Dear esteemed readers,
Firstly, the NINE QUESTIONS Panel would like to extend our sincerest apologies for any shortcomings in our endeavours.
SALAM AIDIL FITRI, MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN
We are sorry for every typographical, grammatical, punctuation, and even factual errors we may have committed in the past in our quest at providing you with the fullest picture that this bewilderingly adventurous saga deserves - and at NINE QUESTIONS FOR SARAWAK REPORT, we focus on the activities and motivations of Sarawak Report and its founder, Clare Rewcastle Brown.
To our knowledge, all facts stated by the panelists check out and should there be legitimate dispute that proves us in error, we are more than happy to respond whether by way of explanation or retraction, whichever action being the correct one to take upon reasonable consideration.
In the true spirit of the month of Syawal, we also extend our heartfelt apologies to Madam Clare Rewcastle and her team of loyalists for our efforts in exposing the truth about their organisation, and insofar that they have failed to achieve their ultimate quests, we - alongside countless others - feel complicit in making that a reality. While we apologise for what may strike you as harsh and stinging facts, we make no apologies for performing our duties of presenting these potentially damaging truths as clearly and unaltered as possible - a fact shown in all our writings, and more importantly unrefuted by Clare Rewcastle Brown herself to this day even as she is in full knowledge of our activities.
On that note, we thank the new and returning readers and seekers of truth who have surged in their visit during the weekend.
Let us be clear that it is not our intention to specify the penalties deserving for these clearly rogue actors, but rather to inform all and sundry that there are certain predetermined consequences that these actions may invite, and those are all dependent on the passage of time, and the specific legal conditions being met.
Their fates should ultimately be decided by more learned and legally-sanctioned bodies.
As an example, let's suppose that Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is indeed guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. Although that is not the case, everyone who have made up their minds untinged by even an iota of uncertainty (well before any investigation had been completed, it must be mentioned) are now left wondering why isn't the man yet in jail or facing some sort of justice or another.
The answers lie, as above, in "the passage of time, and the specific legal conditions being met" - succinctly speaking, of course.
Having said that, given the irrefutable information about the crookedness of Sarawak Report's activities - it trying to mask itself as the purveyor of undiluted and non-partisan truth working in Malaysia's best interest as opposed to being an Opposition lackey that is bent on marketing them as the unsullied Godsent to usher in their rule of the Federation - we make no apologies for each and every unrecanted word, phrase and quotation that have been incorporated into the articles written by the NINE QUESTIONS Panel.
The words, phrases and quotations serve as the facts that form the baseline of understanding of the bigger picture than what is being painted and composited by Sarawak Report and company simply because they would rather the mirror only be directed towards the 'away' position.
THE 2016 SARAWAK STATE ELECTION AFTERMATH
Heralding Sarawak Report's growing irrelevance is the recently-concluded Sarawak State Election (SSE2016), held on May 7, 2016.
As the readers may have well noticed, we provided no covering of the SSE2016 due to the simple fact that the State of Sarawak itself bears no relevance to Sarawak Report, which by now is clearly only hijacking the name of Sarawak to serve the personal glory of one single person - Clare Rewcastle Brown. A fraudulent and failed journalist of the past; a whistle-tooting Bandit Queen of the present - 'exposing' everybody else except for herself and her friends.
Aside from spending too much time and effort on things other than Sarawak to maximise her readership and reach, two further simple facts demonstrate this assertion:
THE SELECTIVE, FAUX 'WHISTLE-BLOWER'
While the 1MDB issue raged on, the excuse we often hear from Sarawak Report for being neck-deep in the muckracking and distortion of information that they received, stole, illegally bought, and swindled - then packaged and primed for worldwide dissemination - was that they are looking out for the interest of the country that is beset in corrupt practices, and that members of the Opposition are frequently targeted for political persecution. So, Sarawak Report flies in for the rescue.
It seems that Clare Brown is more interested in using the interim window between the start and finish of the investigations taking place simultaneously in various Western countries to make up whatever conclusion that can be made so that her version of the truth gets to the people first, and subsequent findings by the investigative bodies - whatever it may be in the end - would then be called into question should it contradict the conclusions made by Sarawak Report. Thus, Sarawak Report scores another cheap shot into the basket of the court of world opinion.
