UMNO Grassroots Members In This Sabah Town Don't Care About The US DOJ Lawsuits
And that is the beauty of this town, claims UMNO Supreme Council member.
By Sadho Ram — 03 Aug 2016, 05:13 PM
The assets seizure lawsuits by the US Department Of Justice (DOJ) are only the latest addition to the ongoing 1MDB scandal. And with the amount of coverage the US DOJ lawsuits are getting in local and International media, it would only be fair to assume that Malaysians in every part of the country would be curious about it.
Especially, when it's a matter of billions of ringgit that was misappropriated from 1MDB and was allegedly used to buy an astonishing list of assets in the US and the UK.
Laurel Beverly Hills Mansion in Beverly Hills, California is one of the assets allegedly bought using 1MDB funds.
Image via Sarawak ReportBut, no. Such an assumption, it now appears, would not be fair!
People, more specifically UMNO grassroots members, in the Kinabatangan constituency in Sabah, whose 80% constituency is rural while 20% is urban, don't know what is the Department of Justice (DOJ).
"That means they don't care about DOJ's (suits)," Kinabatangan MP and Kinabatangan UMNO Division Chief Bung Moktar Radin told Malaysiakini.
According to Malaysiakini's report, it is widely believed that UMNO leaders will have to explain "thorny issues" that include the US DOJ lawsuits against the 1MDB among others to the three million party members during divisional meetings all across the country
However, if Bung is to be believed, the people in his rural constituency are not interested in these issues, who said that he will have no problem explaining the "thorny issues" to UMNO grassroots members in his constituency when they hold their divisional meeting later this month on 28 August, reported Malaysiakini.
"This is the beauty of my Kinabatangan: the people here don't want to know all the claims made outside (of their constituency). They want to know what the government of the day can give them."
The Kinabatangan MP, who is also a UMNO Supreme Council member, said that he already explained these matters to the people in the rural constituency and he will need to explain again later this month, but it is a none issue as "we know how to explain".
In Bung's remarks, there's a subtle hint of keeping the rural people, a strong base for UMNO, oblivious from what's going on outside their local constituency, and an intentional move to keep them in the dark from all the uncomfortable questions that are being asked in International media regarding the 1MDB issue.