Media Monitor: Aussie Academic Advises his Country to LAY OFF BEing MAtey with Malaysian PM

as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak risks becoming an 'international pariah'

 

themalaysianinisder.com reports:~~

Najib’s scandals can affect ties with Australia, report says

Published: 27 September 2015 5:31 PM

An Australian newspaper says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak risks becoming an 'international pariah' because of the scandals involving the RM2.6 billion in his personal bank accounts, and the debt-ridden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). – The Malaysian Insider pic, September 27, 2015.Datuk Seri Najib Razak's alleged involvement in a financial scandal could impact ties with Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reported.

The Australian paper quoted academician Professor Clive Kessler, advising Australia which had close ties with Malaysia, to "get started now at looking at Malaysia seriously and intelligently".

SMH said that Najib's eventual fall as prime minister would have an impact on Australia's foreign policy prorities as it had "more long-standing institutional and people-to-people ties with Malaysia than any other Asian neighbour".

It reported Kessler as saying that Australia had bought in to a "myth" about Najib as "moderate, progressive, (and) liberal".

But at home in Malaysia, Najib had "unleashed the forces of Islamist authoritarianism and Malay ethnic supremacism", added Kessler, an emeritus professor of sociology and anthroplogy, and a Malaysia expert, at the University of New South Wales.

He added that Australia had often looked to Malaysia as a "predictable and reliable friend" in the region.

SMH also said that Najib "risks becoming an international pariah" because of the scandals involving the RM2.6 billion in his personal bank accounts and the debt-ridden 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) surrounding him.

The paper said "Australia was set to lose its heavy bet" on Najib given that his brainchild, state investment firm 1MDB, was the subject of investigations in different countries.

It also noted the allegations of financial scandal against the prime minister, namely the unexplained use of RM2.6 billion deposited into his personal accounts – which it said had caused Malaysian politics to become "dysfunctional".

Najib and 1MDB have featured in the international press of late, following The Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) expose on the RM2.6 billion in his bank accounts.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing and said he never took money for personal gain, but today, DAP parliamentary Lim Kit Siang said the prime minister should either answer allegations or sue five international media – WSJ, New York Times, Al-Jazeera, Channel News Asia and The Economist – if he wanted to clear his name. – September 27, 2015.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/najibs-scandals-can-affect-ties-with-australia-report-says#sthash.97P9SCS7.dpuf

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