But this crass, belligerent and reckless approach becomes absurd when one of the high-ranking politicians highly regarded by Clare becomes under investigation for allegedly purchasing his current RM6.5 million house in exchange for government favours.
Strangely though, we don't see Clare Rewcastle Brown making even a single peep about the case, whether for or against. Not even to say that he is a victim of political persecution.
This puts them in a dilemma: Sarawak Report is potentially stuck with having made endorsement of the DAP - the party in which embattled Chief Minister of Penang, Yang Amat Berhormat (literally, His Most Respectable) Lim Guan Eng of Melaka is Secretary-General.
The bottom line remains, however, that Clare Rewcastle Brown isRita Skeeter for all intents and purposes, selective and very partial in her so-called reporting - a trait invariably associated with false marketing strategies of all colours and shapes.
THE LATEST BANK NEGARA LEAKS AND OTHER SIDESHOW ANTICS
As with anybody interested in the logical, proper and legal conclusion of the 1MDB saga, the NINE QUESTIONS Blog isn't impressed with the continued harassment and unlawful publication of materials during the course of investigations.
If their intention was to pressure the Government to initiate proper investigations into the 1MDB scandal, then why are they still producing leaks from officially-protected documents even long after investigation papers have been opened up by various lawful bodies around the world, potentially upsetting the findings of professional investigators (of which Clare Rewcastle Brown is not in fellowship*) who are working diligently to conclude their investigations?
[*The inclusion of over 200 investigative journalists and news organisations (with 22 from the UK alone) involved in the Panama Papers investigation totally ignored Sarawak Report and Clare Rewcastle Brown - a show of how obscure and disreputable both SR and CRB actually are in the world of investigative journalism. Due to the high number of Malaysians and even the fact that one of PM Najib Razak's own sons is found to be on the list of persons of interest, it becomes a terribly huge question as to why didn't someone so prominently associated with 'fighting corruption in Malaysia' such as Clare Rewcastle Brown get the invitation to participate in such a relevant and groundbreaking investigative endeavour. The simple explanation seems to be that Clare Brown in actual, cruel fact, simply isn't a journalist to those who are actual journalists capable of carrying out impartial, professional and clinical investigations without the prospect of abuse to serve a self-important goal.]
In a genuine investigation, a person with information would entrust leaks to the investigative bodies. This is simply due to the need for the various different leaks to be compiled alongside with other leaks obtained or will continue to be obtained through various sources of varying reliability.
It would be the job of the investigative bodies - not the journalist - to ascertain the veracity and genuineness of every datum available in order to determine where they fit into a complex puzzle in order to find specific, irrefutable, provable and accurate answers surrounding any given case.
Suppose we put ourselves into Sarawak Report's shoes, and one day we come into possession of a classified, leaked document that is integral to an ongoing investigation into a matter of public interest. The ethical thing for a proper investigative journalist to do is to hand the classified documents over to the authorities with the intention that the latest leak be included into the investigation.
If the need arises, the proper journalist can, with the agreement of the investigators make a joint public announcement to gazette the fact that the said information had been handed over, and that the responsibility now rests in the hands of the sanctioned and lawful body that is involved in the investigation. Or, the proper journalist can also choose to release a general statement on her news portal, should the investigators refuse to make any joint statement - understandable given the sensitivity of their position. But at no time whatsoever, should the proper investigative journalist take the liberty to score preemptive points at speculations while at the same time jeopardising the fidelity and impartiality of the case being looked into.
This trait is glaringly lacking in Sarawak Report and Clare Rewcastle Brown, and it is this very trait that sets the proper investigative journalists at ICIJ apart from the likes of Clare Rewcastle Brown. Watching them is like watching Slytherin and Gryffindor practice the same magic, but with different intentions and purposes. Maybe 'alohamora' to steal documents and things like that.
Thus, leaking documents and making own conclusions based on (a) one's own biases, and (b) partial information often kept separate from discussions about other data, shows that the actual intention of the leaker-publisher-speculator is not in helping to speed along any investigations that are currently already underway, but simply to preempt any conclusions that may contradict their premature conclusions.
