."
Malaysian officers are working closely with their Thai counterparts to get more information and are "on the hunt" to detain the perpetrators in the smuggling attempt, Din Ahmad said.
"Police are digging more information from Thai police and from the details they have," he said.
"They will ascertain which cell, which house, which shop these insurgents want to deliver their supply."


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's diverse Muslim community has made it a popular destination for foreign militant fighters who are trying to escape from the wars in Syria and Iraq, an adviser to the Royal Malaysian Police told BenarNews.
Ahmad El-Muhammady, who advises police on rehabilitation programs for terrorist detainees, said foreign fighters had admitted this during debriefing sessions.
"It is without a doubt that Malaysia's image as a moderate Islamic nation is one of the main attractions for foreign fighters. They get to blend in easier because we are a Muslim country, our food is halal, our facilities are good," he told BenarNews. "It is also because we have a huge Middle Eastern community along with groups from Central Asia."
"Moreover, when they manage to get fake documentation and their names are not on any red alert notice, it makes it harder for the local authorities to notice the danger."
As for Middle Easterners, immigration regulations are relaxed and visas are not needed to visit Malaysia.
"For that reason, Malaysia became their second home. It's less hassle for them," Ahmad said.
Ahmad said he had lost count of the number of local and foreign militants apprehended, explaining that while some were detained at Malaysia's airports trying to fly to Syria, others were deported back to Malaysia from Turkey.
"I have worked on this matter since 2013 and I have lost count on the numbers. But I know there are more than 300 of them in our prisons," he said.
"Locals and foreign fighters. Foreigners who we arrest and did not commit any crime here, we send them back. But those who did commit crimes here, they have been charged and they are now in prison," he said.
"Same goes to the locals. They are in our prison and are undergoing rehab programs," Ahmad said.
The website of Malaysia's Immigration Department showed that citizens of many Middle Eastern countries need no visa to enter, while those of only six of the 53 Commonwealth countries – Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ghana, Pakistan, Nigeria and Mozambique – are required to apply. In addition, travelers from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan do not require visas‎.
Ahmad said the trend of foreign militant fighters traveling to Malaysia was rooted in wars in Bosnia and Afghanistan during the 1990s into the early 2000s.
'Easy for people to enter'
Another security analyst, Badrul Hisham Ismail of IMAN Research, questioned Ahmad's comments about Malaysia's role as a Muslim country in the influx. The Kuala Lumpur research group calls itself a social enterprise focusing on research and community engagement.
"I agree that Malaysia is safe and diverse, therefore foreign fighters can blend in with the vast community from all over the world," Badrul told BenarNews. "However, it is not because Malaysia is a Muslim country, it is because Malaysia is safe and our open door policy makes it easy for people to enter."
He also doubted whether foreign fighters considered Malaysia their second home.
"I do not think that they consider Malaysia as a home in the first place. They are escaping the war and escaping prosecution," he said. "They take whatever chances they have to avoid being detained."
Ahmad, who has spoken with many local and foreign fighters, said police had a tough time detecting terrorists who enter Malaysia through legal means.
"It would be hard to detect if they enter through the airport gates unless there are alerts from Interpol and intelligence sharing," he said. "Therefore information sharing is crucial to avoid any unwanted incident."
Arrests
In October, Malaysian Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said 45 foreign fighters had been arrested in the first nine months of 2017. Fuzi said some of the terrorists were linked to Islamic State (IS), including three Iraqis who were based in Iraq or Syria.
The counter-terrorism squad had also detained nine suspected Abu Sayyaf members, three members of the Turkish Fetullah militant group and one from an Albanian terror cell with connections to IS, Fuzi said.
Meanwhile, a source in the police department's counter-terrorist special branch, said police were aware of possible terrorists entering the country but noted that it would be hard to detect each one flying into Malaysian airports.
The source, who asked to remain anonymous, said Malaysian police were working closely with their international counterparts in detecting suspected militants and combating terrorism.
"Although it is hard, it is not an impossible task for us. We managed, for instance, to arrest 45 foreign terrorists alone last year and this shows we are serious about it."
"Information sharing and intelligence sharing is vital. We have a very good relationship with other countries and we share countless of information on who is who. There will be more arrests in the future," the source told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- Jewelry, designer handbags, cash and other luxury goods seized from residences linked to ex- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak were worth up to U.S. $273 million but did not include a rare pink diamond that American officials had valued at an estimated $27.3 million, police said Wednesday.
Malaysian police hauled off the valuables during a raid last month that was part of a probe into financial scandal-plagued 1MDB, a state investment fund started by Najib in 2009 and from which billions of dollars was siphoned and laundered, according to U.S. investigators.
"The total cost of all items, the retail price will be touching 900 million ($225 million) to 1.1 billion ringgit ($273 million)," Amar Singh Ishar Singh, chief of the commercial crimes investigation division of the Royal Malaysia Police, told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.
The items included 117 million ringgit (U.S. $29 million) in cash in different currencies, luxury handbags, a large number of designer Swiss-made watches and 12,000 pieces of jewelry, he said.
It took police officers and experts 16 days just to evaluate and categorize the jewelry, Singh added, as he detailed the estimated worth of items that offered stunning details on the extent of the ex-prime minister's lifestyle.
The most expensive item of jewelry seized was a yellow gold necklace with white diamonds worth 6.4 million ringgit (U.S. $1.6 million), Singh said.
Singh, in reading out a catalogue of the seized items, did not mention the rare 22-carat pink diamond set in a necklace. According to a civil lawsuit filed last year by the U.S. Justice Department, the necklace was among jewelry bought for the wife of "Malaysian Official 1" using funds allegedly stolen from 1MDB. The diamond set was worth $27.3 million, according to court documents obtained by BenarNews.
Although the documents in the civil lawsuit did not specifically mention Malaysia's then prime minister by name, Malaysian and U.S. government sources had previously said that "Malaysian Official 1" was Najib and the wife mentioned in the lawsuit referred to Rosmah Mansor.
Singh said luxury Hermès Birkins, which were among 37 brands of luxury handbags seized during the raid, were valued at 51.3 million ringgit (U.S. $13 million), and there were 423 designer watches, including a Rolex Daytona worth 3.5 million ringgit (U.S. $868,000).
He said it took 22 officers from Malaysia's Central Bank three days to count the confiscated cash in 26 currencies that police found in 35 bags during the May 16 search.
He later explained that the jewelry valuation of 440 million ringgit (U.S. $ 109.12 million) was only for the materials and did not include others costs, including workmanship and design, which would add 50 percent to 100 percent to the total.
He also said that 567 handbags seized from a unit linked to Najib in the Pavilion Residences, a luxury condominium building in Kuala Lumpur, included high-priced designer brands such as Hermès, Prada, Chanel and Bijan.
'The most expensive is the Hermès bag worth 1.6 million ringgit (U.S. $397,000)," he said.
The entire process of counting and valuation of all seized goods took more than a month and involved 150 officers, Singh said.
Najib, spouse to be summoned by police
Singh also told reporters that the police would soon be calling Najib and his wife, Rosmah, to have their statements recorded.
"We will be calling Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor soon but I won't know when because we also need to call other people, such as the alleged gift givers," he said.
Najib, 64, lost power after the opposition bloc battered his ruling coalition in the May 9 general election.
The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to recover a total of $1.7 billion in assets that were allegedly siphoned off by Najib associates from a total of $4.5 billion allegedly misappropriated from 1MDB, which was set up by Najib in 2009 ostensibly to promote economic development. The department has described the 1MDB affair as the "worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times."
Najib has denied any wrongdoing related to 1MDB. He earlier said that the seized luxury handbags were gifts to his wife from his son-in-law Daniyar Nazarbayev, the nephew of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
In an interview with Reuters on June 20, Najib said he did not know if hundreds of millions of dollars that moved through his personal account was from 1MDB, and if money from the fund was eventually laundered to acquire assets globally, including yachts, paintings, gems and prime real estate.
"I'm not party to the yacht, the paintings. ... I've never seen those paintings whatsoever," Najib said. "I was not aware of these purchases. This was done without my knowledge."


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BENARNEWS- North Korean operatives declared war on Malaysia by importing a deadly nerve agent and using it to assassinate the half-brother of North Korea's leader, an attorney for a woman accused of the murder said Wednesday, as the trial resumed after a lengthy pause.
In court, defense lawyer Hisyam Teh Pok Teik called for the missing North Koreans to be tried in absentia, as he made closing arguments on behalf of his client, Vietnamese citizen Doan Thi Huong. Four North Korean men whom Malaysian police had linked to the February 2017 assassination of Kim Jong Nam at a Kuala Lumpur airport fled Malaysia hours later.
"This is a declaration of war because chemical weapons have been brought to Malaysia and an assassination has taken place in Malaysia," the attorney told reporters after Wednesday's session at the Shah Alam High Court, adding that Malaysia needed to tell the world it meant business in delivering justice.
Doan and Indonesian co-defendant Siti Aisyah could face the death penalty if convicted of murdering Kim Jong Nam by rubbing VX nerve agent on his face. Their trial resumed Wednesday after the prosecution finished presenting witnesses in early April. Kim was the estranged half-sibling of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
Through testimony from an expert witness, Malaysian government chemist Raja Subramaniam, prosecutors had established that VX nerve agent was brought in from North Korea, Hisyam pointed out. When questioned on cross examination, the chemist testified that the VX likely was smuggled in from the communist state.

"[Raja] answered yes, because in our airport we have no machines to test, to confirm, to scan, that this is the weapon brought in," Hisyam said. "So this is from the prosecution, not us."
Hisyam and Siti's lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng, said neither of the women knew Kim Jong Nam and had no motive to kill him, the Associated Press reported.
"In our combined 90 years of legal practice, we have not come across a murder case where an accused commits murder in broad daylight and in full view of the CCTV cameras, goes back to the scene of crime two days later in similar circumstances. ... The strength of this piece of subsequent conduct evidence buries the prosecution's case," Hisyam told the court, according to AP.
Hisyam criticized the prosecution for focusing only on Feb. 13, 2017, the day of the assassination. He said prosecutors should have investigated the defendants' claims about a YouTube prank instigated by the four North Koreans: Ri Ji Hyon (alias Mr. Y), Ri Jae Nam (alias Hanamori), Ri Ji-u (alias James) and Hong Song Hac (alias Chang).
The women claim they were duped by the North Koreans to perform what they thought was a prank to be broadcast on a social media platform.
In court, the two defense attorneys stressed that without the four North Koreans facing charges, the women were not being tried properly.

"Any conviction on the girls on any charge will not be fair," Hisyam said. "It would be totally unjust."
While the prosecution was silent in court on Wednesday as the defense presented its view of the testimony and evidence, prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin did speak to a reporter before the session began.
"No scapegoats can accomplish this mission," Wan Shaharuddin told AP, challenging the expected defense argument. "You must be trained. No room for failure."
Bilateral ties
Malaysia and North Korea had maintained bilateral ties since 1973, but Kim Jong Nam's death led to a dispute that lasted several weeks.
On March 31, 2017, Malaysian embassy staff and family members who were stuck in North Korean's capital Pyongyang, returned to Malaysia in exchange for Kim Jong Nam's body and two North Korean nationals who were thought to be hiding in Pyongyang's embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad announced that the Malaysian embassy in Pyongyang would reopen.
Mahathir, 92, whose Pakatan Harapan government was elected on May 9, also called for pursuing "good relations" with North Korea's leader. Mahathir made the remarks during a visit to Tokyo.
Trial schedule
The trial of the two Southeast Asian women will reconvene on Thursday to hear prosecutors' arguments before Judge Azmi Ariffin. The prosecution began presenting witnesses and evidence on Oct. 2, 2017, and concluded on April 5 after 39 days of court sessions.
Closing arguments are expected to be finished by Friday, after which the judge could take up to a month to make a ruling, according to AP. If he decides that the prosecution did not make its case, the women will be freed. If he decides otherwise, the women will then be able to present their defense.
Gooi added that he would leave it to the judge to decide whether the prank occurred as claimed by his client, but "all evidence points toward the innocence of the two girls."

"We are confident that they should be acquitted."


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BENARNEWS- A Malaysian prosecutor said Thursday he had no evidence of a conspiracy linking North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the murder of his estranged half-brother in Malaysia, as the prosecution wrapped up its case against two Southeast Asian women accused of the killing.
After hearing the prosecution's closing arguments, trial judge Azmi Ariffin announced that he would rule on Aug. 16 whether to acquit the two women – Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong – or call them to present their defense.
Prosecutors said Siti and Doan knew they were handling VX, a deadly nerve agent, when they smeared it on Kim Jong Nam's face at a Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13, 2017.
"There is no evidence whatsoever that there is a conspiracy by the North Koreans or even the [leader] of North Korea," deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told reporters outside the courthouse in Shah Alam. "There is no evidence of political plot. There is no evidence of criminal conspiracy."
Siti and Doan pleaded not guilty to the charges that carry the death penalty. Throughout the trial, their lawyers maintained that they were duped by suspected North Korean agents into believing they were being paid to perform a video prank.
Before speaking to reporters, Wan Shaharuddin told the court that the airport murder was something "only seen in James Bond movies," but dismissed the defense's argument of a political conspiracy, saying it was irrelevant to the facts of the case.
Siti and Doan must have known the best way for the nerve agent to penetrate their victim's body, he said, saying it was "absurd" to think that both women were unaware they were smearing a deadly chemical on Kim's face.
 
Circumstantial evidence
But he said prosecutors could prove criminal intent – or the motive – through circumstantial evidence only.
"There is no way for me to prove intention by way of direct evidence," he said. "There is no way, unless they come to court and confess, 'Yes, I had the intention to kill Kim Jong Nam.'"
Since the trial began in October 2017, the prosecution presented 34 witness testimonies and presented airport security footage showing the two women heading to separate restrooms.
Prosecutors told the court that the women knew they needed to wash the chemical off their hands within 15 minutes to avoid being contaminated.
An expert witness testified that while trace residue of VX were found on the fingernails and T-shirt worn by Doan, Siti's hands were found to be clean.
Wan Shaharuddin told the court Thursday that the video proved Siti had thoroughly washed her hands to rid herself of the deadly chemical.
"We don't need a rocket scientist to ascertain her conduct," he said.
But Siti's lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng, pointed out during his court rebuttal that, according to the video's timestamp, his client was seen entering the washroom 13 minutes after she allegedly assaulted Kim with the highly toxic chemical.
Gooi said this raises question to the prosecution's argument that Siti was aware of the risk she was taking by having the chemical weapon applied onto her palms by North Korean men who fled the country hours after the attack.
The defense lawyer also laughed off Wan Shaharuddin's comment's that Malaysian law does not put a lot of weight on motive.
"In a murder case, motive is a very important issue. It cannot be excluded," Gooi said. "They cannot prove a motive so they say motive is not important."


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BENARNEWS- The fundamental right of students to express and discuss political opinions has been stifled on Malaysian university campuses for five decades, human rights advocacy group Fortify Rights said in a report Wednesday.
The group called on Malaysia's new government to amend laws limiting and penalizing student activism, some of which were strengthened during Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's earlier tenure as head of government and minister of education.
"Universities are inherently political places, and when students are free, they're engines of innovation and critical thinking," Fortify Rights CEO Matthew Smith said in a statement.
"A new day is dawning in Malaysia, and the new government has an historic opportunity to end these needless restrictions once and for all."
The report highlights a series of recent cases including two tied to protests against former Prime Minister Najib Razak's links to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.
In October 2016, the prime minister's special affairs department held a "1MDB Townhall" at the University of Malaya where students were given "merit marks" for attendance, in one incident described in the report.
At the event, a group of students asked a government speaker to identify Malaysian Official 1 (MO1), who figures prominently in U.S. Department of Justice lawsuits seeking to recover more than U.S. $1 billion (3.9 billion ringgit) in assets allegedly paid for with stolen 1MDB money.
Near the end of the townhall, four students held up signs asking for answers about 1MDB.
"I stood up and shouted Siapa MO1? Siapa MO1? [Who is MO1? Who is MO1?]," student Li Yang told Fortify Rights, adding that officials tore their signs and urged the protesters to sit down.
"They even pulled my shirt and pants to force me to sit down. Our friend Ching Siew's phone was also snatched by them, and she was told to delete the photos or video taken when we raised our placards," Li Yang was quoted as saying.
Other students were charged for participating in an off-campus rally on Aug. 27, 2016 calling for the arrest of MO1. Malaysia's high court ruled against the students in 2017, saying university disciplinary action including suspensions and fines "was justified based on the view that the students' participation in the rally brought disrepute to the university."
'No politics on campus'
During campaigning ahead of the May 9 general election, Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan coalition promised to amend the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (AUKU), which places strict rules on student activities on and off-campus and provides punishment for violations.
Amendments further tightening control on student activity in 1975, 1983 and 1996 occurred during Mahathir's earlier tenure as minister of education and prime minister.
The most recent amendment in 2012 expanded students' freedoms with the condition of "No politics on campus," Fortify Rights said.
"The Government of Malaysia should amend AUKU without delay and unlock the potential of Malaysian universities to contribute fully to the political life of the country," it said.
It also called on universities to drop proceedings against university students facing disciplinary action for "exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association."


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BENARNEWS- An Islamic official should not have solemnized a marriage in southern Thailand between a 41-year-old Malaysian man and an 11-year-old Thai girl, local officials said Monday amid furor in neighboring Malaysia over the wedding.
Officials in both countries said the case was being investigated. News of the June 18 wedding in Sungai Kolok, a district of Narathiwat province, surfaced over the weekend, angering people in Malaysia. Women's advocacy groups are asking the new Malaysian government to ban all child marriages over concerns that they violate human rights.
"The Sungai Kolok imam was wrong to marry the couple. He violated the charter of the Islamic Committee, while certainly breaching Thai law," Safiri Jeha, president of the Islamic Committee of Narathiwat province that is supported by the Thai government, told BenarNews.
"By Islamic principles, a woman can marry when she is mature, about 15 and older."
The committee plans to meet Tuesday and set up a team to investigate the marriage. Sungkai Kolok sits along the border with the neighboring Malaysian state of Kelantan.
Meanwhile, the director of the foreign affairs unit of the Thai Southern Border Administration Center, a government agency that administers the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking region known as the Deep South, said investigators determined that the girl's parents were natives of Narathiwat.
"As far as civil and commerce law goes, the practice is certainly illegal," Teeruth Supawiboonpol told BenarNews. "They did not register at the district office but at a mosque, so they could stay away from the law. We will investigate further and see what we can do."
In Malaysia, Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said Sunday that the incident added to calls for action to increase the legal marriage age to 18 – a plank in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition's campaign promise. The coalition took power in May after defeating the Barisan Nasional coalition in the country's 14th general election.
"It is in the best interest of the child," she said, adding that the move was needed to protect children and avoid issues of pedophilia, child exploitation and child pornography.
Speaking at her ministry's Eid celebration in Putrajaya on Monday, Wan Azizah, who also holds a portfolio as minister of women, family and community development, confirmed there was an investigation into the marriage. She said officers were trying to determine if there were elements of sexual grooming since the girl is only 11.
A day earlier, Wan Azizah called for the couple to be separated, saying she had consulted with a sharia court judge on the matter.
Malaysia has a civil legal system and a separate Islamic (sharia) legal system. Sharia law, specifically, the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territory) Act of 1984, sets the legal age for marriage at 16 for girls and 18 for boys, allowing for exceptions with sharia court permission. The civil law sets 18 as the minimum marriage age for both boys and girls.
"Any underage marriage has to have the approval of the courts," Wan Azizah said. "I have ordered a discussion on the minimum legal age for marriage between man and women so that it can be raised."
Besides the age issue, Islamic family law requires a Malaysian who marries someone in another country to appear before the Registrar of Muslim Marriages to register. The law requires the registration within six months.
Facebook post
The news of the man's marriage to the girl went viral after his second wife posted a photo on Facebook of her husband, identified in Malaysian media as Che Abdul Karim Che Hamid, and his third bride. She noted sarcastically that her children were the same age as the girl.
The second wife's online posting included a photo caption in the dialect of Kelantan: "My kids can play with their stepmother after this. All of them will be the same age."
The groom, identified as an imam or Muslim teacher, defended the marriage in a video released Sunday, claiming it occurred under "nikah gantung," a Malay term meaning that a couple is married with the understanding that it will be consummated at a later date, in this case after the girl turns 16.

"She will be under the care of her parents. Until she comes of age, we will not be together," he said in the video.
In June, two women's advocacy groups urged the new Malaysian government to fulfill an electoral pledge by declaring 18 the legal age to wed and by banning child marriage.

The NGOs Sisters in Islam and the Asia Pacific Resource and Research Center for Women said religious conservatism, patriarchal beliefs and reasons of sexual impropriety are the main drivers of child marriage in Malaysia and the solution would be a total ban on child marriage through reform legislation.
The groom followed the same path of hundreds of men who travel to Thailand to secretly take on a bride.
Thailand's Deep South draws Malaysian Muslim men seeking to wed second, third or fourth wives without their other spouses learning about the marriage.
The Central Mosque in Songkhla province is a hive for such weddings, BenarNews reported two years ago, where as many as 30 Malaysian couples were marrying there each day.
Imams are compelled to perform such marriages because Muslim law permits them. In Islam, a man can marry as many as four women as long as he can provide for and maintain each of his families equally.
"To not perform the wedding ceremony at the request of the bride and the groom that we know are going to share their lives as husband and wife is sinful," Sakriya Binsaela, chairman of the Islamic Committee of Songkhla province, told BenarNews at the time.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia intensified its probe Monday into the alleged theft of billions of dollars from the state investment fund 1MDB, as authorities froze hundreds of bank accounts and questioned a former deputy prime minister for eight hours.
This happened as Malaysia's new prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad witnessed the oath-taking of 13 more ministers in his cabinet, including the country's new top diplomat. Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan coalition had won the May 9 general election on a plank of cleaning up alleged corruption in government and getting to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal.
The ceremony before King Sultan Muhammad V at Istana Negara, the national palace, formally enlarged Mahathir's cabinet to 27 members, including himself. Among notable names entering the cabinet were Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah and Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, who was sworn in as youth and sports minister. Syed Saddiq, who is 25 years old, became the youngest-ever to be appointed to the nation's cabinet.
But Mahathir said his lineup was still not complete.
"We will have (a total of) 29 ministers. We have 26 now, there are three more to go," the state news service Bernama quoted him as saying.
Afterwards Saifuddin went to work at Wisma Putra, as the headquarters of the foreign ministry is known.
"As stated in our (Pakatan Harapan) manifesto, we aspire to sign all the international human rights conventions. There are nine conventions, of which we have only ratified three," he told reporters later on Monday, according to Malaysia's Star newspaper.
Accounts frozen
Meanwhile, Malaysia's Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), a task force probing allegations of corruption at 1MDB, said that 408 bank accounts involving almost U.S. $370 million had been frozen. The accounts were linked to 81 individuals and 55 companies, the agency said.
"The accounts were believed to be linked to the misappropriation and misuse of 1MDB funds," MACC said in a statement Monday.
Authorities in the new government under Mahathir, who will turn 93 on July 10, reopened a probe into 1MDB soon after the Pakatan coalition defeated the Barisan Nasional bloc in a stunning electoral outcome buoyed by public anger over allegations of corruption at 1MDB.
On Monday, MACC questioned ex-Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over claims he made in 2015 that he had met representatives of the Saudi royal family who had channeled funds into Najib's bank accounts.
"All the information they had were from media reports, so I was required to make a detailed account of what happened," Zahid said, referring to MACC investigators.
Zahid, 65, appeared before the MACC two days after he was elected president of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the once-powerful ruling party that headed the Barisan coalition and was formerly led by Najib. Zahid told reporters on Sunday that he would leave it to the MACC to probe allegations that his party had received funds from 1MDB.
Najib stepped down from UMNO after the general election and chose Zahid to lead reform after the stunning election ended the party's six decades in power. Investigators on Friday said the bank accounts they had frozen included those of UMNO.
The U.S. Department of Justice is trying to recover more than $1.7 billion in real estate and other assets allegedly siphoned off through complex transactions from 1MDB, which Najib formed in 2009 ostensibly to pursue development projects that would benefit Malaysian citizens.
Court documents allege that about U.S. $681 million of 1MDB funds were diverted into Najib's personal bank accounts, but Najib said the money came as a political donation from a member of the Saudi royal family.
Zahid's statement before the commission came a week after the anti-corruption agency summoned Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, a former Najib aide, to have his statement recorded as part of the 1MDB probe. Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, also gave their statements to the commission last month.
Zahid said he would return to MACC on Tuesday to answer more questions about alleged misappropriation of funds at a foundation belonging to his family.
And, a highly placed MACC source told BenarNews, that the commission would interview Najib's 48-year-old stepson, Riza Aziz, on Tuesday.
Red Granite Pictures, a company co-founded by Riza, agreed in March this year to pay the U.S. government $60 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged its movies, including "The Wolf of Wall Street," were made using funds stolen from 1MDB, according to court documents.
The settlement did not constitute an "admission of wrongdoing or liability on the part of Red Granite," the court filing said.
Mahathir's government is seeking to recover up to $4.5 billion that was allegedly siphoned off from 1MDB. Police last week said that jewelry, designer handbags, cash and other luxury goods seized, which had been seized in raids on residences linked to Najib, were worth up to U.S. $273 million.
Najib has denied allegations that he was involved in stealing the Malaysian people's money from 1MDB.


