Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Probe multi-billion Goldman-Muhyiddin govt settlement By P Gunasegaram
Thursday, February 02, 2023
Malaysiakini : This is no concoction - it may well be true and only a thorough and
impartial investigation by those who are honest and competent will
eventually reveal whether it is or not.
For a start, Anwar must
forthwith make public the settlement with Goldman Sachs and all payments
made, especially since Kuang assemblyperson Sallehudin Amiruddin said
in March 2021 that the authorities should investigate allegations that
an RM500 million donation was made to Muhyiddin’s party, Bersatu, by a prominent lawyer handling the settlement with Goldman Sachs.
Press
reports at the time said Malaysia was represented at the talks with
Goldman Sachs by Attorney-General Idrus Azizan Harun and then
solicitor-general II Siti Zainab Omar.
They were reported to have
been assisted by Rosli Dahlan and DP Naban, the two senior partners of
Rosli Dahlan Sarvana Partnership and also “chief legal trouble-shooters”
for Muhyiddin Yassin.
The amount paid to the lawyers was never disclosed, and the non-disclosure agreement with Goldman Sachs was used as an excuse.
Goldman Sachs was represented by Kumar Partnership in Malaysia.
Recovering the country’s money
Anwar was put on the spot in a Bloomberg interview
on Tuesday in Singapore, where he was asked about the 1MDB crisis and
his response to Goldman Sachs publicly declaring Malaysia was
under-declaring assets it recovered from the 1MDB crisis.
Apparently,
Goldman Sachs was baulking from making a scheduled payment of US$250
million because of Malaysia’s alleged under-declaration of recovered
assets bought with money stolen from the bond issues arranged by Goldman
Sachs. Anwar merely asked Goldman Sachs to honour its obligations.
The
crux of the matter, however, was that Malaysia under Muhyiddin as PM
and Zafrul as finance minister did a rather bad deal with Goldman Sachs,
as I explained in detail in this article titled “Not so fast, ‘US$3.9b’ deal with Goldman another lousy one”, written after the deal announcement.
That deal was done in July 2020, barely five months after the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government in February of that year.
The
first major problem was that the deal, even if Zafrul’s claim that it
was US$3.9 billion was true, is substantially lower than the sum claimed
by the previous Harapan government of US$7.5 billion from total losses
of an estimated US$9.6 billion, including interest payments.
Former finance minister and current International Trade and Industries Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz
The second problem was that it involved a cash payment of only US$2.5
billion by Goldman Sachs. The remainder of the US$1.4 billion was an
undertaking to make up the shortfall if not enough assets bought with
the money raised from the relevant bond issues were recovered.
If US$1.4 billion of assets were recovered, Goldman Sachs would not have to pay a sen!
Zafrul
claimed at the time that the settlement of US$3.9 billion (but only
US$2.5 billion without the guarantee) was much higher than the US$1.75
billion that Goldman Sachs had claimed in 2019.
However, former attorney-general Tommy Thomas in his book, published in January 2021, had a different story to tell.
On
page 317, he said: “At meetings in Kuala Lumpur in May 2019, the DOJ
(the US Department of Justice) informed us that they intended to seek a
direct payment from Goldman Sachs to Malaysia of US$3.4 billion. That
when added to the estimated value of assets to be recovered, from
Goldman Sachs bond proceeds, would mean that Malaysia could expect to
receive about US$4.4 billion to US$4.7 billion. I replied that I would
expect much more and that we would negotiate with Goldman Sachs
directly.”
Thomas further said: “I was confident of recovering a
sum closer to Malaysia’s actual losses of US$9.6 billion.” Further, he
revealed that the DOJ was amenable to a sum much closer to what he was
seeking.
“Hence when I resigned at the end of February 2020,
Malaysia was wonderfully placed to turn the screws on Goldman Sachs… I
would never have advised prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to accept a
cash payment of US$2.5 billion. I had sights on a much bigger sum.”
But
we settled instead, effectively, for a paltry US$2.5 billion. Why, oh
why? And why the hurry to settle - five months after Muhyiddin came to
power?
Did not all the brains involved, Rosli and Naban included,
think of asking for Thomas’ thoughts on how much they should ask Goldman
Sachs?
Book by former attorney-general Tommy Thomas
Did
he not initiate the lawsuits, the criminal cases against Goldman Sachs,
and was leading the negotiations at the time with Goldman Sachs? What
would have caused our negotiators to make such an error?
The
US$3.9 billion was a misleading figure because out of that, US$1.4
billion was merely a guarantee that Goldman Sachs will make up if other
1MDB recoveries did not reach that sum. Goldman Sachs only paid US$2.5
billion in cash. That’s why they are kicking up the fuss about the
undervaluation of the assets.
Questions from Muhyiddin-era settlement
By
the time the Harapan government fell in February 2020, actions
initiated by Tommy Thomas, including criminal charges filed against 17
key officials and other contemplated charges, had given Malaysia the
upper hand in negotiations.
Yet, the government made such a lousy deal. And it covered things up too. Despite a question over this by MP Wong Chen, then de facto Law Minister Takiyuddin Hassan, in November 2020, refused to disclose details, citing a confidentiality clause.
Why should the government of Malaysia agree to such a clause in the first place? What was it hiding?
These
are all serious questions that need to be answered, in addition to the
very worrisome issue of the alleged RM500 million payment to Bersatu. If
indeed that was the case, how much did the senior lawyers get paid for
one week of work, which is how long the finance minister said it took to
close the negotiations?
One must say that this particular deal by
the Muhyiddin government was very quick, uncharacteristically much
quicker than normal. Why? Also troubling is the fact that Zafrul is
still in the cabinet, as is Idrus in the AG’s seat with all these still
not explained.
There is no choice but for this federal government
to be united in investigating this case to its conclusion, bringing all
culprits to book and making the results public. Anything less will lead
to an immediate loss of trust, faith and credibility in this government,
which is less than three months old.
Investigators this time
should take the trouble to read Thomas’ book, especially the 23-page
chapter simply called “Goldman Sachs” - the best account of Goldman
Sachs’ complicity in crime in the 1MDB issue I have read. And, yes,
interview him - he has a wealth of knowledge on the topic.
Thomas’
book has far more value than to be merely probed by a Royal Commission
of Inquiry. It can save billions of US dollars for the country and bring
to book many more criminals.