But then if the investigators would happen to conclude in agreement with them, they can then say, "Well, we were correct all along..."
Yes. That would be such a Slytherin thing to do - to do the wrong thing on the off-chance that it may turn out the right one all along.
1MDB 'CRIMES' VS 'CHILCOT' CRIMES
Once again, we had recently crossed an important threshold in world history with the release of the much-awaited Iraq Inquiry Report*, or more popularly referred to as the Chilcot Report, after its Commissioner, Sir John Chilcot, Privy Councillor of Britain.
[*While we commend the British Government for publicly releasing such a self-damning report that is potentially damaging to the reputation of one of its former Prime Ministers, and that we are also hopeful that the Malaysian Government would eventually keep to its promise of putting the 1MDB Report out for public view, we are certainly disagreeable with the manner in which such a document that carries within it a matter of high national and public importance is being treated by Sarawak Report as simply another cheap trinket to be hacked into bits and time-released for whatever nefarious purposes they have planned. The release of such a significant document can only be done in whole, and not in parts. This also makes one wonder why would Sarawak Report not have released the report in whole, if such a document is indeed in their possession. Such an act of disrespect to the nation is simply unbecoming, yet baffling still with regards that Clare Rewcastle Brown had previously declared how much she loves Malaysia and how much she wants to save it from corruption. Well, she can start by not releasing the 1MDB Report in bits - littered with her preemptive conclusions, and not giving the chance for the public to decide for themselves, and if Sarawak Report wants to release it, why not release the whole thing, without truncations. Until that happens, SR's intentions remain suspect to put it mildly.]
Even on the cursory level, it is easy to conclude that the report points out mainly to one thing: That Britain went to war with Iraq under false pretexes and in that as the loyal seeing-eye dog of the United States - that adorable fuzzy little thing that everybody trusts (the dog, not the United States).
Thus, as the report had pointed out, the once-great coloniser of the planet is now reduced to being simply a man's best friend under its former Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair.
Pundits may absolve themselves of any responsibility, but just like any other nation in the world, any decision made by an elected Prime Minister should be a responsibility borne by all. And being such a reckless action committed by none other than one of the loudest proponents of the so-called 'free world', the illegal invasion of Iraq has put a permanent black stain onto each and every citizen of the nation of Great Britain.
Having said that, as Mr Tony Blair was their Prime Minister, at this current juncture, it is they who need to take action against him, and no one else should have that say, unless the matter manages to be heard at an international tribunal - a scenario that is highly unlikely, unless one is named Slobodan Milosevic or Saddam Hussein (both of whom were also responsible of at least thousands of deaths).
The same thing can be said of 1MDB and the after-effects of the bad management decisions that it had committed that prompted such a massive scandal to hit the country. In the end, it is all Malaysians who will be bearing the brunt of any proven guilt to borne by the actual responsible parties. As it stands, there still is nothing yet that serves as concrete proof of PM Najib having masterminded and personally benefitted in the lost fortunes of 1MDB. Not even after all the leaked documents, there is still nothing.
Nothing that warrants stunts such as the bogus waran tangkap or 'arrest warrant' issued by some poor crud at Sarawak Report who can hardly tell that one actually needs an investigation to actually conclude to actually issue any convincing arrest document.
International investigations? Still nothing as yet. We recommend letting them take as long as they need, but even in that case, the Swiss investigators had also helpfully clarified that PM Najib is not a subject of their investigation. That certainly punched out most of the air from all but the biggest of hotheads, and out of those, it seems that Clare Rewcastle Brown is leading the pack to fashion anything and everything into something that can incriminate, and thus bring down the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
It's like, "Look, a rabbit! That surely means 'Jibby' stole all that money, killed the Mongolian and shot the plane with the submarine he bought." And it's becoming more and more like that as the day goes by and they can't seem to get into another mindset other than their by-now fringed and debunked theories about the Prime Minister's supposed guilt.
But suppose that he is 100% guilty of whatever it is that Sarawak Report wants him to be guilty of. Let's say he did kill the unfortunate Mongolian supermodel. Let's say he did take all that money and then some. Say he did all of those things. Must be a bad man and he must be punished. So what punishment do we give him? In order to determine that, we should at least compare his case with similar ones from elsewhere.