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BENARNEWS- Anti-graft officials on Tuesday arrested former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak as part of an investigation into corruption tied to a massive financial scandal, authorities announced, in a humiliating fall from power less than two months after a stunning electoral defeat.
Najib, 64, was to be charged in court at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday (local time), according to a statement from a task force investigating the alleged theft of billions from the state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Officers arrived in the afternoon at Najib's mansion in Kuala Lumpur and took him to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Putrajaya, where he was expected to spend the night under detention, a high-ranking official told BenarNews.
"The 1MDB special task force today confirmed that the former prime minister, Najib Razak, has been arrested at 2:35 p.m. involving SRC International," the task force said in a statement, referring to an energy firm that was a former subsidiary of 1MDB, a fund established by Najib in 2009 to support economic development in Malaysia.
Najib is expected to be charged under Malaysia's Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Act linked to the SRC International case, the BenarNews source said. The state news agency Bernama quoted a source as saying that Najib would face more than 10 counts of committing criminal breach of trust.

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Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak enters the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Putrajaya to give a statement in the 1MDB case, May 22, 2018. [BenarNews]

 
In a pre-taped audio posted on his official Facebook page after his arrest, Najib asked for an apology from Malaysia's new government.
"Admittedly there has been a lot of weaknesses," Najib said. "Yes I am not perfect, I'm just a normal person. But believe me, all these accusations made against me and my family are not all true."
"Yes, our homes were ransacked for days. Yes, I was investigated and some items were confiscated. But all these are not conclusive. A lot of the news and photos are just rumors, hearsay and slander," Najib said.
In the weeks since his Barisan Nasional coalition was swept out of power in the May 9 general election, Najib and his wife were barred by authorities from leaving the country.
Najib was twice summoned for questioning by MACC, and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, was called before the commission once. He also resigned as chief of the ruling bloc and its anchor party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
MACC questioned Najib on how 2.6 billion ringgit (about U.S. $642.6 million) and 42 million ringgit (about U.S. $10 million) from SRC International had ended up in his personal bank accounts, where hundreds of millions of dollars from 1MDB had also allegedly landed.
The arrest came weeks after police raided a former office and residences linked to Najib and hauled off hundreds of boxes of designer handbags and dozens of suitcases containing cash, jewelry and luxury items. Police said the raids were part of an investigation into the 1MDB case.
Last week, police said that the jewelry, cash and other luxury goods that had been seized in the raids were worth an estimated U.S. $273 million. On his Facebook page, Najib maintained his innocence, saying the items were gifts to his family from foreign heads of state.
Najib, who was also the former finance minister, founded 1MDB as a sovereign wealth fund ostensibly to pursue projects beneficial to Malaysians. But, according to court documents filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, the fund was used instead to satiate the ostentatious lifestyle of people with power over it, between 2009 and 2014.
When U.S. prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture case related to 1MDB in July 2016, they described a breathtaking level of fraud in which more than $730 million of what seemed to be 1MDB money was rerouted in a complex maze of transactions before ultimately landing to the personal bank account of "Malaysia Official 1," a veiled reference to Najib.
The U.S. Justice Department has described the 1MDB affair as the "worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," alleging that almost U.S. $4.5 billion from the state fund were embezzled and laundered through the acquisition of real estate and other assets.
"Unfortunately, sadly, tragically, a number of corrupt 1MDB officials treated this public trust as a personal bank account," U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch told a news conference in 2016.
Najib, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing, said the money deposited into his bank accounts was a donation from a Saudi prince.
The former prime minister's arrest came as the new government intensified its 1MDB probe.
On Monday, MACC said it froze 408 bank accounts believed to be linked to misappropriated 1MDB funds and questioned former Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over claims he made in 2015 that he had met representatives of the Saudi royal family who had channeled funds into Najib's bank accounts.
The frozen accounts involved almost U.S. $370 million and were linked to 81 individuals and 55 companies, the agency said.
Zahid, 65, appeared before the MACC on Monday over 1MDB, two days after he was elected president of UMNO, the once-powerful ruling party that headed the Barisan coalition and was formerly led by Najib.
The Pakatan Harapan coalition, led by Malaysia's new prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, had won the general election on a plank of cleaning up alleged corruption in government and getting to the bottom of the 1MDB scandal.
Zahid's statement before the commission came a week after the anti-corruption agency remanded Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin, a former Najib aide, and recorded his statement as part of the 1MDB probe.
On Tuesday, MACC also interviewed Najib's stepson, Riza Aziz.
Red Granite Pictures, a company co-founded by Riza, agreed in March this year to pay the U.S. government $60 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged its movies, including "The Wolf of Wall Street," were made using funds stolen from 1MDB, according to court documents.
Meanwhile, about 50 people gathered outside the MACC headquarters on Tuesday night in a show of solidarity for the embattled former leader.
Chanting "Long live, Najib," the crowd lighted candles outside the building and questioned the need to put Najib in a jail cell overnight before pressing charges on Wednesday.
"What is the point of his arrest?" Lokman Noor Adam, the group's leader, told his supporters.
"It's aimed at breaking his spirit, push him to give up."
CORRECTION: The caption for the main photo contained a wrong date in an earlier version.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian officials filed four criminal charges against former Prime Minister Najib Razak on Wednesday for criminal breach of trust and abuse of power in connection with the 1MDB scandal.
Attorney General Tommy Thomas filed the charges at Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur. Najib arrived to cheers from supporters shortly after 8 a.m., clad in a blue suit and dark red necktie, having spent the night at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) after being arrested by anti-graft officials on Tuesday.
"It is put that you, between Aug. 17, 2011 and Feb. 8, 2012 ... as the Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Malaysia, had used your position to solicit a bribe of 42 million ringgit (U.S. $10.4 million) for yourself when you were involved in the decision of Malaysian government to guarantee loans totaling 4 billion ringgit from the Retirement Fund Incorporated to SRC International Sdn Bhd," read one charge.
SRC International is a former subsidiary of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, set up by Najib in 2009 as a sovereign wealth fund ostensibly to pursue projects beneficial to Malaysians.
The charges were filed under Section 409 of the Malaysian Penal Code on criminal breach of trust and the nation's Anti-Corruption Commission Act of 2009. If found guilty of all four, Najib could face up to 80 years in prison.
The case was immediately transferred to the High Court, where Najib entered a not guilty plea and was released on bail of one million ringgit (U.S. $247,115) and required to surrender two diplomatic passports.
High Court judge Sofian Abdul Razak (no relation) tentatively set February or March 2019 as the timeframe for a trial to begin.
Najib: a chance to 'clear my name'
Speaking to reporters as he left the courtroom, Najib said he had expected to be charged "because it is what the new government wants."
"If this is the price I have to pay after 42 years of service to the Malaysian people, I accept it. What I hope is that the judicial process is a process that is truly fair, following the rule of law. I'm confident in my innocence; this is the best chance I have to clear my name."
Najib's lead defense attorney, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, told reporters his client was not worried about the trial "providing that he is given a fair shake at the trial, which we are sure, looking at the judge today ... we are quite sure it's going to be a fair trial."
The judge granted a gag order after Shafee argued in court that his client was being tried in the media. "People have been making statements as though Najib is guilty," Shafee told the court. "There should not be a discussion on the merits of [this] trial."
"We will object strenuously," Attorney General Tommy Thomas said of the gag order request. "The rest of the world is talking about it. The rest of the world will be commenting on the case and Malaysians will be keeping quiet," he said.
Thomas later told reporters there would likely be more charges emanating from the 1MDB probe.
"SRC, I don't know but 1MDB, certainly down the road. This whole thing is about 1MDB. You can expect MACC to investigate 1MDB, and let me state the obvious – when we use the word 1MDB – it is a shorthand statement to describe what happened in the past 4 to 5 years. There were discrete separate transactions over the 4 to 5-year period."
'Selective prosecution'
Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor, attended the court session Wednesday, as did the couple's two adult children, Nooryana Najwa Najib and Mohd Norashman Najib.
Dozens of supporters of the former prime minister chanted "Viva Najib!" outside the court as he arrived shortly after 8 a.m.
"We believed that this is a selective prosecution and all the charges against him were made up. We are here to support Najib as a former president and prime minister of Malaysia," Noor Hariri Mohd Noor, a youth leader from Najib's UMNO party, told BenarNews.

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UMNO youth leader Noor Hariri Mohd Noor (in blue) poses with a group of men from Kelantan state who arrived at the court complex at 5:30 a.m. to show support for the former prime minister. [N. Nantha/BenarNews]

 
The former titan of Malaysian politics was charged exactly eight weeks to the day that his ruling coalition tumbled in Malaysia's general election. His Barisan Nasional coalition and its anchor party UMNO had never lost an election in the nation's 60-year history.
In days that followed, new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government barred the former first couple from leaving the country, searched their residences, and questioned Najib on how 42 million ringgit (about U.S. $10 million) from SRC International had ended up in his personal bank accounts.
Najib was twice summoned for questioning by the anti-corruption agency in May, and Rosmah was also called before the commission once.
Najib's second trip to the MACC came days after police seized hundreds of boxes of designer handbags and 72 suitcases containing cash, jewelry and luxury items from properties linked to him, as part of an investigation into money stolen from 1MDB. Last week, police said those seized items were worth an estimated U.S. $273 million.

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Photographers strain to get a picture of former Prime Minister Najib Razak at the Kuala Lumpur court complex, July 4, 2018.[S.Mahfuz/BenarNews]

 
In a pre-taped audio posted on his official Facebook page after his arrest, the 64-year-old Najib said he was "not perfect."
"I'm just a normal person," he said. "But believe me, all these accusations made against me and my family are not all true."
He described the 1MDB allegations as "just rumors, hearsay and slander."
Earlier, on his Facebook page, Najib wrote that the luxury items seized in the police raids were gifts to his family from foreign heads of state.
According to court documents filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, 1MDB was used to satiate the ostentatious lifestyle of people with power over it between 2009 and 2014.
The 1MDB probe, which is independently being pursued in Switzerland, France and the United States, centers on allegations that Najib's associates embezzled and laundered almost U.S. $4.5 billion from the state fund through the acquisition of real estate and other assets.
When U.S. prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture case related to 1MDB in July 2016, they described a breathtaking level of fraud in which more than $730 million of what seemed to be 1MDB money was rerouted in a complex maze of transactions before ultimately landing in the personal bank account of "Malaysia Official 1."
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in December last year described it as "kleptocracy at its worst."


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's new government said Thursday it was suspending a trio of Chinese-backed rail and pipeline projects in the country, citing concerns over combined costs estimated to run as high as U.S. $23 billion.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng issued a statement announcing the "suspension notice" on the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and the two pipeline projects after seeking advice from Attorney General Tommy Thomas.
"The decisions are solely directed towards the related contractors relating to provisions mentioned in the agreements, and not at any particular country," Eng said in a news release.
The finance minister noted that the expected cost rail link, the most expensive of the three projects, had increased by 26 billion ringgit (U.S. $6.4 billion) to 81 billion ringgit ($20 billion).
The 9.4 billion ringgit ($2.3 billion) pipeline projects are located, respectively along the west coast of peninsular Malaysia and in Malaysian Borneo.
Reuters news service reported that the government was investigating to determine if the administration of former Prime Minister Najib Razak had used funds earmarked for the pipeline projects to pay off debt incurred by the financial scandal-ridden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) development fund.
Najib, a top supporter of China's Belt and Road initiative of investments in the region, called the rail project a "game changer" during its August 2017 groundbreaking. The rail line was to stretch 688 km (430 miles) and join the two coasts of Peninsular Malaysia at a cost of 55 billion ringgit ($13.5 billion).
The Belt and Road Initiative is a grand geopolitical strategy by China to build a vast network of ports, railways, roads and trade routes that would connect China to markets in Southeast Asia, South Asia and beyond.
The announcement by the foreign ministry came a day after Najib was criminally charged in a Kuala Lumpur court following his arrest on suspicion of corruption linked to 1MDB, a state investment fund he started in 2009.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who took office May 10 after his Pakatan Harapan coalition scored an election upset over Najib's Barisan Nasional coalition, has been an outspoken critic of Malaysia undertaking projects that require borrowing from China.
On May 29, Mahathir announced that his new government would renegotiate terms of the ECRL deal.
"The terms are very damaging to our economy," he said at the time.
Mahathir's announcement came at the same time the government canceled plans to build a bullet train between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Weeks later, Mahathir said that his government would review the bullet-train project.
Contractor responds
Contractor China Communications Construction Co. (CCCC) responded to the notice with its own news release stating that the ECRL contract had been signed with Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Berhad (MRL), which represented the Malaysian government.
"We respect and comply with Malaysian laws. Under the situation we have no choice but to adhere to the suspension instruction," it said. "While the duration of the suspension has not been specified, we are concerned about incurring additional cost, losses and damages arising from the suspension.
"We are upset and concerned about the livelihood of our 2,250 local staff, as well as several hundred sub-contractors, suppliers and consultancy firms."
CCCC said it hoped both sides can find a win-win solution through negotiations and that the suspension will be lifted soon.
The contract approved by Najib calls for CCCC to build the rail line and for the Malaysian government to finance 85 percent of the cost through loans from the Export-Import Bank of China with the remaining 15 percent funded through a bond program managed by three Malaysian banks.
The China Petroleum Co. is the firm contracted for the pipeline projects. Last month, Eng announced he had asked the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to probe a "highly suspicious" payment of U.S. $2 billion made to China Petroleum when only 15 percent of its work on the two pipelines was complete.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's new prime minister said Friday his government would not comply with a request by New Delhi to extradite a controversial Indian Muslim preacher who is wanted there for alleged extremist-related activities and giving sermons that inspired terrorism.
Cleric Zakir Naik, 52, founded the Dubai-based satellite television network Peace TV about 12 years ago. He left India in 2016 and subsequently obtained permanent residency in Malaysia.
"As long as he is not causing trouble he will not be deported. He is a Malaysian permanent resident," Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said, referring to Naik during a news conference at the administrative capital Putrajaya.
Mahathir, who took power after leading the opposition bloc to a stunning victory in the May 9 general election, made the comment after a spokesman for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said New Delhi had asked Kuala Lumpur to extradite the cleric.
"At this stage our request is under the active consideration of Malaysian side," spokesman Raveesh Kumar had told a weekly press briefing at the foreign ministry, in response to a question from a reporter. "We had made a formal request for the extradition of Zakir Naik, who is an Indian national living in Malaysia, as per the extradition treaty we have with Malaysian side."
Indian authorities accuse Naik of inspiring some of the militants who carried out an Islamic State-linked terrorist attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery café in Dhaka, where 29 people, including 20 hostages and the five gunmen, were killed on July1-2, 2016.
Naik's lawyer in Kuala Lumpur, Khairul Azam, told BenarNews he was relieved to hear Mahathir's statement. 

"He said he understands the laws of Malaysia and has no trouble obeying them," Khairul said, referring to Naik.
Khairul also denied other reports in India that Naik would be deported.
"There has never been a case where Malaysia deported any permanent resident holder, and even if it's true, my client has the right to be informed officially and not whisked away in the middle of the night," he said.
Naik reportedly became a permanent resident in Malaysia in 2012, coinciding with his first visit to the country. The following year, Malaysia honored him with an "Islamic Role Model" award.

In November last year, Indian officials said Naik faced charges of money laundering and inciting hatred through his sermons broadcast on Peace TV. India and Bangladesh have banned his channel but videos of his previous sermons, which have been seen by millions of viewers, are available on YouTube.

In November 2016, India banned his Mumbai-based NGO Islamic Research Foundation, which partly funded Peace TV. Indian intelligence officials also red-flagged the television channel for allegedly broadcasting anti-India programs deemed as "not conducive to the security environment in the country."

Naik, who was a medical doctor before becoming a preacher, denies the accusations. His lectures often draw large crowds in Malaysia and other countries, but do not sit well with many Hindu and Christian church leaders who accuse him of deliberately insulting their religions.

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Indian journalists ask questions to Islamic preacher Zakir Naik (right) during a video conference in Mumbai, India, July 15, 2016. [AP]

 
Malaysian police not aware
On Thursday, Malaysian national police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun told reporters he wasn't aware of deportation plans involving Naik.

"As far as the police is concerned, there is no plan to take him back to India anytime soon," he said. "However, I cannot comment on behalf of other agencies."
A BenarNews source from the Malaysian Home Ministry confirmed Friday that India had formally requested Naik's extradition on March 31 this year.
In November 2017, Ahmad Zaid Hamidi, who was then home minister, told the Malaysian parliament that the government was prepared to deport Naik if there was a request from the Indian government.

"If the Indian government makes a request to extradite him based on Mutual Legal Assistance, we will return him," he said.
In June 2010, Theresa May, who was then the British home secretary, banned Naik from entering the United Kingdom for what she described as the preacher's "unacceptable behavior."
"Numerous comments made by Dr. Naik are evidence to me of his unacceptable behavior," BBC News quoted May as saying. "Coming to the UK is a privilege, not a right and I am not willing to allow those who might not be conducive to the public good to enter the UK."
Muslim-majority Malaysia has arrested at least 372 people for suspected links to Islamic State (IS) and other terror groups during the past four years. Those numbers include 71 foreigners, according to government statistics.
In June 2016, IS claimed responsibility for a grenade blast that injured eight people at a nightclub on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, the group's first attack on Malaysian soil.
Prabhat Sharan in Mumbai contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- A sharia court in Malaysia's Kelantan state fined a local man 1,800 ringgit (U.S. $446) after he pleaded guilty to two charges stemming from his recent Islamic marriage in neighboring Thailand to an 11-year-old Thai girl, local media reported Monday.
The 41-year-old man was charged with solemnizing a marriage and polygamy without obtaining the court's permission under the Kelantan Islamic Family Law Enactment No. 6 of 2002, Malaysian online media outlet Harian Metro reported. The charges carry maximum fines of 1,000 ringgit each, or two months in prison.
News of the marriage in Narathiwat, a province just across the border in predominantly Muslim southern Thailand, angered people in both countries after it surfaced online in a Facebook post from the man's second wife.
In Thailand, a government official said there was little it could do to annul the marriage because the couple wed under Islamic law by a local imam.
"We cannot immediately intervene because Islamic law, applied in southern provinces, allows this marriage with the parents' consent, but Thai law doesn't," Kotrimah Hajiahrun, an official at the ministry of social development and human security, told BenarNews.
Officials from Thailand's Department of Children and Youth, the Southern Border Province Administration Center and representatives from the Narathiwat Islamic Committee convened last week to discuss the case, Kotrimah said.
The department "met with parties involved to see how we can intervene or help this family. We need to make things clear. At this moment we don't know exactly what we can do," Kotrimah added.
Islamic committees in Narathiwat and other provinces of Thailand's Deep South oversee matters of Islamic jurisprudence, issue marriage and divorce certificates as well as certify halal products, among other duties, but imams of local mosques operate independently of the committees, sources said.
Safiri Jeha, president of the Islamic committee in Narathiwat, said the girls' parents played a major role in allowing the marriage to go forth.
"Islamic law allows youths age 15 and up to marry but they can be younger with parents' consent. They can have ceremony anywhere with and Imam," Safiri told BenarNews. "In the case of the 11-year-old girl, who had wedding at Sungai Golok, they followed the Islamic teaching and Islamic law enacted in Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Satun."
On July 3, the provincial committee met to discuss the case and determined that the imam who solemnized the wedding between the Malaysian man and 11-year-old girl had not violated Islamic law, he said.
To be consummated later: Groom
Malaysia has a civil legal system and a separate Islamic (sharia) legal system. Sharia law, specifically, the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territory) Act of 1984, sets the legal age for marriage at 16 for girls and 18 for boys, allowing for exceptions with court permission. The civil law sets 18 as the minimum marriage age for both boys and girls.
Besides the age issue, Islamic family law requires a Malaysian who marries someone in another country to register the wedding with the Registrar of Muslim Marriages within six months.
Under Islamic law, a man can have four wives as long as he can provide for and maintain each of his families equally.
The groom in question defended the marriage in an online video, claiming it occurred under "nikah gantung," a Malay term meaning that a couple is married with the understanding that it will be consummated at a later date, in this case after the girl turns 16.

"She will be under the care of her parents. Until she comes of age, we will not be together," he said in the video.
Malaysian media identified the man as Che Abdul Karim Che Hamid.
'An exploitation of children'
Thailand's human rights commission, meanwhile, has challenged the marriage.
"The National Human Rights Commission is concerned that underage marriage (under 18 years of age) of a woman, a deprival of education and chance to development into adulthood, is inconsistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Children Protection Act," the commission said in a statement late last week.
A human rights commissioner called for the Thai government to change the law.
"Thailand should pass a law to ban underage marriage in all cases. Underage marriage of the poor is an exploitation of children by the adult husband. It is multiple violations of children," Angkhana Neelapaijit told BenarNews.
Under Thai civil law, a woman can marry at 20 years old without parental consent. She can also marry at age 17 provide she has her parents' approval, as well as at age 15 through a court order, according to legal experts.
Malaysian reaction
The case of the marriage of the 11-year-old Thai also led Malaysia's deputy prime minister to call for the man and the girl to be separated, saying she had consulted with a sharia judge on the matter.
Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who also holds a portfolio as minister of women, family and community development in Malaysia's new government, said the marriage hastened the need for action to increase the legal marriage age to 18.
The Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition that defeated the Barisan Nasional coalition in the May 9 general election, included the age increase for marriage in its party platform.
Wan Azizah said the change was needed to protect children and avoid issues of pedophilia, child exploitation and child pornography.
Mariyam Ahmad in Pattani, Thailand, contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- The U.S. Treasury on Monday announced sanctions on a Malaysian travel agent for Iranian airline Mahan Air, which Washington has blacklisted as a backer of terrorism.

The Treasury Department said all transactions within U.S. jurisdiction involving assets of Malaysian-based Mahan Travel and Tourism Sdn. Bhd. would be "blocked" as a result of the sanctions.

American authorities have accused Mahan Air of aiding the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's elite Qods Force in ferrying weapons and personnel around the Middle East. 

"Mahan Air is the airline of choice for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, facilitating its support to terrorism across the Middle East," Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said. 

"Mahan's regular flights to Syria are used to prop up the Assad regime and deliver weapons, foreign fighters, and Iranian operatives who sow violence and unrest across the region," he said in a statement announcing the sanctions on the Malaysian entity. He was referring to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Mahan Travel and Tourism Sdn Bhd, which has served Mahan Air for at least eight years, is Mahan Air's sole travel agent in Malaysia, and provides reservation and ticketing services for the Iranian airline.

"This action serves notice to the aviation community of the sanctions risk for individuals and entities maintaining commercial relationships with Mahan Air and other designated Iranian airlines," the Treasury statement said. 

It warned those operating in the civil aviation industry to "implement appropriate controls to ensure compliance with legal requirements and sanctions."

"Today's action demonstrates the U.S. Government's continued commitment to enforcing existing sanctions and to targeting those that provide support to terrorism."

The United States plans to restore financial sanctions and other punitive measures in August following its decision to withdraw from a 2015 deal that lifted most sanctions on Iran in exchange for strict limits on its nuclear work.

Last week, the Trump administration warned countries to stop their imports of Iranian oil by early November.

Malaysia and Iran generally have good relations. 

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani congratulated Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in a telephone call last month on his coalition's landmark victory in elections that toppled the United Malays National Organization (UMNO)-led bloc, which had ruled the country since independence in 1957.

Rouhani called for an expansion of bilateral ties in his talks with the new Malaysian leader, reports said.

Mahathir had declared after his election victory that Malaysia, as a trading nation, would maintain good relations with all nations without favoring any particular one or interfering with its domestic policies, system and governance, Malaysia's national news agency reported.

He also stressed that Malaysia would take a "neutral" stance without taking part in any moves by big powers to impose sanctions against countries which disagreed with them, according to Bernama.

"But of course, we are aware of big powers who want to impose sanctions on countries which do not respect or agree with them," he said, without singling out any country.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian investigators have asked Macau to assist in efforts to apprehend fugitive financier Low Taek Jho (better known as Jho Low), who is wanted for his alleged involvement in the 1MDB financial scandal, Malaysia's police chief said Tuesday.
His department made the request after Jho Low allegedly left Hong Kong last week as Malaysian officers were traveling there to apprehend him, Inspector General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.
"Immediately after learning that he has fled, we wrote to Macau but so far we have yet to get any response," Fuzi said. "We have sent requests for information in our effort to arrest Jho Low to seven countries, including China, through the Interpol red notice."
The only response came from Hong Kong authorities who confirmed that the alleged mastermind behind the scandal around the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund was indeed there.
"Unfortunately when we arrived, we were told that he has fled by ferry to Macau," Fuzi said.

