Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak did not lose only dictatorship power in the election, he is about to lose his freedom very soon as investigators are now gathering evidence to press charges. Along with his wife and cronies, Najib Razak is expected to be jailed for life. Over in Singapore, Najib’s best friend Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will have to face a similar arrest for deep-rooted corruption.
However, many would point out that Lee Hsien Loong is “smarter” and did not corrupt, in legal terms written by himself. Where Najib Razak corrupted openly, Lee Hsien Loong corrupted secretly. Both corruption are equally legal, or at least when they are in power.
If Najib Razak have 1MDB losing tens of billions in state funds, Lee Hsien Loong have Temasek Holdings and GIC. Losing tens of billions in CPF funds and national reserves, and not opening up the accounting books for independent scrutiny and accounting for the losses may not be theft, but nepotism is undisputed. Lee Hsien Loong is Chairman of GIC, and his wife Ho Ching is CEO of Temasek Holdings, without merits. There is no declaration how much income the couple are drawing, which in essence is national reserves and CPF funds itself under “administration charge” of the two sovereign wealth fund companies. These nepotism links alone is valid enough to jail Lee Hsien Loong for life.
Like Najib Razak, Lee Hsien Loong openly corrupt and abused his power by orchestrating a series of legal corruptions including amendments to the Constitution, to make his former personal lawyer Lucien Wong the Attorney General, and making his PAP MP Halimah Yacob the Singapore President.
The “dishonourable son” – a label by his own neurosurgeon sister Lee Wei Ling – is nothing like his father who valued families ties. Lee Hsien Loong exiled his own flesh-and-blood, Lee Hsien Yang, Lee Suet Fern and Li Shengwu, and making them impossible to return to Singapore. Lee Hsien Loong should also be trialled for abusing the PM powers to convey a special parliamentary session for personal affairs, which is to defy his late father’s will of demolishing 38 Oxley Road.
Reasonably, when a new government takes over and independent commissions begin their digging and accounting for state funds, Lee Hsien Loong is the first culprit to go after. The PAP leader should have his passport detained once his election loss is confirmed. The ruling party know that they are losing support, and that the coming election is going to be disastrous considering the mismanagement since 2015. When they lose governance, the corrupted PAP Ministers like K Shanmugam, PAP MPs like Lee Bee Wah, former army generals, senior civil servants and PAP-linked businesses will be thoroughly investigated by an independent anti-corruption bureau.
Only when these criminals are put away, Singaporeans will start to see better livelihood and a true corrupt-free republic.
Alex Tan
STR Editor