My press statement on DuSable made it to the mainstream newspaper of The Sun today. For those who are not sure what the big fuss is all about, it is essentially a background story about the deep bro-mance of two golfing buddies, Najib and Obama.
I started looking into DuSable and 1MDB since April 2014 when the two entered into a JV to develop a solar power plant in Kedah, as reported by The Star. A quick search will reveal that DuSable is very connected to Obama.
When Obama visited Malaysia last year (this is a very, very big deal because no American President has visited in 48 years), he inexplicably refused to meet the then Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. Presumably his refusal is so not to upset his golfing buddy Najib. This seems extremely double standard because Obama had earlier met up with Aung San Suu Kyi, Opposition Leader of Myanmar. So the Anwar Ibrahim snub by Obama, got many political observers scratching their heads. Obama is a Democrat President and the Democrats are historically much more pro-human rights and democracy.
Then we all learnt about the Najib and Obama bro-mance going to the next level by playing golf together a day after Christmas (while 100,000 Malaysians were in flood crisis).
When the 1MDB donation scandal broke, Time Magazine in an article dated 28th July 2015, urged Obama to cut ties with Najib.
However this advice seems to have gone unheeded. Despite the Rohingya slave trade scandal, the Obama administration promptly delivered an upgrade to Tier 2 for Najib on human trafficking. Najib in return, supported the TPPA that Obama was championing against the wishes of most his own Democrat party members.
Now in November, Obama is coming again to Malaysia to continue to give legitimacy to Najib’s administration. Maybe they will play another round of golf.
What is the source of this deep relationship between the two? The DuSable and 1MDB story may just provide some answers. Do stay tuned.