In related developments on Tuesday, the Swiss and Malaysian attorneys general met to discuss 1MDB and attorneys for former Prime Minister Najib Razak's wife discussed their efforts to get back her personal items seized by Malaysian investigators last month.
Switzerland's top prosecutor revealed that Najib was not among people being investigated by Swiss authorities in connection with the 1MDB case, which is the focus of multiple money-laundering and embezzlement investigations across the globe. Last week, Najib was arrested and charged in Malaysia in connection with the scandal.
Regarding Malaysia's search for Jho Low, a law firm representing the fugitive financier said last month that he would assist the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in its investigation of 1MDB after it ordered him to present himself for questioning.
MACC Chief Shukri Abdull rejected Jho Low's demand to have his statement recorded by investigators in Dubai, saying he was a Malaysian citizen and should return to prove his innocence.
U.S. Justice Department officials have described the 1MDB case as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," and accused Jho Low of laundering more than $400 million stolen from 1MDB through acquisitions of properties in California, New York and London. Among the acquisitions were a jet purchased for $35 million and a mega-yacht estimated to be worth $250 million.

The massive scale of the transnational scandal saw investigations being opened in Switzerland, Hong Kong, United States, Singapore, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
Visit by Swiss attorney general
Earlier on Tuesday, Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber and a delegation from his office met with his Malaysian counterpart Tommy Thomas to discuss cooperation particularly on the 1MDB case.

In a statement regarding the visit, the Swiss official revealed that Najib was not one of six people under investigation in his country. In addition, two banks are suspected of involvement in cases ranging from suspicion of bribery of foreign public officials, misconduct in public office, money laundering, committing fraud, forgery of documents and criminal mismanagement.
The Wall Street Journal reported that about $7 billion in funds from 1MDB flowed through international financial systems between 2009, when it was founded by Najib, and 2015. Swiss authorities are investigating to determine how much of the money that went through the Swiss financial system may have been misappropriated.

Najib was charged in Kuala Lumpur on July 4 with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of abuse of power for his alleged part in a scandal involving a former 1MDB subsidiary, SRC International. He allegedly used his position to solicit a bribe of 42 million ringgit (U.S. $10.6 million) to influence the decision of Malaysian government to guarantee loans totaling 4 billion ringgit ($1.01 billion) to SRC International.
He could face up to 80 years in prison if convicted of all four charges.
Since being voted out of office in May, Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, have been questioned the anti-corruption commission over 1MDB. During a search of residences and other properties linked to them, investigators seized 117 million ringgit ($29 million) in cash along with jewelry and other luxury items bringing the total value of cash and items to 900 million ($225 million) to 1.1 billion ($273 million) ringgit.
On June 26, Beirut-based Global Royalty Trading SAL filed a lawsuit against Rosmah at the Kuala Lumpur High Court seeking the return of 44 pieces of jewelry loaned to the former first lady on Feb. 10, Malaysian media reported. The jewels included diamond necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings and a tiara valued at 59.8 million ringgit ($14.9 million).
Asked about media reports on the lawsuit, Fuzi said Najib and Rosmah had not filed a formal request for the return of jewelry or any other items seized during the search of their properties.
Rosmah's attorneys, K. Kumaraendran and Geethan Ram, responded to Fuzi's comment, raising concerns about the searches and pointing out that their client was not present for any of them.
"On behalf of our client, we have also written to the Royal Malaysia Police seeking for the search list which was not presented to our client directly by the officer in charge, and are yet to be provided," the attorneys said.
They also said they had made a request to inspect and identify items belonging to Rosmah, so she could file a claim for their return, but it was denied.
"We hope that the police will accord fairness to our client, and observe all due processes diligently," the statement said.
Najib and Rosmah have consistently maintained their innocence related to 1MDB.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's new government will not give in to calls to hand over an Indian Muslim preacher wanted by New Delhi for alleged extremist-related activities, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told reporters Tuesday.
But Mahathir also declined to reveal what he had discussed with the controversial preacher, Zakir Naik, during a meeting last weekend that caused a sensation in the Indian and Malaysian press after the televangelist posted a photo of himself with the prime minister on his Facebook page.
"I cannot bow down to people's pressure because we have to look into the matter in a holistic manner, and I am afraid that he will become a victim," Mahathir told a news conference in Putrajaya, in response to a question from a BenarNews correspondent. The question focused on Mahathir's meeting with Naik and the government's decision last week not to agree to an Indian request to extradite the preacher.
"On the discussion, it is a secret," Mahathir said.
Naik, 52, is sought by India for his TV sermons that allegedly espoused hatred and inspired militants to commit terrorist acts, including a massacre at a café in Bangladesh's capital two years ago.
On Tuesday, the preacher defended himself in a statement. In it, he accused media outlets of smearing his name.
Naik denied that his sermons had helped spread hatred and terrorism. He also thanked Mahathir and the new government for allowing him to stay in Malaysia.
"Some sections of the media have attacked me for my supposed 'incitement to terror,' and it would be naive not to assume that this was done with a broader objective of demonizing Islam and Muslims," the preacher said.
"Unable to find any evidence against me, they resorted to doctored video clips, out-of-context quotations and a host of dishonest schemes to accuse me of terrorism, hate speech and even money laundering."
Naik said thousands of news articles, online videos and social media posts falsely attributed "appalling statements" that he said he had never made.
"To anybody who does not want Islam to be presented as a religion of peace, this is a quick and dirty way to discredit the faith. I implore anybody who comes across such material to verify it before jumping to conclusions," Naik said.
During 25 years of lecturing on Islam and peace, Naik said he had never promoted terror in the name of his faith. While in Hindu-majority India, none of his sermons had angered non-Muslims, until a "group of religious fanatics sought to tarnish my image."
Malaysia rejects Indian request
On July 6, Mahathir told another news conference that Malaysia would not deport Naik as long as he was not causing any trouble and because he was a permanent Malaysian resident.
Mahathir, who took power after leading the opposition bloc to an upset win in the May 9 general election, made the comment after a spokesman for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said Delhi had asked Kuala Lumpur to extradite the cleric.
"At this stage our request is under the active consideration of the Malaysian side," spokesman Raveesh Kumar had told a weekly press briefing at the foreign ministry, in response to a question. "We had made a formal request for the extradition of Zakir Naik, who is an Indian national living in Malaysia, as per the extradition treaty we have with Malaysian side."
Efforts by BenarNews to reach officials with the foreign ministry and the Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which heads India's ruling coalition were unsuccessful on Tuesday.
In the meantime, Rais Hussin, a strategist for Mahathir's Bersatu party (PPBM), defended the prime minister's decision not to extradite Naik to India.
He told Free Malaysia Today that he saw nothing wrong in the preacher's sermons and activities.
Deporting Naik would be akin to deporting [Uyghur] Muslims to China, the news outlet quoted him as saying. He was referring to a request by the Chinese government to extradite 11 members of the Uyghur minority who had entered Malaysia illegally from Thailand in 2017.
Meanwhile, a leader of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a partner in Malaysia's new ruling coalition, took issue with Mahathir's refusal to send Naik back to India, saying Kuala Lumpur should honor its extradition treaty.
"With all due respect to the prime minister, I cannot fathom why he said we would be bowing to pressure if we let Naik go to India," DAP politician P. Ramasamy said Tuesday, according to Free Malaysia Today (FMT).
"Why are we protecting a fugitive?" he added.
"Let him go back to India, be tried and defend himself in court and maybe come back to be a Malaysian citizen," the Penang deputy chief minister told FMT.
In India, authorities have accused Naik of inspiring some of the militants who carried out an Islamic State-linked terrorist attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery café in Dhaka, where 29 people, including 20 hostages and the five gunmen, were killed on July1 and 2, 2016.
In November 2017, Indian officials said Naik faced charges of money laundering and inciting hatred through his sermons broadcast on Peace TV. India and Bangladesh have banned his channel, but videos of his previous sermons, which have been seen by millions of viewers, are available on YouTube.

A year earlier, India banned his Mumbai-based NGO Islamic Research Foundation, which partly funded Peace TV. Indian intelligence officials also red-flagged the television channel for allegedly broadcasting anti-India programs deemed as "not conducive to the security environment in the country."
Mohammad Amin Pirzada in Srinagar, India, contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- A fugitive financier wanted for questioning in the 1MDB graft scandal apparently eluded authorities for a second time by fleeing Macau just days after doing the same thing in Hong Kong, the Malaysian police chief said Wednesday.
Police Inspector-General Mohamad Fuzi Harun told reporters that Macau police sent him an email two days ago confirming that Low Taek Jho (better known as Jho Low) had left the Chinese special administrative region for an undisclosed destination.
"I was not told about the date and the destination. However, Jho Low is on Interpol's red notice," Fuzi said.
On Tuesday, Fuzi said he had contacted Macau officials after Jho Low apparently fled Hong Kong, but had not received a response.
That day, Malaysian Immigration Department Director General Mustafar Ali told national news agency Bernama that Jho Low might be using a passport from another country because his Malaysian one was cancelled last month.
Identified as a close confidante of embattled former Prime Minister Najib Razak, Jho Low is believed to hold key information related to a massive scandal into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state investment fund established by Najib in 2009.
Najib previously said Jho Low had a significant role in 1MDB because of his strategic relationship with several members of Middle East royalty. He told Reuters news agency that Jho Low had a special relationship with the late King Abdullah Abdul Aziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia and his family as well as several monarchs in United Arab Emirates.
'I am an ordinary citizen too'
Last week, Najib was charged in a Kuala Lumpur court with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of abuse of power for his alleged part in a scandal involving a former 1MDB subsidiary, SRC International Sdn Bhd. He could face up to 80 years in prison if convicted.
The former prime minister allegedly used his position to solicit a bribe of 42 million ringgit (U.S. $10.6 million) to influence the decision of Malaysian government to guarantee loans totaling 4 billion ringgit ($1.01 billion) to SRC International
Najib  lawyer Badrul Abdullah said the charges against his client last week were premature because authorities had not questioned Jho Low and an SRC International managing director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil Nik Othman about 1MDB.
Badrul said Jho Low had full knowledge of the 1MDB dealings while Nik Faisal was given the authority to sanction deals, so no charges should be brought against Najib until after Malaysian officials could question the duo. Officials cannot locate Nik Faisal who had been identified as being in Indonesia in May.
Since being voted out of office in May, Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, have been the subject of interrogation by the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission regarding 1MDB.
A search of residences and other properties linked to couple yielded 117 million ringgit ($29 million) in cash along with jewelry and other luxury items bringing the total value of cash and items to 900 million ($225 million) to 1.1 billion ($273 million) ringgit. It also led to the government freezing Najib's bank accounts.
In a Facebook post Wednesday, Najib pleaded to have his accounts unfrozen and thanked the government for unfreezing his children's accounts.
"The authorities need to realize that I am an ordinary citizen too. As the head of my household, I too have bills to pay, medical bills to attend to and a household to run," he said in the posting. "The authorities freezing my bank account has caused me hardship and difficulties in performing this role."
"Like any other citizen I deserve to be given access to my personal freedom until my trial is completed. I am pleading with all concerned to stick to the rules of a fair and impartial investigation."
Court challenges
Veera Kumar, another attorney representing Najib, told BenarNews that the Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department unit had breached its standard operating procedure when it raided residences and an office linked to the former prime minister.
"Money found must be counted inside the premises and not somewhere else. A witness must also be present. That is according to the law, but that didn't happen," the lawyer said.

On June 30, Najib filed lawsuit applications against the police for their alleged lack of professionalism and against Attorney General Tommy Thomas and MACC chief Mohd Shukri Abdull for conflicts of interest. The applications are to be heard on July 16.
"We will reply in the affidavit. I am not going to comment more about it in public," Fuzi said when asked about the potential lawsuits.
After being charged last week, Najib was released on 1 million ringgit bail – half of which he paid that day and the second half on Monday. Because his accounts are frozen, Najib said he relied on donations from United Malays National Organization (UMNO) members – the political party he led while serving as prime minister – to pay the bill.
On Wednesday, UMNO announced it had hired lawyers to petition the government to return about 116.7 million ringgit ($28.9 million) seized during the search of Najib's properties.
It also called for silence regarding its action.
"The UMNO headquarters counsel's team hopes that no party will make any unjust speculation on this matter," it said at the end of the news release.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia has sworn in its first non-Muslim chief justice, drawing protests from opposition and Islamic groups in the majority Malay country.
Chief Justice Richard Malanjum, 65, a Christian member of the Kadazandusun tribe in Sabah, a state in Malaysian Borneo, was sworn in Wednesday night along with two other top judges approved by King Sultan Muhammad V.
Malanjum replaces Md Raus Sharif, whose resignation takes effect July 31. Also sworn in were Ahmad Maarop, chief judge of the High Court of Malaya, and David Wong Dak Wah who replaces Malanjum as chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak.
Malanjum becomes the ninth chief justice of Malaysia, but also the first non-Malay to hold the office in the 61-year history of the multi-racial and multi-religious country. He now heads the Federal Court, the highest court in Malaysia.
Despite the protests, constitutional expert Shad Saleem Faruqi said non-Muslims could hold any important post in the country short of king, sultan or joining the Malay Regiment Forces and becoming the chief minister of a state where a sultan is the head.
"Other than that, there is no stopping non-Muslims from holding any important post in the country. There is no problem at all," Shad Saleem told BenarNews.
Earlier, Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) Information Chief Nasrudin Hassan criticized the appointments of Malanjum along with Attorney General Tommy Thomas and Law Minister Liew Vui Keong, who are already in office, saying these picks for important posts would "cause restlessness among Muslims."
None of the three are Muslim or Malay.
"Will there be hope for the people, especially Muslims, to make sure that our future will continue to be protected on Malaysian soil especially when it comes to matters involving the law?" Nasrudin said.
He claimed Malanjum's track record shows that he was not on the side of Islam in key cases.
But legal expert Shad Saleem lambasted Nasrudin's statement.
"It is shameful. Do not drag Islam into this debate as Islam has nothing to do with this matter. His view is so narrow and it brings only shame to Islam," he told BenarNews.
New government, new leaders
Meanwhile, Armand Azhar Abu Hanafiah of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party supported Nasrudin, saying the decision by Pakatan Harapan (PH) to appoint non-Muslims as key ministers was made even before the May 9 general election.
PH, a coalition led by Mahathir Mohamad, defeated the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional coalition to seize control of the government and appoint new leaders to the court and cabinet.
Armand, an UMNO division chief, blamed the ethnic Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP), a member of the PH coalition, of trying to create a republic by replacing the kings and sultans.
"We knew about this all this while and perhaps PAS had just realized this today. This is what DAP is trying to do by creating a republic in Malaysia," Armand said.
PAS did not align with either coalition in the election and won 18 seats in parliament. PH won a slim majority of 113 seats in the 222-seat parliament while Barisan Nasional won 79 seats.
"Pakatan Harapan supporters have yet to realize this as they are still ecstatic about their election victory. But today we see how DAP is working clandestinely to make this country a king-less nation," Armand said.
Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor, the mufti of Penang state, challenged the views of Armand and Nasrudin, saying there was no prohibition in Islam to appointing non-Muslims to ministerial or legal posts. The main objective is to uphold justice.
"In the Quran there is no stopping non-Muslims from ruling and there is no hadith that says non-Muslims are not allowed to lead important positions. If there is, show me the text," he said.
Muslim and non-Muslim leaders in PH had thoroughly discussed the three appointments, Wan Salim said.
"This is not a one-man show but a collective understanding by the leaders in the government," he said.
Muslims account for more than 60 percent of Malaysia's 32 million people.


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BENARNEWS- For the first time in Malaysia's history the UMNO party found itself in the opposition as the new parliament opened Monday, but not without leaders from the old ruling bloc and other politicians staging a walkout over the house speaker's appointment.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the 93-year-old ex-leader of the United Malays National Organization that had dominated Malaysian politics for 61 years, took his seat among lawmakers as head of the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, which toppled UMNO in a bitterly fought general election in May.
There was some drama from the start.
Leading figures from UMNO and Barisan Nasional, the former ruling coalition that holds only 51 seats in the 222-member parliament, as well as other parties challenged the naming of Ariff Md Yusof as speaker. They accused the government of backdating his appointment letter to July 2, in time for the required 14-day notice.
Former Prime Minister Najib Razak was among those who left the chamber only to return for the swearing-in ceremony at the beginning of the 20-day parliamentary session.
Opposition members did not have anything against Ariff as speaker – but with his appointment process – said walkout leader Takiyuddin Hassan, from the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS). The faith-based party did not align itself with Najib's Barisan bloc or Mahathir's Pakatan alliance, which won at least 116 seats in the May 9 election.
Mahathir, who had led Barisan and UMNO during an earlier 22-year stint as prime minister, denied the allegations.

"Not backdated, it was prepared earlier, so when I signed it I put the date," said Mahathir, who described the walkout as nothing more that theatrics on the part of the new parliamentary minority.
Two familiar figures from UMNO, however, opted to remain in their seats during the brief walkout: former Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and former Foreign Affairs Minister Anifah Aman.
"We can protest during debates or after the officiating ceremony tomorrow. To me, it's better if we respect the ceremony and not resort to any actions that might undermine Barisan's image as a credible opposition," Khairy said.

Najib, whose government was swept out of power on May 9 and who has since been charged as part of a criminal probe linked with the 1MDB financial scandal, resigned as chief of UMNO and Barisan but retained his parliamentary seat representing the Pekan constituency in Pahang state.
On Monday, the former prime minister sat on the opposition side of the room next to new UMNO president Zahid Hamidi, who had served as his deputy prime minister. Zahid joined Najib in the walkout.
"That was a party decision, I leave it to the party," Najib said when asked why he walked out. "Probably the party should explain to some extent why they did what they did."
In all, 221 MPs took their oath of office in the presence of Ariff who served as a Court of Appeals judge before retiring in 2015. Missing from the session was Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who was recuperating from an operation to remove a pancreatic tumor, according to his press secretary.
Session to focus on taxes, anti-fake news law 

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Liew Vui Keong said MPs and others had submitted more than 1,500 questions touching on issues concerning the economy, law reforms, the judiciary's independence and other wings of the government to be addressed during the session.
Among the topics of interest is the re-introduction of a sales and services tax (SST) to replace the criticized goods and services tax (GST) as well as the repealing of the Anti-Fake News Act that was approved in March.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced that the SST rate would be set at 10 percent for sales and 6 percent for services. The bill on the tax is expected to be passed next month and is expected to bring in 4 billion ringgit (U.S. $1 billion) to the federal government.
Najib implemented GST in 2015 as a replacement for SST.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to bolster bilateral security ties Monday as they talked about the Islamic State (IS) and pledged to curb the spread of extremism and terrorism in the Southeast Asian region, sources and official statements said.
Mahathir received Duterte at his office in Putrajaya, the nation's administrative capital, after the 93-year-old Malaysian leader participated in oath-taking with fellow members of the parliament.
"Both leaders were pleased with the commitment shown by both countries to curb the spread of extremism and terrorism in the region," according to a statement from Mahathir's office. "Malaysia also expressed support toward peace and development in Mindanao, Southern Philippines."
In a short text message, a Mahathir aide told BenarNews that the two leaders talked about the Islamic State (IS) terror group during their private meeting.  

"Yes, they did talk about IS among other issues," the source said, without elaborating.
Duterte was on a private visit to Malaysia – his first with Mahathir. He met his Malaysian counterpart Saturday night during the fight between the Philippines' Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao and Argentina's Lucas Matthysse – billed as the biggest boxing match in the country since the 1975 heavyweight clash between Muhammad Ali and Australian Joe Bugner.
Mahathir arrived at the venue during the sixth round, giving him only one round to watch the Filipino icon deliver his seventh-round knockout.
A statement from Duterte's office in Manila released after Monday's meeting, said the Philippine leader "pointed out the need to address terrorism and violent extremism, as well as transnational crimes, such as piracy and armed robbery at sea along with illegal drug trade.
"President Duterte expressed appreciation for Malaysia's sustained support for the quest for just and lasting peace and development in Mindanao," the statement said, referring to the southern Philippine island where pro-IS militants operate.
Last year, militants led by acknowledged IS regional leader Isnilon Hapilon laid siege to the city of Marawi in Mindanao. Security forces effectively ended the Marawi siege by killing Hapilon after five months of gun battles that also killed about 1,200 people, most of them militants.
Hapilon's force was backed by Southeast Asian militants and other foreign fighters, including Indonesians and Malaysians, in a plot that caught the Philippine government by surprise.
Two Malaysians who had allegedly helped plan the Marawi siege, Mahmud Ahmad and Amin Baco, were believed to have been killed as the Philippine military closed in on the militants. Their bodies have not been found and authorities in the nearby eastern Malaysian state of Sabah recently included their names on a list of wanted militants.
IS-linked Malaysian fighters, along with some Indonesians, pose serious threats to Philippine security as they are believed to have settled in areas near Marawi, security analysts and military officials previously told BenarNewss.
Reputations

Mahathir had been known as a strongman because of his reputation on handling human rights when he governed Muslim-majority Malaysia for 22 years beginning in 1981. But analysts believe he has softened his strongman image since his opposition bloc demolished the ruling party in the May 9 general election.
Meanwhile, Duterte remains the focus of international criticism as rights groups have said that as many as 12,000 people have been killed in the drug war under his administration. Official figures reflect only about 4,000 deaths and authorities said those occurred in shootouts with police officers.
The statement from Manila said Duterte and Mahathir "renewed and reaffirmed the long-standing brotherhood and friendship between the Philippines and Malaysia."
Both sides offered few details on what transpired during the talks. A BenarNews source in Mahathir's office said Manila had requested keeping details of the meeting private.
Before the meeting, Duterte spokesman Harry Roque said the Philippine leader was planning to talk about insurgency and IS.
Piracy against ships in the region remains an issue for Southeast Asia, which in recent years has become a hotbed for IS-linked militants, according to analysts.
Malaysia aids in peace process
In 2016, Malaysia brokered the peace negotiations between the Philippine government and Muslim rebels on the southern island of Mindanao. Malaysian participation has evolved to include monitoring of an interim ceasefire pact forged by the two parties about two decades ago.
The peace process involved the drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law, a legislative bill that will allow for the establishment of the Muslim-majority Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mindanao as a political entity in the predominantly Catholic Philippines.
The BBL spells out the proposed autonomous region in the south, its scope and powers. Its passage is expected to bring peace Mindanao, the country's mineral-rich southern third where many areas remain mired in poverty because of the insurgency.
The 12,000-member Moro Islamic Liberation Front dropped its bid for self-rule to settle for an expanded autonomy when it signed a peace deal with Manila four years ago.
The Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives in June passed their respective versions of the law, but the lawmakers have come under criticism for allegedly watering down certain provisions. Duterte is expected to sign the bill on July 23 prior to delivering his State of the Nation address before a joint Congress.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's new religious affairs minister urged the public Tuesday to stop discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) people in the workplace as long as they don't openly declare their sexuality.
All people, including members of the LGBT community, have equal rights and freedom, Mujahid Yusof Rawa told reporters. His groundbreaking comments stirred criticism from other politicians and religious figures in majority-Muslim Malaysia, where Islam is the official faith and homosexual acts, such as sodomy, are outlawed and punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
"No one should be discriminated at work or barred from working," said Mujahid, a member of the faith-based National Trust Party (Amanah) who is minister in charge of religious affairs under the Prime Minister's Department in Malaysia's new government.
Mujahid, who left the conservative Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) to join Amanah, said LGBT members should be free to work.
"As long as they can work and they do not try to challenge the system where it can bring damage to Islam, then there should be no problem," the minister told reporters at parliament.
His comments on the sensitive issue of LGBT rights appeared to be unprecedented for a Malaysian government official, but he did draw a line. Mujahid said people who were open about their sexuality could create problems if they did not mirror the Islamic values of Malaysia.
However, it was not immediately clear whether his statement signaled a policy change on LGBT rights or whether Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope), Malaysia's new ruling coalition to which his party belongs, would move to abolish laws criminalizing homosexual sex and sodomy. In its electoral manifesto, Pakatan did not mention LGBT people but it promised to "build an inclusive and moderate" nation.
Mujahid's statement came after Numan Afifi, who is pro-LGBT, was forced to resign as press secretary for the minister of youth and sports in the new government.
"Whatever, his sexuality is, he remained professional and he kept it quiet. Therefore, he did not breach any law," Mujahid said.
PAS member Takiyuddin Hassan challenged Mujahid's "uncalled for" comments, telling BenarNews that they could lead Muslims to think that being LGBT was permitted in Islam.

"As a minister, he should know what to say. From a legal point of view, becoming an LGBT itself is an offense," Takiyuddin said. "His interpretation may lead to confusion, and Muslims and non-Muslims alike would think that being gay is OK in Islam."
Both Mujahid and Takiyuddin were raised politically in PAS but Mujahid left the party to form Amanah with other progressive PAS members.
Mujahid is serving as a minister in the government because Amanah joined the Pakatan coalition that defeated the Barisan Nasional government in the May 9 general election. PAS did not join either coalition.
Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the People's Justice Party, a key ally in Pakatan, was serving a prison sentence on a second sodomy conviction, when the coalition won the election. Following the upset at the polls, Malaysian King Sultan Muhammad V granted Anwar a full pardon, allowing him to return to political life.
Anwar is expected to take over as prime minister when Mahathir Mohamad, 93, steps down as PM in a year or two.
'We just want recognition'
In response to Mujahid's statement, Abdul Rahman Osman, the mufti of Pahang state, said the new religious affairs minister should be wiser. 

"I do not know his real intention, but if he does not want any discrimination at work he should explain why," Abdul Rahman said. "His statement must also explain why Muslims must reject LGBT [people]."
Meanwhile, an LGBT rights activist applauded Mujahid's stand.

