by Ganesh Sahathevan
The Australian Government agency that produced the document that contains this statement continues to stand by its finding:
The "Thirdforce" story suggests that then opposition leader Tun Mahathir financed this writer and others in a scheme to fabricate false allegations against then PM Najib Razak with regards 1MDB.
The suggestion is expressed in this linked Thirdforce story:
Which is why, you now have fellows like Ganesh Sahathevan telling you that Trump was forced to expand his powers just to resolve the 1MDB issue. Ganesh was paid USD1 million by a member of team Mahathir to float the idea (READ FULL STORY HERE) while Kit Siang prepped the Red Bean Army (RBA) with one-liners that accused Trump of being anti-Islam.
The Australian Government has made no secret of its preference for Najib and Anwar over Mahathir and the above seems to be an attempt to exonerate Najib , discredit Mahathir, and pave the way for "PM in waiting" Anwar Ibrahim's ascendancy to the prime ministership.
Australia has done much over the years to nurture Anwar in whatever way possible (a story for another posting) but that should not surprise. In 1994 former Chief Of Police Malaysia Rahim Noor discovered that the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) had recruited members of the then opposition to undermine the Malaysian government of the day.See stories below.
END
News; International News
Proof Of Opposition Spying For ASIS - Malaysian Police
168 words
3 February 1994
The Age
9
English
Copyright of John Fairfax Group Pty Ltd
Kuala Lumpur, Wednesday. Malaysian police had uncovered evidence to support claims that opposition politicians spied for the Australian secret service, the top police officer said today.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Abdul Rahim Mohamad Noor, said preliminary investigations had uncovered the evidence, the national Bernama news agency reported.
He did not disclose details but said police had set up a committee to investigate.
The `Sunday Telegraph' in Sydney on 16 January quoted former agents of the Australian Secret Intelligence Services (ASIS) as saying they paid senior opposition politicians in Malaysia and Singapore without Canberra's knowledge or consent.
Mr Lim Kit Siang, the leader of the largest opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP), has described the allegations as ``preposterous''.
``ASIS must be very stupid to be recruiting agents from the opposition as I cannot imagine what secret information DAP leaders could lay their hands on which would be of use to the Australian spies,'' he said. _Reuter
Document
Malaysia
Australia unwilling to help in graft probe, says KL
325 words
15 May 1994
Straits Times
English
(c) 1994 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia could do very little about Australia's unwillingness to co-operate with a police investigation into allegations that Australian spies bribed politicians here, Law Minister Datuk Syed Hamid Albar said yesterday.
"If they don't want to co-operate or do not want to allow us to take evidence, then it is within their right not to do so," he told reporters after talks with visiting Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Aghazadeh at his office here.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor was quoted as saying on
Friday that police had been denied permission by the Australian government to interview editors and reporters about the allegations.
Australia's Sunday Telegraph in January quoted former agents of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (Asis) as saying that they paid senior opposition politicians in Malaysia from the time they were junior members of Parliament, without Canberra's knowledge or consent.
The Canberra Times weighed in with a report several weeks later saying that Asis had paid politicians from the ruling National Front coalition government up until four years ago.
"We would suggest that it would be better for countries that have made allegations against a country to allow that country to get to the bottom of the allegations so that the truth will prevail," Datuk Syed Hamid said.
He added that the co-operation of the Australian government would enable the
government to investigate the allegations and, if necessary, to take action against the parties involved.
"The investigation will identify which opposition party is involved and whether there is any criminal act to enable us to take action," the Law Minister said.
Malaysia and Australia have only recently smoothed over a row that began whe n Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating called his counterpart, Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a "recalcitrant" for boycotting a summit of Pacific Rim nations last November. - Bernama, Reuter.
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