A prediction that became true; Stand with refugees

When I interviewed Mahathir Mohamad in 2015 he was already having second thoughts on why and how he supported PM Razak against his own protege, Anwar Ibrahim. I had come for the trial of Anwar Ibrahim which found him guilty of sodomy. I had friends on the other side of the court who were devastated by the decision because it would mean more than a legal judgement. I would also mean that Anwar would not have a political  future. That is how big Mahathir’s influence is on Malaysia’s political life. He became world news when he attacked George Soros for meddling in Malaysia’s economy and politics.

But in our conversation which was more on Philippine politics, we were able to veer to Malaysian politics as well. And even then I knew Razak was in trouble. When and how it will depend on the 92-year-old Malaysian leader who would be called “the world’s oldest prime minister, in a stunning electoral victory recently. 

In a previous posting showing my picture with former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir, I wrote he would lead a crusade against incumbent prime minister Najib Razak whom he considered corrupt.

“Less known here is that Najib Razak was a close friend of then president Aquino who was pushing for the BBL. It was suspected that money was exchanged. That is a political prerogative of whoever is president but it was shocking when we later found out that Aquino did not only support it, it was drawn up with the legal assistance of Malaysians themselves. When the BBL ran into difficulties, Razak sent his defense minister to Manila to talk to Aquino.

Now Razak is in deep trouble. The Wall Street Journal released documents showing nearly $700 million of deposits went into his personal bank accounts. The accounts have now been frozen by Malaysian authorities.

Razak founded the state investment fund Malaysia Development Bhd and heads its board of advisers. The fund amassed $11 billion of debt.

If Razak falls, what will president Aquino do? And what about the promise of the Malaysians to develop a future Bangsamoro state?

President Aquino should choose his friends carefully. So should Iqbal.”Who can forget Mahathir’s angry words vs. Soros and other currency traders. But in Dec 2006, when Mahathir admitted it was not Soros’ fault and forgave him! Who then is responsible?

“If you take credit for the loosely managed fast growth years then who should take the blame for the subsequent devastating crash?

This is why Najib’s government is doing such “strange” things which include imposing “cooling measures” and limit bank loans to cool down and limit growth in the property and car sales even though it will affect our current economic growth.

If you really wanted strong growth, all govt can do is to encourage speculations, make loans easily available, change back the stock market to T+7, and allow foreign speculators to come in. And of course the party will eventually end again with many people hurt.

Which is why this current government is putting long-term, responsible and sustainable growth instead of out of control growth that will inevitably bring us to tears eventually.”

When I asked for the interview he was on his way to the airport and it was his confidential assistant, Sufi Yussof who is now my FB friend, who accommodated the request because I was the mother of Veronica Pedrosa, then the head anchor of Al Jazeera in Kuala Lumpur. Hmm. It was good to have the right connections for something like asking for an interview with Mahathir especially. At the end of the interview I requested Sufi to take a picture. He remained seated so I had to bend my head toward.

June 20 is World Refugee Day, commemorated annually as such since the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed via Resolution 55/76 to mark 20 June 2001 as the first such day following the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. I would have written an entire column on Rohingya refugees but I will reserve that for another day.

If we do not join the protest about denying Rohingyans the right to their home and citizenship we would not be doing what is right. 

In the past few years we have seen many forced to flee their homes due to wars and conflicts occurring in various parts of the world, notably Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Myanmar as well as to escape widespread famine caused by the onslaught of global warming and escalation of climate change happening in places such as India and Africa due to, among others, inaction on the part of governments to mitigate the same ever since the Paris Agreement was agreed in December 2015. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate change will displace hundreds of millions of people by the end of this century, increasing the risk of violent conflict and wiping trillions of dollars off the global economy if further action is not taken soon to mitigate its effects.

These refugees, many of whom are women and children, must cross-global borders and navigate deep seas, risking their lives in pursuit of safety and survival. Worse still, these refugees, particularly those Syrian refugees who have fled or intend to flee to Europe via Turkey, are not well received and are often forced to fend for themselves against an unwelcoming migration system that treats them as political capital and bargaining chips between the Turkish and European governments.

The Rohingya Muslims, another well-known persecuted group native to Myanmar, are not recognized as citizens by that country and were most recently in 2015 forced to abscond their homeland in large numbers and migrate all over South East Asia to escape brutal suppression of their personal, religious and economic liberty by the ethnic Rakhine. 

 Buddhists tacitly condoned by the supposed liberal democratic government headed by Nobel laureate Aung San Su Kyi, who continues to turn a blind eye to their internationally recognized plight. Last but not least, let us not forget the Palestinians, who are people forced to exist without a homeland since the creation of Israel in 1948, their right of return to an independent State of their own denied them for nearly 70 years now.