Nisha Ayub, who was jailed for cross-dressing and attacked by homophobes several years ago, thanked the minister.
"I was surprised when I heard it. Coming from a minister with an Islamic background, for me is more than enough," he said. "We just want recognition, the right to work and the right to education. That is all.
"I would like to thank him for making such a statement. It meant a lot for us," he added.

Wan Ji Wan Hussein, an independent preacher who was once investigated under Malaysia's Sedition Act, supported the statement. 

"If LGBT [people] can't work, so it should be the same for those who don't pray. In Islam, he who does not pray, his sin is as big as being an apostate," Wan Ji said.

"We should engage and try to explain Islam rather than push them away from the religion. That is not the way to promote Islam," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian anti-graft authorities seized documents during raids Wednesday on two companies in Kuala Lumpur responsible for three China-backed mega infrastructure projects in Malaysia, a lead investigator confirmed.
Officers with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) went to 13 locations in the city linked to the projects – namely the East Coast Railway Link (ECRL) and the Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline (TSGP) and Multi Product Pipeline (MPP) – the agency's director of investigations told BenarNews.
"We seized a few documents involving the projects," Simi Abdul Ghani said, but declined to comment further.

The administration of former Prime Minister Najib Razak had awarded the multibillion-dollar projects to the Chinese companies, but Malaysia's new government has suspended the three projects.
When he announced the suspension on July 5, new Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng partly justified the move by saying that the China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau, a Chinese state firm which was awarded contracts for TSGP and MPP in November 2016, had been paid 85 percent of the project value despite completing only 13 percent of the work on the two pipelines.

Both projects were handled by Suria Strategic Energy Resources Sdn Bhd (SSER), a wholly owned subsidiary of the finance ministry which was chaired by the former chief secretary of the treasury, Irwan Siregar Abdullah, who was linked to Najib.
Eng made the statement following media reports that the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was investigating to determine if Najib's government had used funds earmarked for the pipeline projects to pay off debt incurred by the financial scandal-ridden state fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
1MDB, Najib's brainchild, was meant to spur national investment but has been subject to lawsuits and criminal investigations after billions of dollars allegedly went missing from the fund.
U.S. Justice Department officials described the 1MDB case as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times." The officials accused a Najib associate, fugitive financier Low Teik Jho (better known as Jho Low), of laundering more than $400 million stolen from 1MDB through acquisitions of properties in California, New York and London.
Last month, a Malaysian court charged Najib with criminal breach of trust and abuse or power in connection with 1MDB, but the former prime minister has denied that he committed any crime or stole the people's money.
Singapore
Meanwhile, the Malaysian government appointed a Singapore-based law firm to represent its effort to reclaim money belonging to 1MDB that was frozen by the Singaporean authorities, according to a media report.

The Edge Markets, a business publication, reported that Attorney General Tommy Thomas had approved the appointment of Tan Rajah & Cheah to file an application at the High Court in Singapore against Jho Low and 52 other defendants to recover 1MDB funds.

Apandi Ali, the attorney general appointed by Najib while he was prime minister, cleared the PM of any wrongdoing related to 1MDB as the Malaysian investigation slowed. Mahathir's government revived it after his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition came into power following an upset victory over Najib's Barisan Nasional coalition in the May 9 general election.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian counterterrorism officers have arrested and detained seven suspects, including three Indonesians and a Malaysian supporter of the extremist group Islamic State who allegedly threatened to kill the king and the prime minister, police said Thursday.
Mohamad Fuzi Harun, the police inspector-general, said the arrests occurred in the states of Terengganu, Selangor, Perak and Johor over a five-day period, starting on July 12.

One of the suspects, a 42-year-old Indonesian, was linked to a member of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a militant group involved in the killing of a police officer during a prison riot on May 10 at a detention center in Indonesia's West Java province, Fuzi said in a statement.
"He admitted that he is connected to a JAD member," the Malaysian police chief said.
He said another suspect, a 34-year-old unemployed man, was arrested in Johor after he had allegedly posted a threat on Facebook to kill the king, Sultan Muhammad V, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Mujahid Yusof Rawa, a minister in the Prime Minister's Department.
Including the latest arrests, Muslim-majority Malaysia has arrested 40 terrorism suspects this year, according to a tally of official police figures compiled by BenarNews.
In Jakarta, Indonesian national police confirmed the arrests of three of citizens by the Malaysian authorities.
"It's correct. The Indonesian police attaché in Malaysia is currently investigating the information further," Indonesian Police Inspector-General Setyo Wasisto told BenarNews.
Malaysia's counter-terror officers have arrested hundreds of people suspected of having links to terror groups during the past five years, but the multiracial nation of 32 million residents has suffered only one terror attack. Among the 350 arrested suspects, at least 66 have been freed, officials said.
On June 26, 2016, Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for a grenade blast that injured eight patrons at a nightclub in Puchong, about 12.8 km (8 miles) from Kuala Lumpur.
In the latest police operations, on July 12 Malaysian officers arrested a 26-year-old Indonesian businessman on charges of being a member of the terror group Negara Islam Indonesia (NII), or Islamic State of Indonesia, in Terengganu state, Fuzi said.
"The suspect has made a bai'ah or pledge of allegiance to the top leaders of the group in Bandung, Indonesia between 2015 and 2017," Fuzi said. Bandung is the capital of West Java province.
"The man has also undergone a series of military training organized by the group around Bandung between 2015 and 2018," he said. 

He said the suspect's wife, a Malaysian, had also pledged loyalty to the militant group's top leaders in Bandung and was planning to take her and their children to Syria to join IS. But Fuzi said the wife was not arrested.
In addition, a 27-year-old Indonesian construction worker was arrested on July 12 in Petaling Jaya, Selangor after authorities said they found 100 videos and 90 images of IS activities on his mobile phone.
"The suspect has also promoted IS activities on his Facebook account and uploaded videos and images of the terror group," Fuzi said. "He also planned to join the group in Syria."
Police arrested four residents, with ages ranging from 21 to 42, in the southern state of Johor on July 16 and 17. Among the suspects was a 24-year-old woman.

The woman has links to a Malaysian terrorist killed in Syria in March, who was identified as Muhammad Nasrullah Latif (alias Abu Gomez), Fuzi said, alleging that the woman had remitted money to the man prior to his death.
The 42-year-old Indonesian man in custody had posted messages on Facebook threatening to launch a bomb attack in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines after the Eid celebrations this year, Fuzi said.
"He frequently communicated with Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, a Malaysian member of the Islamic State in Syria and main plotter of the Movida bombing in Puchong (in Selangor) on June 28, 2016 to get updates on the group's activities in Syria," Fuzi said.
Malaysia officially confirmed Wanndy's death in May last year after being notified by foreign intelligence sources. Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters then that the top IS recruited was killed in a drone attack in Syria on April 29, 2017.
Fuzi said the suspects were detained under the Malaysian Penal Code for terror-related offences and are being investigated under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012.
Tria Dianti in Jakarta contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian police said Thursday they were investigating a senior politician who had negotiated on behalf of Tamil Tiger rebels during Sri Lanka's civil war, after getting many complaints alleging that he supported the terror group.
Malaysia's police chief confirmed that more than 50 reports had been lodged against P. Ramasamy, the deputy chief minister of Penang state, but Ramasamy denied to BenarNews that he was a member of the now-defunct armed separatist organization formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
"Fifty-three reports so far have been made and Ramasamy himself has lodged a report with us on the issue," Police Inspector-General Mohamad Fuzi Harun told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
"A Bukit Aman special team is handling it," Fuzi said, referring to the common name of the Royal Malaysia Police headquarters. "Prior to this, Penang police were taking care of it but it gained national interest, therefore we stepped in."
According to a report in the New Straits Times newspaper, police in George Town, the capital of Penang, recorded a statement from Ramasamy, 69, earlier this week.
In an interview with BenarNews, Ramasamy, who had also previously acted as a negotiator in peace talks aimed at ending a long-running insurgency in Indonesia's Aceh province, said he was willing to share with police details on his alleged involvement with the LTTE.
"I am not a member of LTTE. I am a Malaysian citizen." he said. "I am a peace negotiator not just for Sri Lanka but also for the Aceh conflict, and I am not deterred by the allegations."
Ramasamy said his association with the LTTE started in 2006 when Norway sought his help in helping settle the Sri Lankan conflict, which lasted from July 1983 till May 2009.
Ramasamy is a politician with the Democratic Action Party (DAP), one of the partners in Malaysia's new Pakatan Harapan government.
Allegations that he supported the LTTE surfaced in Malaysian newspapers following the recent circulation of a picture that claimed to show Ramasamy paying his respects to a Kalashnikov rifle, which was a symbol of the Tamil Tigers, who fought to establish a separate nation – Eelam – for Sri Lanka's ethic Tamil minority.
It was also reported that Ramasamy had recently hosted a pro-LTTE politician from India.
V. Gopalasamy, better known as Vaiko, who leads the Tamil Nadu-based Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) party, was in Penang to attend the wedding of Ramasamy's son.
According to reports, Vaiko had previously been barred from entering Malaysia and was even detained at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on June 9, 2017. Mustafar Ali, director-general of the Malaysian Immigration Department, confirmed this to media recently.
Lately, Ramasamy angered some conservative Islamic leaders and politicians from Muslim-majority Malaysia with comments in which he appeared to criticize the new government for its decision earlier this month not to extradite a televangelist preacher, Zakir Naik, to India at New Delhi's request.
"Many hated me because I criticized Zakir over his Malaysian PR [permanent residency] status, so they accused me of supporting terrorism," he said.
Nasrudin Hassan, the information chief for the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), was among those people who urged police to probe Ramasamy's alleged ties to the Tamil Tigers.
"A thorough investigation must be made on him and other individuals," Nasrudin told reporters on Wednesday.
The Indian-born preacher Naik is wanted by India for alleged extremist-related activities and giving sermons that, Indian authorities said, inspired terrorism. They accused Naik of influencing some of the militants who carried out an Islamic State-linked terrorist attack a café in Dhaka, where 29 people, including 20 hostages and five gunmen, were killed on July1-2, 2016.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad recently said that the preacher would not be extradited to India as long as he did not violate any of Malaysia's laws.
Naik later issued a statement thanking Mahathir for allowing him to stay in the country. He rejected allegations that he had fanned extremist acts through his TV sermons.
A feared group
The LTTE was founded in May 1976 by Velupillai Prabhakaran, with the mission of carving Eeelam out of the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka, where ethnic Tamils form the majority.
At the height of its power, the LTTE possessed a well-developed militia and carried out many high-profile attacks, including assassinations of politicians.
The two most high-profile people assassinated by the Tigers in suicide bombings were Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, in 1991, and Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, in 1993. The group was also notorious for carrying out terrorist attacks in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, and other cities where Sinhalese Buddhists formed the ethnic majority.
Apart from Sri Lanka, the United States, Britain and Canada – where large expatriate Sri Lankan Tamil communities were concentrated – were among countries that proscribed the LTTE as a terror group.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's main opposition party warned on Monday that a newly announced plan by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to repeal a controversial anti-terrorism law, which allows for detention without trial, could threaten national security.
Since taking power after the May 9 general election, Mahathir's government has been championing the return of "the rule of law" in the Muslim-majority nation and has vowed to rescind repressive legislation.
The Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 – also known as SOSMA – was enacted to protect the nation, said Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who recently replaced Najib as leader of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), which now finds itself in the opposition after nearly 61 years in power. Over the weekend, Mahathir said his government would abolish SOSMA.
"The country now is facing security threats that are well-planned and remotely controlled," the Malaysian Star newspaper quoted Zahid as saying.
"With the rapid change of political landscape locally and internationally, laws such as SOSMA ... are very timely," he said.
In a speech on Sunday night, Mahathir took aim at the law that had been implemented during Najib's rule.
"Najib's law allows a person to be arrested and not to be taken to court, and if that person died, there will be neither inquiry nor action taken against those who killed him," Mahathir said, referring to the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012, also known as SOSMA.
"That is the law passed by Najib and we will repeal that law," Mahathir, 93, said in a speech during a fundraising dinner Sunday night in the district of Klang outside Kuala Lumpur.
Under SOSMA, which was implemented on July 31, 2012, Malaysian authorities can hold suspects up to 28 days without trial. The law replaced the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allowed for detention of up to two years without requiring authorities to present the suspect in court. During his previous 22-year stint as prime minister, from 1981 to 2003, Mahathir led UMNO and was known to have resorted to having people arrested under the ISA.
"The people will be protected by fair laws, so that if they committed any offence, they will be judged by the court and the court will determine whether or not the person is guilty," Mahathir said.
Zahid, who served as home minister under Najib's government, told parliament in April last year that 979 people had been detained under SOSMA since its inception.
Among the prominent figures arrested under SOSMA was Maria Chin Abdullah, chairwoman of the election watchdog Bersih. She was arrested Nov. 18, 2016 and held in custody for 11 days on allegations that she was attempting to undermine parliamentary democracy by staging rallies calling for free and fair elections.
Syahredzan Johan, a prominent legal activist, said in a statement Monday that Maria's arrest was an example of how SOSMA was abused by the previous government despite prior assurances that it would not be used for political reprisals.

"It is clear that SOSMA as a law is inherently unfair, arbitrary in its execution and easy to be abused," said Syahredzan who applauded Mahathir's decision.

He said Malaysia needs a law that specifically targets terrorism, but emphasized that it should be in accordance with internationally accepted standards.
Malaysia's counter-terror officers have arrested hundreds of people suspected of having links to terror groups during the past five years, but the multiracial nation of 32 million residents has suffered only one terror attack.
On June 26, 2016, Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for a grenade blast that injured eight patrons at a nightclub in Puchong, about 12.8 km (8 miles) from Kuala Lumpur.

Revise, but do not abolish, experts say
Geshina Ayu, a counter-radicalism expert at Science University of Malaysia, told BenarNews that the government and police should review and improve existing laws to encapsulate crimes related to acts of terror.

"It is possible to amend SOSMA by taking in the views of various stakeholders and not only people in the criminal justice system, but also those who deal directly with criminals and victims," Geshina said.
In 2015, the Malaysian parliament also approved the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), which allows police to restrict the movements of suspects by using electronic monitoring devices. That amendment to Malaysia's anti-terrorism laws allows authorities to detain suspects indefinitely without trial for renewable two-year periods. 

Aruna Gopinath, an international security expert at the National Defense University of Malaysia, expressed concern over Mahathir's decision. 

"In matters dealing with terrorism, the government should not repeal the act," she told BenarNews. "We should be firm so terrorist know not to play around with Malaysia."


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BENARNEWS- The arrest of a female suspect who allegedly planned an attack near Kuala Lumpur on Election Day marks the first time a woman assumed a lone-wolf role in a terror plot in Malaysia linked to the Islamic State (IS), a senior police official said.
The case underscored a current trend by IS to use women as field operatives in the country, Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, the chief of the Royal Malaysia Police's counter-terrorist special branch, told BenarNews.
"Before, we had heard about the participation of women in IS, mainly carrying out simple tasks, either going to Syria and marrying a terror group member ... or being used as a mediator to channel funds to other members abroad," Ayob said.
"But this time around, for the first time, we arrested a female ground operative that took on a task to launch lone-wolf attacks in the country."
The woman arrested on May 9 on suspicion of plotting to bomb a polling site in Puchong with an explosives-rigged vehicle had also intended to target non-Muslim worship sites with car bombs, he said.
The 51-year-old woman, whose name has not been released to the media, is a mother of two and the first female leader of a pro-IS militant cell in the country, Ayob told BenarNews.
The suspect's terror-related activities were unknown to her husband, but she had been communicating with more than 600 people through chat groups on her Facebook page and WhatsApp account, he said.
The police counter-terror chief declined to reveal how many people the woman may have recruited for the IS cause, citing the sensitivity and integrity of the investigation.
"[T]he woman we arrested was in communication with IS cell members in Europe, gathering information on how to conduct a lone-wolf attack," Ayob added without giving details about the locations of those European operatives.
At a news conference in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, Ayob amplified his warning about the threat posed by a new trend of women taking on a frontline role in IS terrorist activities.
"In the past, most of the women were arrested because they played a secondary role as supporters to their husbands – collecting money, propagating salafi ideology. Some managed to go to Syria," Ayob said, according to Channel NewsAsia.
"Now they have moved to phase two. They are radicalized and have started to instigate others to conduct attacks in Malaysia," he added.
Harder to detect
Ahmad el-Muhammady, a terrorism analyst who advises the Malaysian police in efforts to rehabilitate radicalized people, suggested that authorities in Malaysia and neighboring Indonesia should be on guard for the threat of women playing a more active role in terrorism.
"It's possible that more women have been recruited as front-line fighters but have yet to be detected," Ahmad told BenarNews, alluding to recent suicide bombings in Indonesia.
In mid-May, in the days following the foiled terror plot in Puchong during Malaysia's general election, at least 27 people were killed – the perpetrators among them – in a series of suicide attacks carried out in and around Surabaya, Indonesia, by whole families that included mothers and their small children.
Stopping women from acting as field operatives in IS terror plots will be a challenge for the authorities, according to Ahmad, because female militants are harder to detect and are generally perceived as being less suspicious than men.
In Malaysia, about 400 people, including 43 women, have been arrested in recent years on suspicion of being involved with IS.


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BENARNEWS- Eleven Uyghur Muslims who are charged with illegally entering Malaysia and could be deported to China have asked the attorney general to drop the charges as they prepare for trial in September.
During a court hearing in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, magistrate Wong Chai Sia set Aug. 8 to hear the results of the application to have charges dropped and calendared a trial for Sept. 12.
The ethnic Uyghurs' attorney, Khairul Anwar Ismail, said he expected the trial to proceed if the attorney general rejected their application.
The Uyghurs, who risk religious persecution if they are sent to China, have been detained at the Sungai Buloh Prison outside Kuala Lumpur since February or earlier.
The men were part of a group of 20 who escaped a Thai immigration detention center in November 2017 by digging holes in a wall and using blankets as ladders before crossing the border to Malaysia.
"The Uyghur said they're Turkish and not Chinese as claimed by the Chinese government," Khairul told BenarNews. "Nobody can prove they are from China.
"Apart from the Chinese government's request for them to be deported, I heard the Thai authorities are also considering having them back," he said.
Khairul said the Malaysian government should consider their application on humanitarian grounds.
"Malaysia is not their final destination, the Uyghur men who have no passports want to go to Turkey. They're also not a security threat to Malaysia," he said.
The 11 were among more than 200 Uyghurs detained in March 2014 after being found at a popular tourist spot in Thailand's southern Songkhla province. It was not clear how they had arrived there.
Human rights groups speak out
An Amnesty International official said the Chinese government has been asking governments to deport Uyghur, including students, back to China.
"It has created a sense of horror among the overseas Uyghur community," Frankie Poon, a researcher on China at Amnesty International's East Asia Regional Office in Hong Kong, told BenarNews.
"The international community, including Malaysia, needs to work on stopping China from doing this unless they can provide strong reasons for doing so," he said. "We haven't seen any good reason so far."
Poon said the Uyghurs face the potential risk of arbitrary detention in facilities known as "re-education centers," where some reports said hundreds of thousands of Uyghur and other Muslim minorities are detained.
"The Malaysian government should seriously observe the non-refoulement principle not to return anybody to a country like China where there are serious human rights concerns and a high risk of people being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment," Poon said.
Latheefa Koya, executive director of Malaysian human rights NGO Lawyers for Liberty, said Malaysia is bound by international law.
"Their claim for asylum must be processed and if it's clear they're asylum seekers, they should be released and given protection, not jailed or charged for illegal entry," she told BenarNews.
In February, Malaysia received an official request from the Chinese government to extradite the 11 men to China. Then-Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that the Malaysian government would seek to resolve the issue diplomatically.


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BENARNEWS- A loose coalition of 350 Malaysian NGOs on Friday accused the new government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of marginalizing the nation's Muslim majority and warned that recent appointments of non-Malays to high-ranking positions could fuel Malay anger.
Gerakan Pembela Ummah, a Malay name for the grouping of non-government organizations, also attacked three laws being proposed against discrimination and religious hatred, alleging that the pieces of legislation were meant "to suppress the Malays and Islam."
"We feel that in less than 100 days, Pakatan Harapan's government has already sidelined the Malays, as well as Islam as the official religion of this country," Aminudin Yahya, Gerakan chief secretary told BenarNews.
He was referring to the coalition that handily won the May 9 general election against the Barisan Nasional bloc, which ruled Malaysia for nearly 61 years. Barisan was anchored by the Malay Muslim-dominated United Malays National Organization party (UMNO).
"We want to send a clear message to PH that we not happy with the way Islam and Malays are being treated," he said.
To protest what it perceives as efforts to undermine Malay Muslim interests, the coalition, which was established in May 2017 in effort to empower Malays, said it would organize a demonstration in Kuala Lumpur this weekend, less than two weeks after the Malaysian king appealed for calm amid growing racial tensions. Police told BenarNews they would allow the Gerakan to hold the rally, but authorities would monitor it.
"The country is being controlled by DAP," Aminudin said, using the acronym for the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party, whose secretary-general, Lim Guan Eng, became finance minister after the May 9 general election catapulted Mahathir back to power.
"The Malays are feeling it," Aminudin said.
On July 17, King Sultan Muhammad V urged Malaysians to preserve and strengthen the nation's "peace and unity," in an inaugural address to lawmakers that underscored that race and religion were closely intertwined with Malaysian politics.
Aminudin said the proposed bills would not lead to racial harmony in the nation, which experienced deadly Sino-Malay sectarian riots in May 1969.
"These laws are meant to suppress the Malays and Islam. We can no longer express our dissatisfaction and if we do, we will be charged under the law," he said. "This is dictatorship."
Malays and other indigenous groups account for nearly 70 percent of Malaysia's population of 32 million, with ethnic Chinese making up 23 percent and ethnic Indians and others the remainder.
Aminudin criticized the appointments of Tommy Thomas, who is of Christian-Indian descent, as the country's attorney-general; and Richard Malanjum, who was sworn in this month as chief justice minister, and Liew Vui Keong, as minister in the Prime Minister's Department. Malanjum and Keon are non-Muslims.
Those appointments are among many reasons that may fuel the Malay anger, Aminudin said.
Last month, the king assured Malaysians that the appointment of an ethnic Indian Christian did not threaten Islam or herald the end of special protections for Malays and indigenous people.
"The Yang di-Pertuan Agong [the king] also called on all Malaysians to accept that the appointment of the Attorney-General should not create religious or racial conflict as every Malaysian should be fairly treated regardless of race and religion," a palace statement said.
On Wednesday, Mujahid Yusof Rawa, minister in the PM's Department in charge of religious affairs, announced that the government was planning to table three new bills in parliament – the Anti-Discrimination Act, National Harmony and Reconciliation Commission Act, and the Religious and Racial Hatred Act.
Under the new laws, those guilty of humiliating any religion and race can face a jail sentence of up to seven years or a fine of 100,000 ringgit (about U.S. $25,000), Mujahid told reporters.


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BENARNEWS- A Malaysian court dropped nine sedition charges on Monday against a cartoonist who used satirical drawings to skewer the nation's political elite, including then-Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, after prosecutors said they would no longer pursue the cases.
Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, a BenarNews contributor better known as Zunar, repeatedly courted trouble with cartoons that, among other topics, mocked the alleged use of funds from the scandal-scarred 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
"Finally, no more sedition for me, the burden is lifted," Zunar told BenarNews. "But the fight is not over yet."
He expressed hope that Prime Minister Mahathir's government would abolish the Sedition Act, one of several laws used to restrict criticism in the Muslim-majority country.
"The government has to abolish this law to show the commitment to freedom of expression," he said.
Zunar, 56, held the record number for a single person to face sedition charges in Malaysia, legal analysts said in 2015 when authorities filed charges against him for allegedly insulting the judiciary in his tweets. Those tweets were in reaction to a court order to jail then-opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges, which could have sent him to prison for up to 43 years if convicted.
Sessions Court Judge Zamri Bakar acquitted Zunar during a hearing in Kuala Lumpur after the prosecution team said the attorney-general's office had decided to withdraw the charges against the cartoonist, lawyers said.
Zunar was arrested at his home in Kuala Lumpur in February 2016 and detained for three days without charges after he had posted nine political cartoons online. During questioning, police told him he was under investigation for his illustrations allegedly defaming Najib.
Under Najib, Malaysia was accused of using draconian laws to retaliate against government critics. Several laws have been used to restrict criticism, including the British colonial-era sedition law used against Zunar and the "fake news" law, which was passed in April, just a month before Najib lost power when the opposition bloc triumphed in the May 9 election.
After the opposition smashed the ruling Barisan National coalition's six-decade monopoly on political power, Mahathir vowed to repeal repressive laws and investigate the 1MDB scandal.
More than 114 people, including journalists, opposition leaders and activists, were detained under the Sedition Act during March 2015 alone, according to official reports compiled by BenarNews.
In April 2015, Malaysia also passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which Najib's government justified as a necessary move to counter terrorism. Opposition leader feared the legislation could be used against Najib's critics.
Since losing power, Najib has been charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of abuse of power related to allegations that he deposited millions of dollars of public money into his personal bank account. He pleaded not guilty and is free on bail.
Najib's trial date has been set for Feb. 18, 2019, and the new government barred him and his wife, Roshmah, from leaving the country.
'You can say it is trading places'
Zunar learned that he was banned from traveling abroad as he was about to leave for Singapore to attend a forum in October 2016.
About a month after the May election catapulted Mahathir back to power, Zunar told the New York Times that he logged into a government database and discovered he could again leave the country.
"I was surprised to see this happen so quickly," Zunar said. "At the same time, the ex-prime minister and his wife are on a travel ban now. So, funny, you can say it's trading places."
Responding to the government dropping charges against Zunar, Amnesty International said the Mahathir government "must take this opportunity to usher in a new era for human rights by fully restoring freedom of expression and abolishing the 1948 Sedition Act, an archaic piece of legislation which has been repeatedly used to target dissenting voices.
"The authorities must also drop any other charges under the act and, pending its repeal, ensure that no one else is arrested, investigated, charged or imprisoned under its draconian provisions."


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BENARNEWS- A 495-page report released Monday into Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 revealed a third party might have interfered, causing the jetliner to be flown off its intended course the night it disappeared four years ago.

Fight 370 Safety Investigation team leader Kok Soo Chon said investigators reached that conclusion based on a series of flight simulator tests following the recorded path of the Boeing 777 jetliner as it turned southwest on March 8, 2014 during its flight to Beijing, northeast of Kuala Lumpur.
"The autopilot has to be disengaged, it has to be on manual. We have carried out seven simulator tests, flight simulators, three at high and four at low speed and we found the turn was made indeed under manual, not autopilot," Kok told reporters in Kuala Lumpur early Monday.
Investigators said they did not believe pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah or first officer Fariq Abdul Hamid caused the plane to fly off course, instead pointing at the possibility of interference from someone on board the plane.
"Unlawful interference can mean that someone was holding a knife at the pilot's neck," Kok said.
No one, including terror organizations, claimed responsibility for causing the aircraft to vanish.
Flight 370 disappeared while traveling with 12 crew and 227 passengers, most of them from China. Investigators found the 12-year-old Boeing 777 jetliner had a clean bill of health at the time of its final flight but not all four of its emergency locator transmitters (ELT) were functioning, leading to a failure to broadcast the normal distress signals to help locate the plane.
Intan Maizura Othman, whose husband, Hazrin Hassan, was a flight attendant questioned the malfunction.
"I asked Kok how the transmitter was not transmitting any signal upon impact, and he said the transmitters are unreliable," she said. "It is shocking to know that. There are four transmitters, at least one should work.
"They put in the report saying the battery for the ELP had expired. How convenient is that?"
She and others were surprised to learn this is not the final report as it touches only on the safety issue and not the search-and-rescue operation.

"They are not from the search team, so I asked them, 'Who are you guys?'" she said. "They said they are not the ones who did the research, so I asked where are the people who did the research? We want to talk to them, but no one was able to answer."

Survivors said they were upset that representatives from Malaysia Airlines, the Department of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Transport were not present.
Not final report
Responding to criticism from the next of kin, Kok said that it would be presumptuous for investigators to call their report final. Under rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Kok's investigators were mandated to investigate only the safety of the airliner and not search and rescue.

"Without the benefit of the examination of the aircraft wreckage and recorded flight data information, the investigation was unable to identify any plausible aircraft or systems failure," he said.

The report said that as Flight 370 was changing its path, it flew for almost 20 minutes unmonitored by air traffic centers as it crossed between Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace.
Kuala Lumpur air traffic control failed to initiate the required emergency phases and contact the Royal Malaysian Air Force in a timely manner after realizing something amiss, the report also said. 

The investigators will present their findings on Aug. 8 in China to the next of kin of 153 passengers who were on Flight 370.


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BENARNEWS- A day after a safety investigation team's report pointed to air traffic control errors when Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared in March 2014, the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) on Tuesday announced his resignation.
Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said the 495-page report from the Flight 370 Safety Investigation team did not suggest that air traffic controllers caused the crash, but found they did not comply with standard operating procedures when the Boeing 777 disappeared while traveling with 12 crew and 227 passengers from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Azharuddin said he would leave the office in 14 days.
"Over the past four years, I have tried my level best to assist in the search for MH370 and I am ever resolute in finding answers we all seek towards this unfortunate tragedy as we owe it to the families and loved ones. I am saddened to have to leave under these circumstances," he said in a statement.
"Aviation has been a core part of my life since childhood and it will remain so for the rest of my life."
Shortly after Azharuddin stepped down, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said an internal committee would be set up to decide the fate of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport air traffic controllers who were on duty that night.
"I did not state that there was an offense, but he decided to resign to take responsibility," Loke told reporters in Parliament, referring to Azharuddin.
"The MH370 report stated that there was a breach of standard operating procedures, so action must be taken," he said, according to The Star.
He told reporters the ministry would wait for the committee's recommendations before taking action.
In an earlier speech to parliament, Loke said the government was reviewing all proposed air safety improvements submitted by the special investigative team. In addition, the government would investigate any misconduct disclosed in the investigating team's report.
Report details
Releasing the report on Monday, probe leader Kok Soo Chon said his team did not believe pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah or first officer Fariq Abdul Hamid caused the plane to fly off course, instead pointing to the possibility of interference from someone on board the plane. No one, including terror organizations, has ever claimed responsibility for the crash.
Traveling northeast to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, Flight 370 turned and traveled southwest before disappearing and apparently crashing in the Indian Ocean. Over the years, debris from the plane has washed ashore on Indian Ocean islands and along the east coast of Africa.
Monday's report said that as Flight 370 was changing its path, it flew for almost 20 minutes unmonitored by air traffic centers as it crossed between Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace.
Kuala Lumpur air traffic control failed to initiate the required emergency phases and contact the Royal Malaysian Air Force in a timely manner after realizing something amiss, the report also said.


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BENARNEWS- A former chief of Malaysia's spy agency asked police on Tuesday to trace the leak of a secret letter she wrote to the CIA appealing for Washington's support for the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak days before it was ousted in the May polls.
Hasanah Abdul Hamid, who wrote the letter to the director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Gina Haspel when she was head of the Malaysian External Intelligence Organization (MEIO), lodged a police report calling for the investigation.
MEIO, officially known as the research division of the Prime Minister's office, is a covert intelligence agency set up in the 1960s.
The letter, dated May 4 – five days before the landmark election – was classified as official secret, Hasanah said in her complaint to police.
She called for a probe to track down those who had violated the Official Secrets Act by leaking it to the public, according to her lawyer, Shaharudin Ali, who accompanied his client to the police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur where she lodged the report.
Hasanah confirmed in her police report, a copy of which was seen by BenarNews, that she wrote the letter.
Shaharudin told a news conference that his client was worried about her safety and those of other field operatives as a result of the leak.
"The leak could also jeopardize other intelligence agencies," he said.
If found guilty, violators of the law that protects official secrets face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Hasanah, who has since been removed from her post, was not present at the press conference due to concerns over her safety, Shaharudin said.
Copies of the controversial letter began circulating on social media earlier this month.
The three-page letter called for U.S. support for Najib's government "even if we win the election by a simple majority or just one seat," saying Najib would be a stronger ally to Washington compared with Mahathir Mohamad, who became prime minister after his opposition coalition surprisingly won the election.
The letter described Mahathir as "anti-West and anti-Semite."
Najib has denied any knowledge of the letter, saying not all government letters went through him when he was prime minister. He, however, added that intelligence matters should remain secret.

Officials in Mahathir's government had called for a probe into why such a letter was sent to the CIA, saying the action may have violated Malaysia's sovereignty.
"Correspondence between two friendly top-level intelligence agencies are operational matters, which include an exchange of opinion and these are not matters that require the attention of the prime minister," Shaharudin said.
He dismissed allegations that Najib had ordered the letter to be written.
It was drafted by Hasanah and 10 top senior officers of the MEIO, he said.

Last week, the National Patriots Organization (Patriot), composed of former Malaysian military personnel, filed a separate police report against Hasanah, claiming that she had abused her power and infringed on Malaysia's sovereignty.
"I believe it is wrong for her to write that letter inviting foreign power to intervene in our democratic process," the group's president, Arshad Raji, told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- A Malaysian working for the French food services company Sodexo was among three foreign nationals abducted earlier this week and killed in Kabul on Thursday, the company's CEO and Malaysia's foreign ministry said in separate statements.
The bodies of the Malaysian and two other foreign nationals were found in Mussahi district, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, according to the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"No group has claimed responsibilities for the incident," the ministry's statement said.
Denis Machuel, Sodexo CEO, confirmed that the three men were Sodexo employees and were Malaysian, Indian and Macedonian.
"We are deeply saddened and shocked to learn of the tragic loss of three of our team members," he said in a statement. "I want to say that our hearts are with their families, friends and colleagues."
"Sodexo is working closely with the authorities in Kabul and will share further information when available," he said. 'We are putting in place a psychological support line for our local employees."
Sodexo, headquartered in a Paris suburb, is one of the world's largest corporations, with about 420,000 employees representing 130 nationalities. It is also the world's second-largest food and catering company with presence in 80 countries, including Malaysia.
Afghanistan police told reporters that the 64-year-old Malaysian was found dead in a car in the Massahi district with his two co-workers, a 39-year-old Indian and a 37-year-old Macedonian. The three had gunshot wounds, authorities said.
The killings were the latest in a string of similar attacks during the past few years in Afghanistan. While kidnapping have mainly affected Afghans who are abducted for ransom, foreigners have also been targeted, either by criminals looking for ransom or by militant groups.
Kabul police and Afghan interior ministry officials have issued conflicting details leading to the abduction and killing.
Police said the three men were being driven to work by their Afghan driver when gunmen stopped the car and forced the trio to switch to another, according to the New York Times. But a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry told the paper that it appeared that the men got into the second car voluntarily and the driver returned an hour later and reported the three men had been kidnapped.
The driver has been arrested and was being interrogated by police, local reports said.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah told BenarNews his department is investigating the case and would release information on developments from time to time.
Sodexo manages canteens and also provides food preparation services for the military, including the U.S. Marine Corps, schools, offices, hospitals and prisons in Afghanistan. The company also produces food and gift coupons.
Previous kidnappings in Afghanistan, which have been blamed either on criminal gangs or the Taliban, include the killing of 21 foreigners in 2014 during an attack on a popular Kabul restaurant.


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BENARNEWS- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed ways to advance mutual security and economic interests while meeting Friday with Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad during a brief courtesy call overshadowed by global issues, officials said.
Pompeo, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Kuala Lumpur since the election triumph ended six decades of one-party rule in Malaysia, met Mahathir at the start of his four-day visit to Asia, which was aimed at promoting Washington's Indo-Pacific strategy.

Pompeo congratulated the 93-year-old Malaysian leader for the peaceful transition of authority after the May 9 election, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
"They discussed ways to work together to strengthen the U.S.-Malaysia Comprehensive Partnership based on shared democratic values, including advancing mutual security and economic interests across the Indo-Pacific," Nauert said, referring to the 30-minute visit.
Pompeo arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday evening on his way to Singapore, a global trading hub, where he was expected to hold sit-downs with ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

During his arrival in Singapore, Pompeo also held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu on the sidelines of the regional gathering. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho is attending the ministerial-level event and U.S. officials have indicated a meeting with Pompeo might take place.
Neither Mahathir nor Pompeo issued any public comments, but an aide to the U.S. official said they shook hands and briefly talked about the opposition bloc's reformist alliance that defeated Najib Razak's Barisan Nasional coalition after more than six decades in power.
An aide to Mahathir declined to comment, telling BenarNews that the meeting, which took place at the prime minister's office in the administrative capital Putrajaya, was private.
Pompeo was accompanied by U.S. ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir during the meeting attended by Malaysia's Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu and Deputy Foreign Minister Marzuki Yahya.
Washington's Indo-Pacific vision, which was meant to reshape America's regional approach and coalesce efforts to manage a rising China, was rolled out in June. 

In a speech in Washington on Monday, Pompeo alluded that his Southeast Asian trip will touch on Beijing's moves to assert sovereignty over disputed areas of the South China Sea.

China, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have wrangled over territorial claims in the South China Sea, but tension steadily increased in recent years after Beijing's island-building and naval patrols in the contested Spratly Islands and other rocky outcrops and reefs, such as the Scarborough Shoal.
While Pompeo was en route to Kuala Lumpur, a senior State Department official told reporters that he was expected to discuss with Mahathir "our vision for an open, transparent, rules-based region."

"When we say 'free' Indo-Pacific, it means we all want all nations, every nation, to be able to protect their sovereignty from coercion by other countries," Pompeo said in his Washington speech.

"When we say 'open' in the Indo-Pacific, it means we want all nations to enjoy open access to seas and airways. We want the peaceful resolution of territorial and maritime disputes," he said.

While emphasizing that it does not take sides in the dispute, Washington has recently sent navy ships and planes near the disputed islands in what it calls as "freedom of navigation" patrols.
Mahathir: 'Warships attracts other warships'
In Malaysia, Mahathir repeatedly called for fewer warships in the South China Sea, saying "warships attracts other warships."
"This is because some countries, which see other countries having warships here, are already asking if they should also be sending theirs. That's not healthy," Mahathir told a June 7 news conference. "We prefer if there are no warships around Malaysia."
Aside from the South China Sea on the east coast of the peninsula, Malaysia on its west coast shares with Indonesia the narrow Straits of Malacca, one of the major bottlenecks in global shipping routes. 

A senior U.S. State Department official told reporters that in line with President Donald Trump's objectives, Pompeo's meeting with Mahathir aimed at continuing free and fair trade relations. 

"Malaysia as an economy is one of the big success stories in the Asia Pacific and has come a long way in the last few decades," the official said. 

On Twitter, Pompeo said he was impressed by Malaysia's economic development and dynamism.

"We're proud of our strong partnership with American companies that do business here and I look forward to deepening our partnership on a range of issues," he tweeted Friday.


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BENARNEWS- The Malaysian government has closed the Saudi-backed anti-terrorism center named after the kingdom's ruling monarch, members of parliament were told on Monday.
The King Salman Center for International Peace (KSCIP) was announced in March 2017 as King Salman bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud wrapped up a trip to Malaysia. In July 2017, officials announced the center would be constructed on a 40-acre site in Putrajaya.
What had been Malaysia's third counter-terrorism center has been housed in temporary office in Kuala Lumpur as the government had set a two-year timeline for construction.
Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu told parliament the center and its temporary office would cease operation immediately.
"The function suggested for KSCIP will be absorbed by Malaysian Institute of Defense and Security otherwise known as MIDAS, under the Ministry of Defense," he said in a written response to a question posed by a member of parliament.
MIDAS, which describes itself as a "center of excellence for research and knowledge sharing on issues pertaining to defense and security," was launched in 2010.
In Aug. 15, 2017, then-Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told the parliament's upper house that KSCIP would serve as an information exchange center to assist the government against threats of terrorism, amid alarm over the ongoing siege of Marawi, a city in the southern Philippines, by Southeast Asian fighters loyal to the so-called Islamic State.
"Never in history have terrorists been able to wave their flags in the region. They never used to be able to set foot in this region," Hishammuddin said at the time. "What is happening in Marawi has gone beyond our expectations and has proven to us that we need to work together in handling this terror threat. What we thought could be solved within three to four days has become three to four months, and it is still ongoing."
On Monday, Sabu also told parliament about plans to remove troops from the Middle Eastern kingdom.
"Malaysian troops have been stationed in Saudi Arabia since May 7, 2015," he said, adding that 12 tours of duty had cost 16.4 million ringgit (U.S. $4 million).
"Each tour is between three and four months consisting of 87 to 89 members and two C130 Hercules troop transport planes."
In June, Sabu had announced a review of Malaysia's military presence in Saudi Arabia, saying its presence in the country "indirectly entraps Malaysia in the Middle East conflict."


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad thanked Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Monday for handing over a luxury yacht at the center of a multibillion-dollar corruption probe related to state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
The U.S. $250 million Equanimity, allegedly bought by Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho (better known as Jho Low) using funds stolen from 1MDB, is in Malaysian waters after it crossed the maritime border and departed from the Indonesian island of Batam, near Singapore, according to the website Vessel Finder, which tracks boats globally through GPS.
"I am happy that the Indonesian government has agreed to hand over the yacht to Malaysia and I would like to thank Joko Widodo for the strong cooperation," Mahathir said in a Facebook video.
He urged anyone who wanted to claim the vessel to submit proof of purchase.
"The yacht was bought using the money from 1MDB and the money belongs to the Malaysian people," the 93-year-old leader said. "Therefore, those who want to claim the vessel, they must provide a receipt or proof that they own the yacht and they bought it using their own money."
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had listed the yacht in court documents as among the assets bought when associates of former Malaysian leader Najib Razak allegedly embezzled $4.5 billion from the state fund.
DOJ investigators consider Jho Low a key figure in the probe, but his whereabouts are unknown.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told reporters on Monday that the government would sell the Cayman Islands-flagged vessel, which was expected to arrive at the port of Klang on Tuesday.
"And the money will be returned to the people," he said.
In August 2017, DOJ announced it was pursuing criminal action against those involved in the fraudulent diversion of funds from 1MDB. U.S. federal prosecutors have not charged anyone criminally in connection with the alleged embezzlement.
Malaysian officials filed four criminal charges against Najib last month, accusing him of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power in connection with the 1MDB scandal.
Formed by Najib in 2009 ostensibly to pursue development projects that would benefit Malaysian citizens, 1MDB is at the center of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland and Singapore.
On Feb. 27, Indonesian police and FBI agents boarded the Equanimity while it was moored in Benoa Bay, off southern Bali, seizing documents and questioning its 34-member crew, in response to request from the FBI.
Jho Low's lawyer: Government's action was illegitimate
Meanwhile, a Malaysian police source told BenarNews on Monday that officials have yet to receive information on the yacht's exact time of arrival.
"We are still awaiting orders from top brass officers on the time. It was said that the vessel will arrive at noon, but as of now I can't confirm it," the source said.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officials also said they were not involved in the yacht's seizure.
"MACC is not involved. Please check with the police," MACC chief Mohd Shukri Abdull told BenarNews.
Before the yacht was handed over to Malaysian authorities, a lawyer for Jho Low argued that the seizure was against court rulings in Indonesia and the United States.
"The action of the Mahathir government in illegitimately taking this asset shows just how quickly the rule of law disappears in Mahathir's regime," lawyer James Haggerty said in a statement Sunday.
"It is a violation of an Indonesian law and court decision by a politically motivated Malaysian government bent on advancing its own political agenda with little regard to existing court rulings or basic legal rights," he said.
Haggerty claimed the transfer of the yacht goes against a recent U.S. court order.
"The US DOJ argued that it is critical that they have possession to ensure the asset retains its value until a fair court hearing can determine final ownership and the rights of all the parties involved," he said.
Malaysia Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu told parliament on Monday that any action taken by authorities must be in line with the law.
"I'm very proud that the 1MDB asset is coming back," he said, "but I hope the police and our authorities will take action in accordance with Malaysian and international law."


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BENARNEWS- Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will face new charges in court Wednesday under the nation's anti-money laundering act, in a case tied to allegations that he and his associates embezzled billions of dollars from a state investment fund, officials said.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) made the announcement on Tuesday hours after inviting Najib for another round of questioning.
Najib, 65, was arrested last month and pleaded not guilty to abuse of power and three counts of criminal breach of trust.
MACC said Najib will be charged under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 when he appears at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Wednesday. It did not elaborate.
The charges were related to accusations that 42 million ringgit (about U.S. $10.3 million) was illegally diverted into Najib's personal bank accounts from SRC International, an energy company that used to be a subsidiary of the state fund 1MDB.
Najib, who was accompanied by his lawyers, spent 45 minutes inside the MACC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur before leaving without speaking to reporters.
If found guilty, Najib could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the original four counts. He is free on a 1-million ringgit ($250,000) bail and the court has ordered him to surrender his passports. Najib has described the allegations as part of the new government's "political vengeance."
 
Equanimity docks
Meanwhile, government investigators boarded the $250 million (1.3 billion ringgit) yacht Equanimity after it docked around 12:40 p.m. at the Boustead Cruise Center terminal in Pelabuhan Klang. Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho (better known as Jho Low) allegedly bought the yacht using funds stolen from 1MDB.
It sailed into the Malaysian port a day after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad thanked Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo for agreeing to hand it over to Malaysian officials. 

The Cayman Islands-flagged vessel had been moored off the Indonesian island of Bali since it was boarded by Indonesian police and FBI agents on Feb. 27.
James Haggerty, a lawyer for Jho Low, said Malaysia's seizure was against court rulings in Indonesia and the United States. Malaysia has issued an arrest warrant for Jho Low, whose whereabouts are unknown.
Najib told reporters he had no knowledge that Equanimity was purchased using 1MDB funds.
Supporter plans protest
Speaking to BenarNews, a United Malays National Organization (UMNO) Supreme Council member and close friend of Najib slammed the government for its latest action.
"The charges have nothing to do with 1MDB and prove that the Pakatan Harapan government led by Mahathir Mohamad is vindictive," Lokman Noor Adam said.
Lokman rallied a group of about 50 supporters outside of MACC headquarters last month to protest as Najib was brought in to be arrested. He expects a similar display of support outside the high court on Wednesday.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian authorities charged former Prime Minister Najib Razak with three counts of money laundering Wednesday, a day after taking control of a $250 million yacht that prosecutors allege was bought by one of his associates using money from a scandal-plagued state investment fund.
The latest charges were linked to three electronic transfers that occurred in 2014 and 2015 in which, according to anti-graft investigators, about 42 million ringgit (U.S. $10.3 million) were diverted into Najib's personal bank accounts from SRC International, a former subsidiary of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Each charge carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years, plus fines, lawyers said. Najib pleaded not guilty.
Anti-graft investigators under the new government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad reopened their 1MDB probe soon after the Pakatan coalition defeated the Barisan Nasional bloc on May 9 in a stunning electoral outcome buoyed by public anger over allegations of corruption at the state investment fund.
The amount involved in the charges filed Wednesday were minuscule compared to allegations earlier made by United States prosecutors that at least $4.5 billion were stolen from 1MDB and diverted through acquisitions of real estate, artwork and luxury properties by Najib and his associates.
Najib was arrested and charged last month with abuse of power and three counts of criminal breach of trust.
The new charges will be consolidated with those four charges, lawyers said. The Malaysian 1MDB probe is independently being pursued in Switzerland, France and the United States.
Najib, who was also the former finance minister, founded 1MDB as a sovereign wealth fund ostensibly to pursue projects beneficial to Malaysians.
When U.S. prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture case related to 1MDB in July 2016, they described a breathtaking level of fraud in which more than $730 million of what seemed to be 1MDB money was rerouted in a complex maze of transactions before ultimately landing to the personal bank account of "Malaysia Official 1," a veiled reference to Najib.
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) has described the 1MDB affair as the "worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times."
 
'Surprising display of iron-fisted rule'
As Najib walked to his car, he waved to about 20 supporters who gathered at the court complex lobby.
"This is a surprising display of the iron-fisted rule of Mahathir Mohamad," said Lokman Noor Adam who organized and led the gathering of Najib's supporters.

One supporter told BenarNews the accusations against the former leader did not shake his trust in Najib.
"The accusations will keep on coming, but we will never believe that Najib is as bad as what they portray him to be," Zahalan Man said.
On Monday, Mahathir thanked Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo for handing over the Equanimity yacht, which Indonesia initially seized in February. Malaysian investigators boarded the vessel Tuesday after it docked at the Boustead Cruise Center terminal in Pelabuhan Klang.
The Cayman Islands-flagged vessel had been moored off the Indonesian island of Bali since it was boarded by Indonesian police and FBI agents on Feb. 27.
Washington had listed the yacht in court documents as among the assets allegedly bought by Malaysian financier Jho Low, a friend of Najib's stepson Riza Aziz.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak will face trial Feb. 12, 2019, for criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering, a judge ruled Friday while dismissing an application from the former leader for a gag order on the news media.

The country has enough existing laws to ensure that the so-called "trial by media" would not happen, High Court Judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali said as he issued his ruling on the petition to bar journalists from discussing the merits of the charges against Najib.
"In my judgment in this case, freedom of speech takes precedence," he said after hearing arguments from Najib's attorneys and prosecutors. "The gag order is unjustified as it is superfluous."
Najib, 65, and his wife, Rosmah, have been barred from leaving and residences linked to them have been raided since his coalition party's stunning defeat in May. During the raid, police seized jewelry, cash and luxury handbags with an estimated value of up to U.S. $273 million.
The charges against Najib stemmed from a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal that has engulfed 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state investment fund he founded to spur economic development.
Najib, who is free on bail, faces seven charges after prosecutors on Wednesday lodged money laundering charges. All of the charges so far involve allegations that 42 million ringgit ($10.3 million) were illegally funneled electronically into his private bank accounts from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary.
The amount involved in those charges were minuscule compared to $4.5 billion that U.S. prosecutors allege were stolen from 1MDB and diverted through acquisitions of real estate, artwork and luxury properties by Najib and his associates.
Najib has denied all the charges. He faces years in prison if found guilty. 

Along with announcing the start date, Judge Mohamad gave prosecutors until March 29, 2019, to present their case.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's permanent residents who are 60 and older, including 3,407 stateless Indians living in the country, will become citizens after they have fulfilled all conditions under the government's new relaxed citizenship requirements, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Tuesday.
Mahathir said the government's move would be in accordance with an electoral pledge made by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to the Indian community before it took power as a result of its electoral triumph in the May 9 general election.
"This is to solve the stateless issue among the Indian community in the country," the 93-year-old leader told a news conference as he explained that the decision was made Monday after his meeting with representatives of the Indian community, PH lawmakers and senators.
"Those age 60 [and older] can get the blue identity card," Mahathir said, referring to the card that proves Malaysian citizenship.
The government's relaxed requirement also would open the path to citizenship for children of mixed parentage.
The government's decision encompasses all ethnic groups in Malaysia, Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran said during the news conference.
Kulasegaran was given a red identity card by the government when he was 12 even though he was born and reared in Malaysia. He said he had to resolve several issues before he received a blue card.
More than 269,000 permanent residents live in Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation with at least 32 million people, according to the latest figures from the Home Ministry. There are 303,274 foreigners with legal documents staying in the country as of June, officials said.
Those with permanent resident status in Malaysia carry red identity cards that do not permit them to get government jobs or join the military. Muslims with that status cannot attend the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, under the Malaysian quota.

Raj Kuma, one of the 3,407 Indians affected by the government's decision, said he was relieved to learn his paperwork difficulties would finally come to an end.

"I was born here, I went to school here when Kuala Lumpur was still surrounded by tin mines, yet all this while I am not considered a citizen," the 65-year-old resident of Petaling Jaya outside Kuala Lumpur told BenarNews.
Despite his age, he said, he has not been inside any election booth.

"I am looking forward to vote this team back come next election," he said.
For those younger than 60, Mahathir said the issuance of their citizenship would be subject to several conditions, including being a child of a Malaysian parent and having been born in Malaysia. 

Aside from senior citizens, the prime minister announced that children born in Malaysia to at least one parent who is a Malaysian citizen will be eligible for citizenship, a departure from the old system that awarded citizenship only to Malaysia-born children with Malaysian fathers.
Questioning government's will
Sharmila Sekaran, chairwoman of Voice of Children, a child advocacy group, welcomed Mahathir's announcement.

But she questioned the government's will in solving the stateless issue of other children, such as children born out of wedlock to Malaysian fathers, children born outside Malaysia to Malaysian mothers, as well as stateless children legally adopted by Malaysians.
Malaysia is one of about two dozen countries that deny women their right to confer citizenship on their children on an equal basis as men, according to rights groups.
Under current laws, a child who is born abroad to a Malaysian mother is not automatically considered a Malaysian citizen. The mother will have to submit an application to the Malaysian embassy where she is based and wait for approval, which often takes years. Many applications have been turned down.  

"Among the Indian community, customary marriages still take place, so the child born out of that arrangement is not considered as a legitimate child of the father in Malaysia because the parents are not legally married," Sharmila told BenarNews. 

She said a child without a known parent and stateless children who are under the custody of the welfare board also are deprived of citizenship despite being wards of the state.

"Why are these children being discriminated against?" she said. 

Mahathir said that such scenarios will require additional discussion. 

"Nowadays, you come up with LGBT, men marrying men, women marrying women, and they are also having children," he said. "All these biological changes are taking place."

Aside from the parentage and birth requirements, the government will put the applicant through a simple Bahasa Malaysia competency test, he said.

"The Bahasa Malaysia competency test will only touch on simple use of the language. If they pass, then we will accept them [as citizens]," he said.
A requirement for citizenship will call for applicants to be based in Malaysia for at least 12 years, with at least 10 of those years spent as actual residents, Mahathir said.


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BENARNEWS- The fate of at least two China-backed multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects in Malaysia hangs in the balance as Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad travels to Beijing this week to push for their cancellation during his first visit to the Chinese capital since his party swept to power in landmark elections in May.
Mahathir has halted two gas pipes and a major railway project linked to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), claiming they are not cost effective. In addition, Malaysia is investigating to determine if the previous government of Prime Minister Najib Razak used funds earmarked for the pipelines to pay off debt accrued by the scandal-ridden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Preparing for his five-day China trip beginning Friday, Mahathir told reporters that he will seek to cancel the projects – especially the two pipelines – while working to maintain good relations with the economic driver of Asia.
"We don't think we need those two projects. We don't think they are viable. So if we can we would like to just drop the projects," he told the Associated Press.
The three contracts valued at more than 90 billion ringgit (U.S. $22 billion) were awarded by Najib's government to Chinese state firms.
Mahathir decided to suspend their implementation after learning that the national debt his administration inherited had ballooned to more than 1 trillion ringgit ($244.6 billion).
Unfair conditions have been imposed on Malaysia along with the high interest rates tied to loans to complete these projects, said Awang Azman Awang Pawi, a professor at the Socio-culture Department of University of Malaya's Academy Of Malay Studies
"The projects seem to be less beneficial to Malaysia, that's how Mahathir sees it as it also did not involve the transfer of technology," said the professor who monitors bilateral relations between the nations.
"This will be the main point. Malaysia wants to continue doing business with China and wants to be in its good books, but at the same time it will try to seek China's help in reviewing the interest rate," Awang Azman told BenarNews.
Announced with great fanfare in August 2017, Najib hailed the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) as a game changer for Malaysia. The 688-km (430-mile) project spanning the states of Selangor, Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan, was to be completed in 2024 at a cost of $13 billion backed mostly by loans from China.
The Malaysian government was to finance 85 percent of the project through loans carrying an interest rate of 3.25 percent from the Export-Import Bank of China.
In May, Mahathir said his government will renegotiate terms of the ERCL deal.
"The terms are very damaging to our economy," he said at the time.
In July, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng reported ECRL was halted and noted that the expected cost had increased by 26 billion ringgit ($6.4 billion) to 81 billion ringgit ($20 billion).
Trade partner
Even as Mahathir looks to drop at least two of the projects, China consistently remains Malaysia's largest trading partner.
Total bilateral trade reached 290.65 billion ringgit ($70.9 billion) last year, in China's favor to the tune of 38.35 billion ringgit ($9.35 billion), according to The Star newspaper.
Economist Barjoyai Bardai, a faculty member at the National University of Malaysia, said Mahathir's trip is important for China because of the status of the three projects.
"Malaysia has been receptive to China's initiative since the beginning and the Chinese government has to take this into the consideration. Without Malaysia, China's BRI will be interrupted," he told BenarNews, adding China needs to make the projects beneficial for Malaysia as well.
Najib had touted the BRI as a major beneficiary to Malaysia in terms of infrastructure, connectivity, social facilities, living standards and business opportunities.
BRI, proposed by President Xi Jinping five years ago, is China's largest initiative to date to energize the global economy by constructing massive infrastructure revolving around transportation and energy.
Zhang Xiabo, professor of economics at the National School of Development at Peking University, said the two nations need more bilateral exchanges and need to eliminate the air of uncertainty temporarily clouding their relationship.
"It will be bad for the bilateral ties if the two countries engage in a war of words and do nothing else. In point of fact, the fundamental foundation for the China-Malaysia ties has not been shaken at all. The two countries still maintain a favorable relationship," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Two Southeast Asian women standing trial on charges of murdering North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother will begin presenting their defense in November after a Kuala Lumpur judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence against them.
Judge Azmi Ariffin spent more than two hours reading his decision against Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 26, and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 29, ultimately dashing defense attorney hopes that he would drop charges against the two upon finding the evidence presented thus far to be lacking.
"I cannot rule out political assassinations. Suffice to say I find the evidence at this juncture satisfied the ingredients of the charge that have been supplied by the prosecution. I must call them to enter a defense," Azmi ruled.
"The defense hammered the credibility of the investigating officer saying that he conducted a biased investigation and prejudiced the accused," Azmi said, adding, "I find no reason not to believe the investigating officer.
The defense is to begin its case on Nov. 1. Six court sessions are scheduled for November, three for December, eight for January and three for February.
Siti is to be the first witness to testify when the trial resumes, and Doan also plans to testify, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The women would face the death penalty if convicted. Both have pleaded not guilty to the charge of killing Kim Jong Nam by smearing his face with the deadly VX nerve agent at a Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13, 2017.
Relatives of the women reacted with dismay to the outcome of the court session.
Siti's father, Asriah, 50, told BenarNews by telephone from Serang, west of Jakarta, that his family was praying for her well-being.
"My child should be sent home because she is innocent. The case is being manipulated. She didn't know that man," he said of Kim.
Doan's father told AP he could not sleep the night before the court session. "I had thought she would be innocent," Doan Van Thanh said.
Speaking to reporters after the court session, Siti lawyer Gooi Soon Seng said he was disappointed by the judge's decision but would move forward.
"That is the judgment by which we are going to abide," he said.
"Unfortunately, we are not able to appeal the judgment at this point," he said, adding, "because the ruling is not a final ruling."

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Suspect Siti Aisyah is escorted out of court on her way back to Sungai Buloh prison in Selangor, Aug. 16, 2018. (S. Mahfuz/BenarNews)

 
'Common sense will prevail'
The women's lawyers maintained they were duped by suspected North Korean agents into believing they were being paid to perform a video prank.
Four North Koreans, labeled as suspected government agents, had been jointly accused of carrying out the murder with the women. They allegedly recruited the women and provided them with the lethal poison on the day of the murder.
Police said they fled Malaysia the day Kim was murdered and none are in custody.
"I was not swayed by the defense's suggestion that what happened was part of a prank. The sole purpose of a prank is fun," Azmi said, calling the defense effort self-serving.
He said the women's conduct following the attack on Kim Jong Nam appeared to be coordinated and similar.
"In this matter, common sense must prevail," he said.
Kim Jong Nam's assassination was among reasons cited by U.S. officials in pushing for North Korea's November 2017 re-inclusion on a blacklist of nations described as state sponsors of terrorism.
Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin rejected accusations that Pyongyang was behind the murder.
"There is no evidence whatsoever that there is a conspiracy by the North Koreans or even the [leader] of North Korea," Wan Shaharuddin told reporters before the trial adjourned in June.
He had told the court that the airport murder was something "only seen in James Bond movies," adding it was absurd to think both women were unaware they were smearing a deadly chemical on Kim's face.
Tria Dianti in Jakarta contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Friday said his new government fulfilled only one third of election promises within its first 100 days of office, blaming the previous administration for leaving the country in a far worse than expected mess.
He said his ruling Pact of Hope coalition, which stormed into power during the May election, managed to deliver on 21 of the 60 pledges made in its election manifesto.
"But the process has begun to fulfill the other pledges," said Mahathir, who at 93 is the oldest prime minister in the world. He listed the steps taken to achieve the goals.
Mahathir said the financial mess left behind by the previous administration of corruption-tainted Prime Minister Najib Razak was worse than expected, adding it had hindered the new administration's ability to bring about quick results.
"A big burden left behind by the previous government is the trillion ringgit (U.S. $243.77 billion) debt. Repaying the interest alone can make us bankrupt, what more repaying the principal sum," he said.
"It would take many days to relate all the pitfalls of the previous administration," Mahathir said in a nationwide broadcast marking his government's 100 days in office. "Therefore, we would concentrate on fulfilling the promises made in our manifesto."
He said one of the promises that his government delivered quickly was the abolition of the much-maligned Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The government is moving to implement a Sales and Services Tax (SST) regime, which covered a much broader range of items and services, but has not announced the rate for the revived levy.
Mahathir also defended his government's decision not to conduct – as promised – a royal commission of inquiry into high-profile scandals and corruption allegation involving government-linked companies, including the multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
He said the cases were being investigated by authorities and the government would allow the courts to decide on them.
Najib has been charged with three counts of money laundering and four charges of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power in connection with alleged misappropriation of funds at a former unit of 1MDB.
Among the other election pledges that have not been fufilled by the new government within the 100 days in office are the setting of a minimum wage and introduction of a "healthcare" scheme.
Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said there was no need for the government to apologize to the people for not delivering all its promises within the stipulated period.
"No need, (to apologize to the people). Maybe not as what we hoped for, but we tried our best," she said.
According to a recently conducted survey by independent local pollster Merdeka Center, two-thirds of Malaysian voters appear satisfied with the performance of the new government and more than half of respondents said the nation was headed in the right direction.
The main concern of the 1,160 registered voters who were polled between Aug. 7 and 14 by the center was the economy, with more than half saying they were dissatisfied with measures to address cost of living pressures.
Debt issues
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng in May announced that the government was one trillion ringgit in debt and in July suspended three China-backed mega projects as the country finds ways to cut cost in dealing with mounting debt.
Mahathir, who began a five-day working trip to China on Friday, would hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the possibility of renegotiating the terms of the stalled mega projects that were considered to be unfair to Malaysia.
Economist Barjoyai Bardai of National University of Malaysia said the new government must underline its seriousness in making good its unfulfilled promises.
He proposed that it outline a plan to the public detailing what can be expected in six months or 12 months.
"From the onset, we know the 100 days is an impossible time frame. They were ambitious," he said.
"To say that the country's debt is huge and giving excuses will not change anything. They must now make good of the promises," he told BenarNews.
Awang Azman Awang Pawi, a professor of social studies of University Malaya, said the government might have placed "extra focus" on unearthing Najib's alleged wrongdoings.
"They must stop whining about the past," Awang Azman said.
Former cabinet minister Wee Ka Siong told BenarNews that Mahathir's coalition should have done a thorough study before making promises and stop blaming the former government for its failure in delivering on its pledges.


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BENARNEWS-Malaysian police confirmed Tuesday that they were searching for a device with radioactive material which went missing 11 days ago, but ruled out that terrorists had laid hands on it.
The Radioactive Dispersal Device (RDD), weighing 23 kilos (50.7 pounds) and belonging to a local company, disappeared on Aug. 10 while being transported in the back of a pickup truck in the Kuala Lumpur area, according to the New Straits Times newspaper, which broke the story on Monday.
"We have investigated the case and found no links to terrorism. CID is handling it now," Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, the head of the Malaysian police's counter-terrorist special branch, told BenarNews, referring to the Criminal Investigation Department.
This has happened before, according to Malaysia's police chief.
"The same thing happened last year, when a similar device went missing. The device is still missing," Police Inspector-General Mohamad Fuzi Harun told reporters on Monday.
"Nobody has found it."
Meanwhile on Tuesday, police in Selangor state said they formed a task force of officers and experts from the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) to search for the RDD device, which went missing earlier this month and contained the radioactive isotope Iridium 192.
Selangor Police Chief Mazlan Mansor told BenarNews that his officers were working with the AELB to safeguard people from being exposed to health risks from the radioactive material. Exposure to the isotope within a one-meter (3.2-foot) radius can cause vomiting or skin burns, he said.
Deputy Home Minister Azis Jamman told the public to not panic.
"So far, everything is under control. There is nothing to be worried about at this moment," he said in a statement issued Monday.
The missing RDD was used in industrial radiography and belonged to a firm that conducts tests, calibrations and inspections for oil and gas companies and other heavy industry firms, BBC News reported.
Two technicians who transported the device on the night it went missing were released on bail after police held them for questioning in connection with the case, reports said.
A local security expert said Iridium 192 can fetch a good price on the international black market, but the isotope is not in great demand on the domestic market.
"We do not have enough knowledge in this field and we do not have groups that want this item for the black market," retired Brig. Gen. Arshad Raji told BenarNews.
"It is different in Latin America or Middle East where such an item is expensive as it can be used as a dirty bomb. It is uncommon in Malaysia but I do hope that authorities can quickly retrieve the device," he said.
Radiologist Abdul Nassir Ibrahim, meanwhile, said the missing device did not pose a threat to public health as long as it was not broken or leaking radioactive material.
It was unlikely that the device could be turned into a weapon, he added.
"I don't see any possibility that in our country, the device will turn into a dirty bomb. Maybe in Chechnya or in Mindanao, but not here," he told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad confirmed to Chinese leaders that he is canceling China-backed multi-billion dollar rail link and gas pipeline projects because Malaysia cannot afford and does not need them now, he told reporters on the final day of a five-day visit to Beijing.
Since taking office after his Pakatan Harapan alliance defeated former Prime Minister Najib Razak's Barisan Nasional coalition in the May general election, Mahathir said his government had inherited a 1 trillion ringgit (U.S. $244 billion) debt.
Mahathir, who returned to Malaysia on Tuesday, said Chinese officials understood his predicament, but he added that shutting down the East Coast Railway Link (ECRL) and the pipelines would not free his country from incurred costs.
"With that debt, if we are not careful we can become bankrupt," he said in a video interview posted on the Malaysiakini news site. "This is the work of Najib."
"China is the contractor and they lent the money and we have explained to them that we cannot afford it and we must find a way to exit this project at the lowest cost possible," Mahathir said.
He added that Malaysia would "have to pay compensation and all that, but this is our own people's stupidity, we cannot blame the Chinese for that."
"I don't think China wants us to be bankrupt," the Malaysian state news service Bernama quoted the prime minister as saying.
"The projects [will] not go on. Our priority is reducing our debt. For the moment, they are deferred until we can afford," Mahathir said. When asked by journalists, he clarified stating, "Yes, they are cancelled at the moment."
Last month, Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced that the government had halted the pipeline projects.
He partly justified the move by saying that the China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau, the Chinese state firm awarded with contracts in November 2016, had been paid 85 percent of the project's value despite completing only 13 percent of the work.
Meanwhile, The Star newspaper reported last week that the government had paid 19.68 billion ringgit ($4.8 billion) for the ECRL project and about 15 percent of the work had been completed.
In August 2017, Najib hailed ECRL as a game changer for Malaysia, stating that the 688-km (430-mile) project spanning the states of Selangor, Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan, was to be completed in 2024 at a cost of $13 billion and backed mostly by loans from China.
In July, Eng noted that the cost of the project had increased by 26 billion ringgit (U.S. $6.4 billion) to 81 billion ringgit ($20 billion).
Malaysia's new government backs Belt, Road Initiative
Before Mahathir left China, the two nations issued a joint statement that included Malaysia's support for and participation in the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative and plans for a program focusing on economic and trade cooperation through 2022.
The initiative is a grand strategy by Beijing to build a vast network of roads, railway lines and ports in South and South Asia that will allow China to trade more easily with European countries via the Indian Ocean and Central Asia.
Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, who met with Mahathir, said both countries believed in the need to advocate free trade and promote globalization.

Answering a question regarding the prospect of a trade war with the United States, Li stressed that "in trade wars there will be no winners."
"The whole world is an industrial chain that is interconnected. If there are trade frictions in some areas, people will look for other alternatives," Li said.
Smiling at Li's remarks, Mahathir said "free trade is the way to go, but free trade must also be fair trade.

"We must always remember that development levels of countries are not always the same," he said.
Meanwhile, Oh Ei Sun, a senior adviser for international affairs at the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute, said Malaysia remained important to China.

"Malaysia is strategically located at the crossroads of east and west and is thus crucial for the viability of Belt and Road Initiative," said Oh, adding that the country was one of the more important open economies in the world.

"In this increasingly protectionist world, it is important for China to ally itself with more such economies."


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian police on Thursday announced the nation's largest drug bust this year after confiscating 500 kg (1,100 pounds) of suspected methamphetamine and ecstasy pills in anti-narcotics operations that took place days after authorities in neighboring Thailand made a similar major seizure.
The drugs valued at 26.1 million ringgit ($6.3 million) were targeted for delivery in Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand and Indonesia, according to Kang Chez Chiang, deputy director Bukit Aman Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department.
"Thanks to our counterparts in Thailand and other countries, we managed to cripple this syndicate and make the biggest bust this year," he said. "Such strong cooperation is needed to ensure that our country does not become a drug haven or abused as a transit point." 

Some of the drugs were disguised in packages labeled as tea from China, but Kang told reporters that many of the narcotics came from syndicates operating in the Golden Triangle, the area where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet at the confluence of the Mekong River.
Kang told BenarNews that four men, 35 to 59 years old and believed to be members of a drug-trafficking syndicate, were captured in raids in Bayan Baru, Jelutong and Gelugor in the northern state of Penang on Tuesday. Police also seized three vehicles, cash, jewelry and a watch valued at 147,000 ringgit ($35,778).
The four men had previous drug-related criminal records, Kang said.
Since January, Malaysian authorities have arrested 104,384 people for their suspected involvement in drugs and seized property valued at 47.62 million ringgit ($11.6 million) on suspicion that they were purchased with proceeds from drugs and other crimes, Kang said.
He told BenarNews that since early this year, officers have confiscated drugs valued at 127.8 million ringgit ($31 million).
"Those arrested were from various backgrounds, with locals making the highest number of people arrested, followed by foreigners," he said.
Crime analyst Kamal Affendi Hashim lauded police for their successes, but said that as long as there is a demand for drugs someone will figure out how to supply.
"It shows that the cops are serious in combating drug-related cases, but it won't end here," he said.
On Wednesday, Thai police reported seizing more than 14 million methamphetamine pills valued at 1.48 billion baht (184.68 million ringgit or $45 million) bound for Malaysia and other countries in what they called that nation's largest-ever bust.
Thai police said they arrested three suspects and seized the drugs in Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok, on Saturday.
In a report published in May, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said the production and trafficking of meth in Southeast Asia has reached "alarming levels." It said much of the meth produced in the region comes from lawless parts of Myanmar, in particular the Shan state.
Last week, a Thai court sentenced a Malaysian-born drug lord known as the "Iceman" to death after he was convicted of running a narcotics network. 

Tun Hung Seong, who was arrested in April 2017, had hired a man to smuggle almost 300 kg (660 pounds) of crystal meth through the Deep South, according to media reports.
Wilawan Watcharasakwet from Bangkok contributed to this story.
Updated to correct an error on Tun Hung Seong's sentencing. Under Thai law, prisoners who have been sentenced to death can be executed by lethal injection. 


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BENARNEWS- The fugitive banker known as Jho Low was charged Friday in Kuala Lumpur over money- laundering allegations linked to the beleaguered state fund 1MDB, the same day that a court approved the sale of his $250 million yacht.
Jho Low, whose real name is Low Taek Jho, will face three charges of receiving funds and five charges of transferring funds totaling 1 billion ringgit ($261 million) under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act, officials said.
In addition, his father, businessman Larry Low Hock Peng, who also is a fugitive, was charged with transferring money to his son under the same act, authorities said.
Jho Low has been identified as a close associate of former Prime Minister Najib Razak who founded the fund known as 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
In a statement on Friday, Inspector General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) had forwarded its findings to the attorney general's chamber.

"The charge was made in the Putrajaya Court on Friday and the court produced arrest warrants against the two," Fuzi said.

He added that police would ask Interpol to issue a Red Notice to track, arrest and extradite father and son.

Of the money linked to Jho Low, one transaction of $56 million (229 million ringgit) was received from his father's account from a Singapore bank used by both men, according to the charges.

The younger Low then allegedly transferred $196 million (802 million ringgit) between Jan. 7 and June 3, 2014, to the account of World View Ltd. which has been identified as the Low family trust.
Jho Low will not submit to 'unfair trial': lawyers
Separately on Friday, the Kuala Lumpur High Court granted an application from the 1MDB group to sell the yacht.

Lawyer Ong Chee Kwan told reporters that the government wished to sell the ship quickly because of its high maintenance cost. Plans are to sell it through public auction or public treaty.

"The longer you have it maintained, it will diminish the value at the end of the day," Ong said.
Ong predicted that the yacht would be sold in a month or two. Indonesian authorities handed over the yacht, The Equanimity, now docked at Port Klang, east of Kuala Lumpur, on Aug. 7 after seizing it on Feb. 28 while it was moored in Bali.

"The buyer will have a clean ownership. There will be no issue with the new owner," he said.
Previously, cabinet minister Sivarasa Rasiah had said that the government hoped to sell Equanimity for 500 million ringgit ($122 million) after ownership concerns were resolved.
The announcement came after Jho Low, the presumed owner, failed to file an application to challenge the yacht's sale.

Meanwhile, Low's lawyers issued a statement that their client was mulling his legal options but would not submit to an unfair trial.

"He will not submit to any jurisdiction where guilt has been predetermined by politics and self-interest overrules the legal process. 

"It is abundantly clear that it would be impossible for Mr. Low to get a fair trial in Malaysia, where the government has proven time and time again that they have no interest in the rule of law," said the statement issued Friday by a media consultancy firm in Australia.
U.S. Justice Department officials have described the 1MDB case as "the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times," and accused Jho Low of laundering more than $400 million (1.6 billion ringgit) stolen from 1MDB through acquisitions of properties in California, New York and London. Among the acquisitions were the yacht and a jet purchased for $35 million.
Najib has been charged with criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering linked to 1MDB and is to face trial in February 2019. He lost power in May when his Barisan Nasional coalition lost the general election to the Pakatan Harapan alliance whose campaign promises included investigating the 1MDB scandal.


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BENARNEWS- Ex-Malaysian police chief Abdul Rahim Noor on Friday said he had accepted the new government's invitation to serve as the next facilitator of Kuala Lumpur-brokered peace talks aimed at ending a separatist insurgency in southern Thailand.
The former police inspector-general and ex-head of the Malaysian police's special branch will replace Ahmad Zamzamin Hashim who, under the government of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, served as facilitator of negotiations between Bangkok and rebels in the Thai Deep South since 2013.
"I am ready to play my role as a facilitator in the peace talk between the Deep South rebels and the Thai government," Rahim said in an interview with BenarNews.

"When the government approached me, I accepted it," he said, adding he received his appointment letter from the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Friday.
In Bangkok, Gen. Aksara Kerdpol, the head of the Thai military government's negotiating team in peace talks with southern rebels confirmed that Rahim was appointed as Malaysia's new facilitator for the negotiations.
"We are acknowledging that Tan Sri Abdul Rahim bin Mohd Noor, Malaysia's former police chief and special branch police chief, becomes the facilitator in the Deep South peace-talk process in the place of Dato Seri Ahmad Zamzamin Hashim, as the Malaysian side had informed us earlier. The Thai prime minister also knew that," Aksara told BenarNews.
"It is a change on their side and it would not have negative effects because he is just a facilitator. ... He is a former special branch chief so he may know something more than others and there might be new groups that want to join the talks," the chief Thai negotiator said.
Rahim's appointment comes more than three months after Mahathir led the Pakatan Harapan opposition alliance in a stunning victory over Najib's Barisan Nasional coalition in Malaysia's general election.
Questions arose after the May 9 election over whether Mahathir would keep Malaysia's mediator role in the Deep South peace process alive.
When asked about this by a BenarNews reporter in late June, Mahathir said his government would carry on in the mediator's role, but he left open the possibility that Zamzamin would be replaced.
Experienced in peace talks
Rahim, 75, is perhaps best remembered as the negotiator who was instrumental in getting the former Communist Party of Malaya to lay down their arms and sign a peace deal with the Malaysian government in 1989.
The Peace Agreement of Hat Yai – named after the city in southern Thailand along the border with Malaysia – came about through peace talks facilitated by the Thai government and ended the 21-year-old communist insurgency.
Rahim, who served as Malaysia's fifth police chief from 1994 to 1999, is also known as the top policeman who, 20 years ago, punched Anwar Ibrahim, the sacked deputy prime minister in a notorious case dubbed as the "black eye incident."
At the time, Mahathir was serving as prime minister. Many years later, former foes Mahathir and Anwar would reunite to lead the Pakatan alliance to victory against Barisan in the 2018 general election.
Rahim will take over as facilitator of the Thai peace talks, even though he took issue five months ago with comments made by Mahathir suggesting that the Malaysian police force under Rahim's leadership had a hand in Mahathir's decision to sack Anwar back in 1998.
On Friday, Rahim expressed confidence that he would be able to carry out the mandate given to him by Malaysia's new government.
"I feel that my years of experience and connections I made when I was Malaysia's special branch head and inspector-general of police will help in assisting both sides in these peace talks," he told Benar.

Sources in the Malaysian government declined to comment on Rahim's appointment. It was not immediately clear why the new administration chose to remove Zamzamin, who had brokered two sets of Thai peace talks since 2013.
The first were negotiations between the government of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and the rebel group Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) that stalled in December 2013. Then, starting in 2015, Zamzamin facilitated talks between the Thai junta, which had overthrown Yingluck in a coup in May 2014, and MARA Patani, an umbrella body representing Deep South rebel groups.
The negotiations with MARA have failed to produce a limited ceasefire that is seen as critical to prospects for peace in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South. Nearly 7,000 people have been killed in violence there since the decades-old separatist insurgency flared up again in 2004.
'The onus is on the Thais'
One analyst said Rahim knows the Thai authorities well, dating back to 30 years ago when he helped negotiate the surrender of the Communist Party of Malaya.
But Rahim will face deep-seated suspicion among Thais that groups in Malaysia actively support the insurgency in the Deep South, said Shahriman Lockman, a senior analyst at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, a Kuala Lumpur think-tank.
"And he'll need to do more than what took place under the previous government, which focused too much of its efforts on facilitating talks involving one group, the MARA Patani," Shahriman told BenarNews.
The analyst also cast doubt over the Thai military government's commitment to negotiating with rebels to settle the southern insurgency.
"Ultimately, there will be no progress unless the Thai authorities are serious about addressing the insurgency in the country's southern border provinces," Shahriman said, adding that the low-level conflict too often was susceptible to being ignored by those in power in Bangkok.
"I really think the onus is on the Thais, here. Malaysia can facilitate [talks] but if the Thais are not willing to make any compromises – even contemplate some form of autonomy for the South – all efforts will come to naught," he said.


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BENARNEWS- The violent uprooting of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar's Rakhine state threatens to expose members of the persecuted and stateless minority to recruitment by extremists, new Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu told an international symposium on counterterrorism Monday.
Malaysia was taking the threat seriously, Mohamad said, while the chief of the nation's counterterrorist police special branch said Monday it had uncovered several cases in which Islamic State (IS) recruited Rohingya expats to wage a so-called holy war in Rakhine. Malaysia is home to a community of more than 100,000 Rohingya expatriates.
"We are concerned that the Rohingyas could be manipulated to become suicide bombers or recruited into terrorist cells in this region," the defense minister said during the opening speech at a two-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur of the International Association of Counterterrorism and Security Professionals (IACSP).
At a news conference afterwards, Mohamad likened the displacement of the Rohingya to Palestinian efforts to fight for an independent state against Israel.
"In the end, many took the path of suicide bombers and it has become a serious threat. We are concerned that this, too, can happen in Myanmar where gross human rights abuses were reported," the minister said.
"It will come to a point that they will not mind returning home and die fighting. That is why this issue is important. What has happened to the Palestinian people can happen to the Rohingya," he said.
The threat of Rohingya drifting into terrorism will exist as long as the international community kept ignoring the plight of the stateless minority group, Mohamad said.
Some 1 million Rohingya refugees are sheltering in southeastern Bangladesh, including more than 720,000 people who fled Myanmar since August 2017 amid a brutal crackdown mounted against ARSA, a Rohingya insurgent group, which had launched deadly coordinated attacks on army and police outposts in Rakhine that month.
The United Nations and United States, however, have both branded the crackdown as "ethnic cleansing" because of mass atrocities allegedly committed against Rohingya civilians by Myanmar security forces during the counter-ARSA offensive.
On Monday, the U.N. called for top military leaders in Myanmar to be investigated for genocide in Rakhine state.
Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, the Malaysian police's counterterrorist chief who also appeared at Monday's symposium, mentioned four cases since 2015 in which IS had recruited Rohingya expatriates in Malaysia. 

At least four Rohingya were charged for their alleged involvement in terror-related activities and were currently incarcerated, he said.
IS recruited the Rohingya as well as Bangladeshi expats with the goal of sending them to wage holy war in Myanmar, according to a report by ChannelNews Asia, which cited Ayob.
"There is always a possibility that these Rohingya people will be exposed to Salafi jihadi ideology, get recruited and get sent back to Rakhine state to wage this so called jihad war," the  Singapore-based news website quoted him as saying.
"But we are monitoring this situation very closely. We will take necessary action. We won't tolerate any attempt by any foreigners to use Malaysia as a base to attack foreign countries," the head of the counter-terrorist special branch said.
'We do not support terror activities'
Mohamad Sadek, a Rohingya who has lived in Malaysia for more than 10 years, took issue with the warnings from government officials that Rohingya expatriates could become radicalized.
The handful of arrests of Rohingya were isolated cases, he said.
"Hundreds of thousands of us are here but only four joined them. It shows that we do not support terror activities," Sadek, who runs an NGO, told BenarNews.
"We only want to live in peace."


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BENARNEWS- A U.S. $100 billion waterfront development that targeted moneyed investors from China is in limbo after Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday that foreigners would be barred from purchasing any of the properties.
The Forest City project, a mixed-residential development launched in 2013, overlooks Singapore and sits on reclaimed land off the coast of Johor, at the southern tip of the Malaysian Peninsula. 

"One thing is certain, that city that is going to be built cannot be sold to foreigners. We are not going to give visas for people to come and live here," Mahathir told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
Upon completion, about 700,000 people will call the Forest City complex home. It will have parks, shopping malls and hotels, creating 220,000 jobs and contributing an estimated 200 billion ringgit (U.S. $50 billion) to the nation's GDP by 2035.
Mahathir said his government was objecting to the project because it was built for foreigners, not for Malaysians.
"Most Malaysians are unable to buy those flats," he said, referring to reports that two-bedroom apartments under the project carried a starting price of U.S. $170,000.
It was not immediately clear how Mahathir would put a stop to foreigners buying properties in the project, a joint venture between Hong Kong-listed Country Garden Group and local partner Esplanade Danga 88, a company partially owned by Sultan Ibrahim Ismail of Johor.
The new twist appears as a setback to the developer, realtors said, as controversy arose over reports that about two-thirds of the owners of Forest City units so far were Chinese. Other investors were from Indonesia, Dubai and Thailand.
In its response, project developer Country Garden Pacificview (CGPV) on Monday denied that it was issuing permanent residency status to foreign buyers. The firm insisted that it had complied with all laws and regulations.

"A foreign citizen or a foreign company may acquire land in Malaysia subject to the prior approval of the State Authority has been obtained," CGPV said in a statement.
It said Mahathir's comments "may have been taken out of context," and company officials were seeking clarification from the Prime Minister's Office.
"It is as what he said," an official at Mahathir's office told BenarNews late Monday, without elaborating. 

Mahathir's statement dealt a major blow to the project, which was struggling to revive demands after Beijing launched a crackdown on capital flight and applied stricter rules on foreign currency outflows last year. The properties were first marketed in China, but Country Garden shifted its focus on selling to other foreign investors.
While leading the opposition bloc to a victory in the May 9 general election, Mahathir targeted Forest City and other major projects backed by Chinese financiers. He has repeatedly accused his predecessor, Najib Razak, of selling Malaysia's sovereignty to China by allowing foreign nationals to live in the country through the purchase of a property in Forest City. Najib has denied such allegations.
Prior to the election, demand for Forest City apartments had already slowed down, with sales falling 20 percent in 2017, Reuters reported.
Mahathir was in China from Aug. 17 for a five-day official visit during which he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang to renegotiate Malaysia's commitment to Beijing's investments in the country under Najib's leadership, saying the projects were too costly.
Issues involving national sovereignty
Mahathir could have been saying that the Forest City land should remain Malaysian territory despite property ownership by foreign nationals, according to Barjoyai Bardai, a financial analyst with the International Center for Education in Islamic Finance.
"The government is learning about what had happened in certain African countries, as well as Sri Lanka, where, through mismanagement and strategic purchases, entire cities became the property of foreign countries, in this case, China," Barjoyai told BenarNews.

"It can cause problems later on as this is a matter of national sovereignty," he said. 

Awang Azman Awang Pawi, a political analyst from the Universiti Malaya, said Mahathir needed to be careful about making statements that could be read as contradicting prior official statements. As the analyst sees it, such flip-flopping affects the confidence of foreign investors.

"According to reports last year, 70 percent of the properties sold there were bought by foreign nationals from China. Do we now need to pay compensation to them?" Awang Azman told BenarNews.
"Perhaps he learned something from the Chinese government in his recent trip to Beijing that made him change his mind," he said, "but such decisions should be made and announced by the cabinet officially."


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's anti-corruption agency arrested and detained the nation's former spy chief Tuesday on suspicion of misappropriation of election funds, officials said.
Hasanah Abdul Hamid, former director-general of the Malaysian External Intelligence Organization (MEIO), was detained after she was called in for questioning by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, according to Azam Baki, MACC's deputy chief.
Hasanah's detention was related to the recent arrest of seven high-ranking government officials accused of misusing public funds, Azam said in a statement.
"She was called in to assist us and we arrested her after initial findings showed that she was involved in misusing the money for election, together with the seven men we have arrested," he said.
Hasanah's lawyer, Shaharudin Ali, confirmed that the arrest took place. 

"Yes, she will be taken to the court for remand," Shaharudin told BenarNews.
Last month, Hasanah, 61, asked police to trace the leak of a secret letter she wrote to the CIA appealing for Washington's support for the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, days before it was ousted in the May election. 

Her arrest was not related to that controversial letter, her lawyer said.
On Monday, seven senior officials, including a deputy director-general of the MEIO, were brought to the Putrajaya magistrate's court for remand, a source close to the investigation told BenarNews.
MACC seized laptops and luxury watches from the suspects, the source said, adding that investigators believe public funds were used to purchase those items. Authorities also froze several bank accounts belonging to the suspects, the source said. 

"We do not know how much money exactly was missing, but we believe it is in millions of ringgit," said the source, who requested anonymity.

[https://www]

Hasanah Abdul Hamid [BenarNews/S.Mahfuz]

 
Hasanah was expected to appear before a judge at the Putrajaya administrative capital on Wednesday and will be charged under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009 for abuse of power and using public position for personal gratification, the source said.
The charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
In her three-page letter dated May 4 – five days before the election that catapulted Mahathir Mohamad back to power – Hasanah asked for Washington's support through Gina Haspel, director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, saying Najib would be a stronger U.S. ally.
The letter described Mahathir, 93, as an autocrat and "anti-West and anti-Semite."
Najib denied any knowledge of the letter, but officials in Mahathir's government had called for a probe into why such a letter was sent to the CIA, saying the action might have violated Malaysia's sovereignty.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's anti-graft agency expressed shock Monday at a court's decision to acquit Lim Guan Eng, the new finance minister, of corruption-related charges brought against him under the previous government while he served as the chief minister of Penang state. 

The Penang High Court earlier in the day cleared Guan Eng and businesswoman Phang Li Koon of corruption charges over his 2015 purchase from her of a bungalow at well below market value, the government-run Bernama news service and other local outlets reported. 

He was also charged following his arrest in June 2016 with abuse of power in his position as Penang's chief minister for allegedly rezoning a plot of land in the state from agricultural to residential use. 

Judge Hadhariah Syed Ismail acquitted and discharged the two defendants, who first went on trial in March this year, following a motion by their lawyers that they be fully acquitted, Bernama reported.

"The MACC is extremely shocked by the Penang High Court decision today to acquit former Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng from corruption charges linked to the purchase of a bungalow unit and the charges against businesswoman Phang Li Koon," the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said in a statement.
"The MACC would like to stress that the decision to withdraw the charges was made by the Attorney General's Chamber and not MACC," the commission added, referring to the nation's new attorney general, Tommy Thomas.

On Monday night, BenarNews learned that MACC's top management had a heated argument with Thomas over the case.

"We were not informed or given an explanation as to why such a decision was made," a source familiar with the case told BenarNews on condition of anonymity.

Following Monday's court ruling, Guan Eng declined to comment on his acquittal, the Malaysian Star newspaper reported.

When he was arrested two years ago, he alleged that the charges against him were part of a political attack aimed at ending his career then as a leader of the opposition.   

Since the new government took over in May 2018, Guan Eng has been a high-profile minister in its cornerstone efforts to investigate massive corruption allegedly committed by the government of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, in particular a financial scandal tied to the state fund known as 1MDB.

Reacting to MACC's critical reaction, Ramkarpal Singh, an attorney representing Guan Eng, said "I am shocked that the MACC is shocked over the decision."

"Obviously this matter has been brought up to the attention of MACC by the AG," Singh said, according to a report in the Star.

"They (MACC) obviously have knowledge and been informed that the charges will be withdrawn, as the entire process involves the MACC," he added.

However, the head of a local NGO that works to uncover graft cast suspicion over the court's acquittal of the finance minister.

In a statement, Cynthia Gabriel, executive director of the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) referred to how, in 2016, then-Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali had appeared in the Penang Sessions Court to press the initial charges against Guan Eng.

"Apandi was so confident in leading the prosecution of Lim himself. But if the then-AG was so certain in the case, how can it be so easily dropped by the High Court today?" Gabriel said, 

"Either the previous AG was coerced into pressing charges in court, or the system is always stacked in favor of the existing government," the news outlet Free Malaysia Today quoted her as saying.

She went on to express concern "that politicians who have actually betrayed public trust may be allowed back into the system, while others may have to suffer from trumped-up charges in the interest of defending political supremacy rather than public interest."


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BENARNEWS- The public caning of two women found guilty of same-sex relations by a Malaysian sharia court was carried out without due process and compassion, Anwar Ibrahim, leader of the People's Justice Party who is poised to become the next prime minister, said Tuesday.
But as rights groups condemned the canings in the religiously conservative East Coast state of Terengganu on Monday, an official in neighboring Pahang said that state was planning to mete out the same punishment against gay Muslims who violate local Islamic laws.
"I'm a practicing Muslim, I don't share that interpretation and certainly that sort of action to publicly cane without proper due process and understanding, and [a] show of compassion is something most Malaysians do not accept," Anwar told a news conference in the Philippines.
"If you are careless in making statements on this issue, you will be labeled as anti-Sharia law, secular and so on," he added.
Anwar, who from a jail cell helped lead the opposition Pakatan Harapan alliance to a stunning victory in the May 9 general election, is expected to take over as prime minister after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad eventually hands over the reins of government as he promised.
Anwar, 71, was on a two-day social visit to Manila to meet with old friends including former President Joseph Estrada, who was impeached in 2001 and later convicted of plunder before receiving a presidential pardon. Anwar also delivered a speech before a Filipino business group.
 
'No objection to it:' Religious affairs minister
In Terengganu in April, Malaysian Islamic enforcement officers arrested the two women, aged 32 and 22, after they were allegedly found attempting to have sex in a car in a public square. They pleaded guilty last month to breaking Islamic laws and were sentenced to a fine and six strokes of the cane.
A day after about 100 people witnessed the canings, a religious-affairs official in Pahang said Islamic authorities were carrying out an in-depth study to use caning as punishment for Muslim lesbians and gays found guilty of violating local Sharia laws.
"We are studying the matter thoroughly. We're looking to implement it here," a source in the Pahang religious affairs department told BenarNews.
On Monday, Mujahid Yusof Rawa, Malaysia's minister in charge of the Islamic Affairs, said the punishment meted out against the two women "did not cause any pain."
"My take on this issue is, as long as it was conducted under the rule of law, then there is no objection to it," Mujahid told reporters at an event outside Kuala Lumpur.
Federal Territory Minister Khalid Samad urged those who were not happy with the punishment to push for laws to be changed at the state level.
Predominantly Muslim Malaysia has a federal court system and Islamic court system that function separately.
In Islam, sexual relations between women is called Musahaqah. In Malaysia, it is punishable by caning in Johor, Penang, Sarawak and the Federal Territories.
'Back to the dark ages'
The caning of the two women ignited widespread criticism amid concerns around the country's growing intolerance toward the LGBT community.
On Tuesday, Phil Robertson, a deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said Terengganu officials committed an outrageous human rights violation that tarnished Malaysia's image as a rights-respecting nation.
He urged the federal government to take steps to ensure that lesbians or gays are not punished "for consensual sexual relations with another adult."
"No one should be tortured for any reason, and certainly not for loving another adult of the same gender," he said.
Gwen Lee, Amnesty International Malaysia's interim executive director, said the caning of two consensual adults "had sent Malaysia back to the dark ages" and showed that the new government was not committed to protecting the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) community in the country.
U.S. Ambassador Kamala Shirin Lakhdir also reacted.
"I am saddened by the caning of the two women in Terengganu today (Monday). I appreciate all those organizations and individuals who have spoken out for tolerance and human rights," she told reporters.
But Musa Awang, president of the Malaysian Association of Sharia Lawyers, claimed that the punishment against the two women was carried out without compromising their dignity.
"Caning under sharia law protects the dignity of the offender. They are fully dressed and their 'aurat' is covered," he said, referring to parts of the body that must be covered according to Islam.
"It is different from Western corporal punishment, where the offender is stripped and only the private parts are covered," he said.
The last time a woman was sentenced to caning in Malaysia occurred in March 2010 in Pahang. 

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was found guilty of violating the state's Islamic law for drinking beer, but the Sultan of Pahang intervened and commuted her punishment to community service.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia signed an agreement Wednesday to pay Singapore U.S. $10.9 million to postpone for two years a high-speed railway linking Kuala Lumpur to the Lion City, after Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had said he wanted to scrap the project.
Since his Pakatan Harapan alliance defeated the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in the May general election, Mahathir's new government has grappled with a national debt of 1 trillion ringgit (U.S. $241 billion) by curtailing projects started by his predecessor, Najib Razak.
In August, Mahathir canceled another rail project and two pipeline projects that were backed by China and valued at billions of dollars.
"I am happy to say, and I believe Minister Khaw (Boon Wan) too, that today we have finally sealed the deal, witnessed by both Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad and the deputy prime minister of Singapore," said Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali who signed on behalf of Malaysia.
Under the new agreement with Singapore, the $12.3 billion High-Speed Rail (HSR) project, which consists of about 217 miles (350 km) of rail between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, will be postponed until May 31, 2020, effectively slowing the project's completion date by four years, to Jan. 1, 2031.

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who signed for Singapore, said his government remained committed to the project.
"But of course we understand why Malaysia needs to temporarily suspend the construction of the HSR project," Khaw said.
He said the deal was made after serious consideration by Singaporean officials because it did not match the original agreement signed with Najib's government in February 2013.

Azmin traveled to Singapore three times in August to negotiate the deal. In a tweet posted on Aug. 30, the final day of negotiations, he announced that both governments were "inching closer toward a win-win deal on HSR."
The agreement stipulates that if the project fails to proceed after the agreed 2020 date, it will be considered cancelled and Malaysia could face a penalty of about $120 million, according to a source close to the minister who asked to not be identified.
Postponement questioned

A government critic who challenged the deal said construction and material costs likely would be higher in two years.
Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who served as minister in charge of the Najib administration's economic planning unit, said the millions paid to Singapore for the delay could be put to better use.
"The cost of the postponement is enough to build five schools in rural areas or 643 low-cost housing units for the poor," Abdul Rahman said.

"Pakatan Harapan needs to reconsider its priorities," he said Wednesday in a Twitter post.
Meanwhile, Oh Ei Sun, a senior adviser for international affairs at the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute, said the government made the right move.
"Hopefully in two years it will be better," Oh said, dismissing the possibility of Malaysia scrapping the project.

"If they wanted to cancel it they should just cancel it now and save the trouble of negotiating," Oh said.
In 2013, officials announced that the proposed rail line would reduce travel time between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to around 90 minutes by train from the current 11 hours on existing services.

In addition, the officials predicted it would contribute $5 billion (20.7 billion ringgit) in gross domestic product to Malaysia and Singapore while creating 111,000 jobs by 2060.
Mahathir on water deal: 'Manifestly ridiculous'
The city-state of Singapore used to be part of Malaysia until it quit the Malaysian Federation in 1965. Since then, relations between the next-door neighbors have been tense at times.
And as the two countries were closing in on the deal on postponing the rail project, Daim Zainuddin, chairman of the new Malaysian prime minister's influential Council of Eminent Persons, said Mahathir was turning his attention to negotiating a review of prices as stipulated in a 1962 bilateral water agreement, the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday.
Under the 56-year-old water deal, Malaysia sells Singapore water from the Johor River at less than one U.S. penny per 1,000 gallons, the Post reported, noting that 60 percent of the city-state's water needs are supplied under the agreement.
In late June, Mahathir indicated in an interview with Singapore-based Channel News Asia that he was not happy with this and that his government planned to renegotiate the agreement.
"I think it is manifestly ridiculous that we should sell water at 3 cents per thousand gallons. That was OK way back in the 1990s or 1930s. But now what can you buy with 3 cents? Nothing," the prime minister told the news outlet.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday decried the public caning of two women in Terengganu state this week, saying it tarnished the image of Islam as he called for lighter sentences to prevent a repetition of the case.
The women each received six strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to charges linked to allegedly attempting to have sex in a parked car in the religiously conservative Terengganu. The caning, which took place inside a courtroom at the Terengganu Sharia High Court, was witnessed by more than 100 people, including government officials and journalists.
"What's important is to show that Islam is not a ruthless religion that dishes out sentences that humiliate people. This is not what Islam encourages," Mahathir said in a video posted on Facebook.

His cabinet had determined that the punishment meted out by the Sharia court was harsh, considering the two women were first-time offenders, he said.
"That is why we are of the opinion that even if there are such cases, consideration should be given to the circumstances, in Islam we can give lighter sentences," according to Mahathir.
Islam is the dominant religion in multi-ethnic and multi-faith Malaysia. The country has a dual justice system made up of federal courts and Sharia courts that function separately.
Awang Azman Awang Pawi, a sociologist with the Academy of Malay Studies at Universiti Malaya, said any changes to Malaysia's Sharia court system would require support from the Malay-Muslim majority.
"Just because it is seen as cruel doesn't change the fact that many Muslims believe that it is part of the Islamic faith," Awang said.

On Tuesday, Mahathir's expected successor, Anwar Ibrahim, criticized the caning of the women in Terengganu.
"I'm a practicing Muslim, I don't share that interpretation and certainly that sort of action to publicly cane without proper due process and understanding, and [a] show of compassion is something most Malaysians do not accept," he said.
Anwar helped lead the Pakatan Harapan alliance from a prison cell to an upset victory over Prime Minister Najib Razak's Barisan Nasional coalition in the May general election. Following the victory that put Mahathir in charge of the government, Anwar received a full pardon on a second sodomy conviction.

While Anwar was challenging the punishment, the state government in Kelantan, which is controlled by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), said it was considering performing canings in a stadium.

Chief Minister Ahmad Yakob said caning was allowed, following last year's amendment to the Kelantan Sharia Criminal Procedure Enactment of 2002 to allow the punishment to be carried out in public.
"Among the suggestions were in a closed hall, within the compound of a mosque or a stadium," Ahmad told reporters.


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BENARNEWS-Malaysia's new government has canceled three Chinese-backed oil and gas pipeline projects to deal with the country's debt previously estimated at 1 trillion ringgit (U.S $241 billion), officials said.
A letter was sent to relevant parties in China to terminate contracts on the three projects valued at about 12.4 billion ringgit ($3 billion), a report published on Sunday by the Financial Times quoted Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng as saying.
"We are canceling the pipeline projects ... I have already sent the communication," he told the FT.
On Monday, a Finance Ministry official who asked to not be named confirmed the cancellation.
"No compensation was mentioned. It could still be under negotiation," she told BenarNews when asked if Malaysia would be required to pay for the cancelled projects.
Guan Eng said the cancelled projects included two oil and gas pipelines projected to cost more than 4.1 billion ringgit ($1 billion) each in Peninsular Malaysia and on Borneo Island, and a 3.3 billion ringgit ($795 million) pipeline that would link the state of Malacca to a refinery operated by the national oil company Petronas in southernmost Johor state.
Economist Adli Amirullah, of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, urged the Malaysian government to be transparent regarding the pipeline cancellations.
"If the government cancels it, they must also produce the cost and benefit [analysis] to the public so we will know the profits or losses incurred due to the cancellation," he said.
Investigation sought
The finance minister's announcement came about three months after his ministry alleged in a report that two of the pipeline projects were hidden from the scrutiny of most treasury officials.
On June 5, Guan Eng announced that he had asked the nation's anti-corruption commission to investigate a highly suspicious payment totaling U.S. $2 billion to a Chinese firm when only 15 percent of its work building gas pipelines in Malaysia was complete.
More recently, Guan Eng revealed that Suria Strategic Energy Resources Sdn Bhd (SSER), a wholly owned subsidiary of the finance ministry, was embroiled in a scandal related to the two gas line projects, which were approved in July 2016 by the government of then-Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Since taking control of the government in May, Malaysia's new government, led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, has taken steps to rein in the debt including reviewing infrastructure projects undertaken by Najib's administration.
The cost-cutting efforts are aimed at tackling the country's liabilities, which accumulated through government guarantees on borrowing linked to the troubled 1MDB state fund.
The U.S. Justice Department described 1MDB as the "worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times." Prosecutors allege that at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB and diverted through acquisitions of real estate, artwork and luxury properties by Najib and his associates.
During an official state visit to Beijing in August, Mahathir called for free trade between the two nations, while announcing the cancellation of two of the pipelines and a high-speed rail project.
Last week, Malaysia and Singapore agreed to postpone a multibillion-dollar high-speed rail project between the two countries until the end of May 2020.


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BENARNEWS- Two Indonesian fishermen were abducted early Tuesday off the east coast of the Malaysian Borneo state of Sabah by men believed to be part of a southern Philippine group seeking ransom, a police official said.
The kidnapping was the first one reported in the Sulu and Celebes seas since March 2017, according to a Singapore-based agency that combats piracy on the high seas. The fishermen were taken around 12:30 a.m. near Gaya island off Malaysia's Semporna district, according to Sabah acting Police Commissioner Omar Mammah.
"The two fishermen were kidnapped by two suspects carrying M16 rifles, who had boarded their fishing boat and took them to an unknown location," he said during a press conference in Kota Kinabalu. Two crewmates hid and were not captured.
"We believe the kidnapping case is related to a kidnap-for-ransom group, however, we still haven't received any ransom demand. We also are not yet discounting the case as a terror-related one."
The victims were identified as boat skipper Samsul Saguni, 40, and his assistant, Usman Yunus, 35, Omar said.
A crewmate who identified himself as Bakri said he believed the kidnappers were from the southern Philippines because they spoke Suluk, a Philippine dialect.
"I don't understand what they were saying but they were speaking Suluk, a language I always hear spoken. Earlier, I had heard the sound of a boat approaching our boat," he told BenarNews.
"I noticed something was amiss when I went up to the boat's deck and found the light had been turned off. In the darkness, I saw the shadows of two men carrying rifles, which prompted me to head back down to the lower deck where I hid."
Bakri said he hid for an hour.
"I kept praying to Allah to keep me safe as I laid motionless and quiet under some wood planks and gunny sacks. An hour later, another crewman who had gone into hiding called out my name and said the kidnappers had left with our skipper and his number-two man," Bakri said.
Omar said officials had contacted counterparts in the Philippines and were waiting for updates from them.
While officials have not identified any group as being responsible, Abu Sayyaf, a southern Philippines-based militant group, is notorious for kidnappings, bombings and beheadings over the past two decades.
"Based on the crew members' account, we believe the men were carrying M16 rifles and riding in a pump boat. We are not sure how many people were in their boat apart from the two who boarded," he said.
History of piracy
Omar said the kidnapping was the first in Sabah this year and the fishing boat had a license to operate during curfew hours in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone.
Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal said authorities would focus on rescuing the kidnap victims.
"I've requested that action be taken although the kidnap victims are Indonesian," he said during a Maal Hijrah or Islamic New Year celebration in Sabah's capital city.
"We will intensify our patrol and intelligence gathering so that we can find these perpetrators and the kidnap victims," he said. "We will ensure the victims are found safe because they were taken from our waters and it is our responsibility to our neighbor Indonesia."
The kidnapping was the first in the Sulu and Celebes seas in nearly 18 months, according to Nicholas Teo, deputy director at the Singapore-based information sharing center of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP)..
"The last one was Mar 23, 2017, near Basilan, southern Philippines," Teo told BenarNews in a WhatsApp message.
Sabah's east coast is separated from southern Philippines by the Sulu and Celebes seas. In June 2017, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia launched joint trilateral patrols aimed at safeguarding their common sea waters from pirates and militants.
A total of 40 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships – 29 actual incidents and 11 attempts – were reported in Asia from January to June, according to ReCAAP. By comparison, there were 40 actual incidents and seven attempts during the same period in 2017


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BENARNEWS- People's Justice Party (PKR) leader Anwar Ibrahim is expected to return to politics officially after a lawmaker vacated his seat on Wednesday, triggering a by-election to make way for Malaysia's "prime minister in waiting."

Anwar, who was released from prison on May 16 after receiving a royal pardon on sodomy convictions, will seek election to the parliamentary seat serving Port Dickson, south of Kuala Lumpur, and is expected to take over eventually as prime minister from Mahathir Mohamad. No date has been set for the by-election.
Former Navy Adm. Danyal Balagopal, who was elected to the seat for the first time in May, cited difficulties adapting to a political life after four decades of military service. He made the announcement during a press conference at PKR headquarters attended by party Secretary-General Saifuddin Nasution and Vice President Rafizi Ramli.

"Anwar agreed and is prepared to contest in Port Dickson. I am confident Anwar will win and become a member of parliament, and Malaysia's eighth prime minister," Danyal said.
Also on Wednesday, parliament's upper house, which is controlled by the opposition Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, stalled the new government's efforts to repeal the Anti-Fake News Act that was passed during the lead-up to the May 9 general election, when Barisan ruled the country.

Port Dickson will be the first seat contested by Anwar other than his hometown seat of Permatang Pauh in Penang state that he held for six terms, beginning in 1982. He rose to deputy prime minister but was forced from office after a falling-out with then-Prime Minister Mahathir when both were members of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the anchor party of the then-ruling Barisan bloc.
Anwar and Mahathir realigned last year, forming the Pakatan Harapan (PH) alliance that upset UMNO's Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to wrest control of the government. Mahathir, 93, is expected to relinquish the prime minister's office to Anwar in two years.
Anwar is credited with serving as PKR's de facto leader and managing the election campaign from behind bars even though he did not hold an official post with the party. His return to office is essential for the succession plan because the constitution requires that the prime minister be an MP.

Speaking on behalf of Anwar, who was in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Saifuddin told reporters that PKR officials spoke to leaders of the other Pakatan member parties and they agreed to support the candidate.
"They have assured us of their full cooperation to ensure Anwar's victory," he said.
He also said that Anwar would not accept a government leadership post if elected, but would focus on parliamentary reforms.

"As an MP, Anwar who is also part of the PH presidential council, can play a more effective role in helping the government," Saifuddin said.
In an interview with CNBC that was published before Danyal announced his resignation, Anwar said that a parliamentary seat would have to be vacated before he could run for office as an MP.
"That should happen very soon," Anwar, 71, told the network.
"If I win, God willing, I will focus on parliamentary reform," he said.
However, PKR Housing Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin pointed out that the party's leadership did not follow the proper channels in selecting the candidate.
"Every decision made by the party needs to be done through the committee so that a consensus can be achieved that is in line with the spirit of reformation and democracy," she said.
In response to the announcement about Anwar's reentry to the political fray, BN official Khairy Jamaluddin posted a tweet suggesting that his coalition field a local candidate to face Anwar.

"It will prove to be difficult for BN to win, but still, a local face will put up a better fight," he said.

Anwar has a strong chance of winning the election, no matter who runs against him, according to Wong Chin Huat, a political analyst with the Penang Institute.
"Most Malaysians would want to have an MP who is the future prime minister," he told BenarNews.

"Anwar's challenge is to show his statesmanship as the next prime minister without being seen as in a hurry and undermining Mahathir's leadership," Wong said.
Senate roadblock
Meanwhile, parliament's upper house, also known as the senate, delayed the Anti-Fake News Act repeal in a party-line vote. Senate President S. A. Vigneswaran announced that 28 BN and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) senators voted against repealing the act, while 21 Pakatan senators voted for the repeal and three abstained.
Despite the change in power, the senate, whose members are political appointees, is controlled by those loyal to the previous government.
In August, the lower house voted to repeal the act.
Under the constitution, bills rejected by the Senate must be returned to the lower house for approval again before being presented to the senate for a second time. The senate then has 30 days to approve the bill, after which, regardless of the decision, it is presented to the king for his royal assent and gazetted as law.
The king can opt to not give royal assent to a bill, forcing it to be sent back to both houses to be voted again and returned for his approval. If he still does not approve the bill, it automatically is gazetted as law after 30 days.


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BENARNEWS- A lawyer for former Prime Minister Najib Razak was arrested and accused Thursday of laundering more than $2 million but he claimed that the charges were politically motivated to remove him from the embattled politician's defense team.
A court in Kuala Lumpur charged attorney Shafee Abdullah with two counts of money laundering and two counts of tax fraud for a pair of transactions totaling 9.5 million ringgit (U.S. $2.3 million) between September 2013 and February 2014. He could face up to 40 years in prison and fines up to $20 million ringgit ($4.8 million) if convicted of all charges.
Anwar Ibrahim, leader of the People's Justice Party (PKR), alleged that Najib had paid Shafee the sum to prosecute him on a sodomy charge.
"This is sheer bully tactics that they are doing right now," Shafee told reporters after posting the first half of his 1 million ringgit ($241,000) bail. The second half is to be paid by Sept. 18.
Najib faces charges related to allegations that 2.6 billion ringgit ($681 million) from SRC International, a subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) – a financially troubled state fund – ended up in two of his personal bank accounts.
In a Facebook posting Thursday, Najib said he had received 2.6 billion ringgit as a gift from Saudi Arabia in March 2013 and later returned the money.
The government charged Najib, who has pleaded not guilty to all eight counts against him, with money laundering, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust.
In charge sheets, prosecutors allege that Shafee received funds from accounts held by Najib at AmIslamic Bank.
Shafee, who was taken into custody by Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers, arrived at the court complex at 11 a.m., five hours after he was arrested at a Kuala Lumpur airport as he prepared to board a plane to Penang to attend a trial. 

The lawyer called the charges baseless and political.
"If you look into their political manifesto, Pakatan Harapan (PH) said that they will charge everyone related to 1MDB. The best they can do so far with Najib is to charge him for SRC International," Shafee said, adding that prosecutors were struggling to build a case around 1MDB.
Staff members with the Attorney General's Chamber, he also said, were worried about the strength of Najib's defense team and trying to undermine it by removing him. He pointed out that the indictment would not prevent him from representing Najib because he has not been convicted of any crime.
The U.S. Justice Department described 1MDB as the "worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times." Prosecutors allege that at least $4.5 billion was stolen and diverted through acquisitions of real estate, artwork and luxury properties by Najib and his associates.
Allegations tied to payments
Last year, a court ruled against Anwar's lawsuit to have a sodomy conviction overturned. Anwar claimed Najib went against the government's normal practice of appointing lawyers from the attorney-general's office by appointing and paying Shafee, a private lawyer.
Shafee, who was in court on Nov. 8, 2017, to hear the ruling, described Anwar's allegation as nonsense.
"I was never paid 9.5 million ringgit to prosecute Anwar," he said at the time.
 
On Sept. 6, Anwar challenged the statement, releasing an affidavit from an attorney general staffer who claimed Shafee was paid by Najib to prosecute Anwar "and therefore did not act independently but instead had a financial interest in prosecuting the appeals." Anwar and the court were not aware of the payments at the time of the ruling, the affidavit stated.
"I maintain that Shafee should never have been allowed to prosecute the appeal in the first place," Anwar said last week. "Appointing an outside prosecutor is not an ordinary practice by the attorney general, and is even more irregular in this case when the individual appointed is a known close confidante of Najib, who is himself materially involved in the case."
Anwar, who helped lead the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition's upset of Najib's Barisan Nasional in May, has since received a royal pardon on two sodomy convictions and is in line to succeed Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister when the 93-year-old steps aside.
Facebook
In recent days, Najib has taken to Facebook, posting letters, bank statements and his own statements to explain that he received millions of dollars from a Saudi prince who was impressed with his efforts to govern Malaysia using Islamic principles.
On Monday, he posted a February 2011 letter where the prince promised a "gift" of $100 million (415 million ringgit). Another letter sent in March 2013 granted Najib a gift of up to $800 million (3.3 billion ringgit).
"This is merely a personal token of appreciation and I am hoping that the gift would encourage you to continue with your good work to promote Islam around the world," the 2013 letter ends.
In another posting, Najib said he received $681 million (2.6 billion ringgit) promised as part of the second gift through two deposits in March 2013. He said he planned to use the money to aid BN campaigns in that year's general election, but when he realized the money was not needed, he returned it.
Regarding the charges against Shafee, Najib called them an effort by the new government to intimidate his lawyers and deny a fair trial. He said the payments of 9.5 million ringgit were for services that Shafee's firm rendered over the years, including election petition cases for two general elections.
"Charging Tan Sri Shafee for receiving payments for legal services rendered sets a very danger legal precedent for all lawyers, professionals and businesses," Najib posted. "No one will be safe if the government chooses to victimize or to politically persecute you."
1MDB update
Meanwhile, Deputy Police Inspector-General Noor Rashid Ibrahim on Thursday told reporters that 2.9 billion ringgit ($972 million using the exchange rate at the time) was transferred into Najib's bank account between 2011 and 2013.
"Up to this point, 132 transactions involving proceeds from unlawful activities have been identified and further investigations are being carried out," Rashid said.
Since the new government resumed investigating 1MDB following the May election upset, police have recorded statements from 64 people.
"There are several people close to Najib that we have also interviewed ... and his family members. We expect to question more people in a week," Rashid said. "We hope to get documented evidence from these people."


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BENARNEWS- Malaysian police on Friday announced the arrests of 10 suspected militants, including five allegedly involved in a terror plot targeting a Middle Eastern country and who believed they were obeying a messianic call.
The five belonged to a group calling itself Asoib, or Youths from the East, while the other five suspects were members of an unrelated militant group identified as Ar Rayah, Malaysia's police chief said in a statement.
The 10 men were arrested during raids by counter-terrorist officers in the states of Selangor, Johor, Pahang, Terengganu, Malacca, Kelantan and Penang that were carried out between Aug. 10 and Aug. 31, Police Inspector-General Mohamad Fuzi Harun said.
The five members of the Asoib cell, aged between 39 and 53, "were planning to join a terrorist group from a Middle East country to launch an attack on a country bordering the country," Fuzi said in a statement released in Malay.
The announcement marks the first time that Malaysian police have publicized the presence of supporters of both groups in the country. According to officials, neither is linked with the Middle East-based terror outfit known as Islamic State.
The Asoib cell from Malaysia was to be supplied with weapons by the terrorist group upon arrival in the Middle East, Fuzi said.
"One member of the Asoib is already in the Middle Eastern country and is making preparations and coordinating the attack," the police chief said without revealing the cell's destination country.
Saudi Arabia was the country targeted in the terrorist plot, a highly placed Malaysian government source told BenarNews on condition of anonymity.
"Yes, it is Saudi," the source said.
A source from the Middle East told Singapore-based ChannelNews Asia that the suspects planned to travel to Yemen before going on to Saudi Arabia, which is next-door.
End of days
According to Fuzi, the Asoib group twists the sayings of Prophet Muhammad and believes the end of the world is approaching and that a messiah, Imam Mahdi, will appear in Mecca this year.
"The group will then merge with the messianic soldiers of Imam Mahdi and will launch strikes against secular nations and the Antichrist," the police chief said.
Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, chief of the Malaysian police's counter-terrorist special branch, said the prophecy or the belief of the existence of Imam Mahdi and the fight against evil (dajjal) had existed for many years.
There was a case in the country in the 1980s, when one group who claimed to be followers of Imam Mahdi attacked a police station in Johor state, Ayob said.
"The only thing difference now is the concept and belief has been hyped by the current situation in Islamic world, especially the happenings in Syria," he told BenarNews.
"As for the concept of dajjal, to these believers it is everywhere, so it is not in the form of another being, or animals or living things. [What ever] is not in line with Islamic teachings –to their understanding – is considered dajjal. Hence, their aim is fight against it. How? Through attacks," he added.
Plots targeting Malacca, Penang
The second group of five suspects belong to the Ar Rayah group and range in age from 18 to 50 years old, police said.
An initial investigation showed that the cell members were planning to launch attacks on entertainment and vice-related locations around the states of Malacca and Penang, including one spot frequented by transgender people, Fuzi's statement said. Police seized five smoke bombs while conducting raids linked with the Ar Rayah group.
The cell's oldest member, who is among the five in custody, is a foreigner who was working at a local restaurant.  He is believed to be a member of a terror group in Southeast Asia who has been propagating the group's ideology through the messaging platform WhatsApp, Fuzi said without giving more details about this other group.

"The suspect is also tasked with influencing group members to contribute money to purchase firearms and bullets," the police inspector-general said.
The foreigner in question "belonged to a militant group in southern Thailand," ChannelNews Asia quoted an intelligence source as saying.
A separatist insurgency waged by Malay-speaking rebels for decades has gripped Thailand's predominantly Muslim Deep South, located along Peninsular Malaysia's northern border.
All 10 suspects arrested in last month's raids are being held under Malaysia's Security Offenses (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA) for alleged terrorist-related offenses, Fuzi said.


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BENARNEWS- Four months after being ousted from power, Malaysia's oldest political party says it wants to forge better relations with its former nemesis Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) to regain government control

Speaking at a press conference after attending the PAS general assembly in Kuala Terengganu, United Malays National Organization (UMNO) President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said despite the good relations, the two parties have not formalized ties. UMNO leads the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and PAS is one of four parties in the Gagasan Sejahtera coalition.

"At the moment, the only formal cooperation that exists between PAS and UMNO is at the parliamentary level where lawmakers from both parties work together on issues and as clusters relating to existing governmental portfolios," Zahid said. "To engage in a long-term relationship for GE15, I think the working level discussion has to be established first."
His remarks came after PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang hinted about the prospect of dissolving BN in the future in favor of a new opposition coalition.
"I think there will be a political change followed by a coalition change in either the government or the opposition," Abdul Hadi said.
"Pakatan Harapan (PH) itself is breaking apart and if that continues, perhaps not long after, they will return to being the opposition," he said, alleging there is infighting by members of the People's Justice Party (PKR) as it prepares for party elections in October.
PKR, led by Anwar Ibrahim, joined with other parties to form PH and knock off the ruling BN coalition in the May 9 general election, bringing Mahathir Mohamad to power as prime minister. Anwar, who after the election received a royal pardon for sodomy convictions and is running in a by-election for a seat in parliament, is expected to succeed Mahathir in about two years.

Zahid, the first UMNO president to attend the PAS assembly, expressed his admiration for the Islamic party's stance on not being antagonistic to the federal government.

"It's a new concept and I believe that this is what the public wanted, a united front of opposition parties that tackles the public's issues and concerns," Zahid said.

Awang Azman Awang Pawi, a sociologist with the Academy of Malay Studies at Universiti Malaya, told BenarNews that Zahid is seeking inroads with PAS even as he seeks a close relationship with Anwar.

"Despite the warm embrace between PAS and UMNO, Zahid is looking into the opportunity of working together with the PH government, especially PKR," he said.

Zahid on Friday confirmed a UMNO official's statement that party leaders empowered him with seeking new alliances outside of BN, including the ruling coalition and PAS.

In his opening remarks at the PAS 64th general assembly, Abdul Hadi said he is confident the party has a good chance of winning the next election and all members need to work hard to prepare.
Blaming the party's showing in May's election where it captured 18 seats on an uneven playing field, Abdul Hadi said PH's success was attributed by the coalition's command of social media that was done "without any care of moral boundaries and no concern for sins."

He also said PH won because some voters failed to see the beauty of Islam.

"Because of their immaturity, they instead voted for secular and pragmatic parties despite its liberal agenda, unorthodox Islam and tolerance for the LGBT community, which is still highly taboo in Malaysia," he said. "And we will only cooperate with those who works to please God and not with sinners."


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BENARNEWS- Local NGOs and UNICEF pressed Malaysia's government on Tuesday to shield underage children from being married after reports emerged that a Sharia court in Kelantan state had allowed a 44-year-old man to wed a 15-year-old girl.
Malaysian non-governmental organizations in particular criticized Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for comments she made about the case, in which she suggested that the government had no power to stop the marriage.
"In an appalling response, the deputy prime minister gave excuses as to why child marriages are taking place and claimed that Putrajaya is powerless to intervene," Latheefa Koya, executive director of rights advocacy group Lawyers for Liberty said in a statement.
The marriage was the second in recent months in religiously conservative Kelantan that involved an underage girl. The first case involved an 11-year-old girl of Thai origin who was married off to a 41-year-old Kelantan resident, during a mid-June ceremony solemnized by a Muslim cleric in neighboring southern Thailand.
"This response from the DPM will be a license for pedophiles around the country to groom, persuade or coerce children into 'marriage' for the purpose of having sexual intercourse with them," she said, as she called on Wan Azizah to ensure a police investigation into whether the Kelantan was one of sexual grooming that may have violated the country's child-sex laws.
Latheefa was referring to remarks made on Tuesday by Wan Azizah about the latest child marriage in Kelantan. The deputy prime minister said the federal government was undertaking efforts to raise the nationwide minimum marriage age to 18 years old but, she cautioned, it had no jurisdiction to overturn the decision of the state's Islamic courts in the marriage of the 15-year-old.
"[T]hey were married by the Sharia court, so you have to also abide because it is also state regulations," she said in remarks aired on KiniTV.
'We want to save this girl'
Wan Azizah, who is also the minister of women's affairs, said she did have a problem with child marriage but, at the same time, she understood the circumstances under which their families lived.
"If you understand the way they live, their way of life, you would have a little bit of understanding of why it happens," she said.
The deputy PM added that officers from her ministry were looking into the case and had met with the child bride and her parents.
"We want to save this girl. We can go a long way if all of us pool our resources and give all the support," she said.
Wan Azizah was reacting to news of the marriage, which was reported by the New Straits Times newspaper. It said the Sharia court in Kelantan, whose state government is controlled by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), had permitted the 44-year-old resident to take on the 15-year-old girl as his second wife in July.

Under Malaysia's Federal Constitution, which sets the minimum age for girls to be married at 16, Muslim marriages fall under the purview of the respective state Shariah Courts, which can approve underage marriages with valid reasons.

According to the newspaper report, the girl's family agreed to marry off the girl – the youngest of their 13 children – to the man, who is a People's Volunteer Corps officer, because "they wanted her to have a better life."

The bride's father, Che Rahim Che Deraman, 60, said he did not want his daughter to live in hardship. He runs a sundry shop in Tumpat, close to the Thai-Malaysia border, and was reported to be living in poverty, earning between 200 and 300 ringgit (U.S. $48 and $72) a month.

UNICEF rep calls for ban
Other NGOs that reacted angrily to the latest child marriage included Sisters of Islam, which urged the new government to act.
"The government must not hide behind the excuse that they are 'powerless' to take immediate action against child marriage. Every hour they continue to choose to do so, more girls fall between the cracks they that refuse to repair," the group said in a Twitter post.
Marianne Clark-Hattingh, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative in Malaysia, also condemned the marriage in Kelantan.
"It's unacceptable that yet another child has got married to an elder man. The new Kelantan case is proof of the need to raise awareness on the impact of marriage on the child and bring legislative change to ban the practice," she tweeted.
She also proposed that new legislation on child marriage should be accompanied by other measures, including compulsory access to secondary education, sexual reproductive health education and poverty reduction.

To date, only Selangor, the richest and most developed state in Malaysia that circles the federal capital Kuala Lumpur, has broken the status quo and pledged to raise the marriage age for men and women to 18.


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