Oh conveniently, we also have the Chilcot Report. Let's see what happened in Iraq and compare it with the 1MDB scandal, as both of them are reports that could potentially break a Prime Minister's career and legacy.
To keep it simple, let's compare the very basics: the costs of war in terms of human and material tolls. To date, the now pointless war in Iraq (2003-2006) cost the UK £8.4 billion (yes that is the pound before Brexit rates). With that money, it manages - together with the USA - to cause around 251,000 violent deaths, according to website IraqBodyCount.org. Out of that were about 179,000 civilians. That is the basic cost breakdown for the "I'm with you, whatever" War in Iraq.
Compare that to the alleged 1MDB losses and put that into perspective.
Mr Tony Blair is still a man-at-large, living in complete freedom at home in the UK, and is expected not to be recriminated for his actions.
At the risk of being insensitive - not our intention - we question the overwhelming sense of priority that some people of influence has about the world around them. Here we have a Briton, daughter of a former colonial officer demanding for the stepping down of the democratically-elected Prime Minister of the sovereign country of Malaysia, a former British colony. She unilaterally charges, along with her local cohort of Opposition politicians, the leaders from the ruling Government as inconsolably corrupted and thus require immediate removal from office in order to save the country from certain destruction. It is a huge relief that she is not in command of a standing army, otherwise - as history would show - she may have sent some liberation our way in the very Blair sense of the word. And how about Mr Blair? Still Scott-free while Clare is busy chasing the ant across the tanjung.
And to Clare Rewcastle Brown's hard-core supporters, we ask, "What the hell are you zombies thinking? Whatever it is, you're the last people we should be listening to."
CONCLUSION
At the very end, the bottom line is this: Whatever leaks that have been partially exposed to the public and possibly doctored by Sarawak Report, the truth remains that other than causing a commotion amongst bored readers catatonically awaiting some sort of determinable conclusion to this long-winding and draggy operatta, none of these individual leaks actually contain any smoking gun that actually points out to the Prime Minister Najib having actually committed whatever crimes that they had initially accused of him doing - most famously amongst the myriad array of accusations were the "disappearance" of RM42 billion (false: it was a RM42 billion debt incurred by 1MDB. It seems that their target audience in this case is people who can't tell the difference between "missing" and "debt") and RM2.6 billion were siphoned out from 1MDB to PM Najib's personal accounts (false: PM Najib admitted that it was a donation from a Saudi royalty, whom was later determined to be the late King Abdullah himself and this was later corroborated by the Saudi Foreign Minister).
In fact, instead of smoking guns, we get a smoky hall full of mirrors - the perfect premise for Clare Brown to conjure more rabbits out of her old hat of tricks. Unfortunately for her, we have all seen that the rabbit was actually a hare, and only her most die-hard fans are still going, "WOW! Another rabbit, please!" while clapping away with gnashing teeth.
Many are just sticking around to see how the whole show would end. Would the circus tent come crashing down on the one-trick pony? That is not for us to determine, and we are glad for it.
As recent events have shown us, the cracks are showing in the once-shining knight's armour that a saviour from the fair land of England has been wearing in order to fulfil her manifest destiny over the poor, mistreated and naked brown people of Borneo.
Unlike in the glory days when the sun never set on the British empire, when her father used to be a colonial 'knight' of his own, Clare Rewcastle Brown is faced with the embarrassing reality that her once-Great country is but a shadow of its former imperial self.
Save for a few misguided individuals, no citizen of a former colony would look too kindly upon someone from the former 'mother country' coming along to show the once-subjugated populace how things should be done. Because, "Look at my country and gaze at Her Greatness."
And as we can see in the events culminating into what transpired in 2003 with the start of the US-UK Iraqi War (Operation Iraqi Liberation, as it was originally coined before someone realised that it bore a Freudian slip of an acronym), can we trust any Briton (a politically entrenched and rooted at that) who comes along into one of their former colonies and says, "I am here to save you"?
Only the lunatics with ulterior motives would welcome such 'saviours' with open arms. In the Malaysian terminology, those elements are often referred by their callsign: "tali barut".
No wonder then, we see Sarawak Report cleanly avoiding such potentially disrobing topics such as British military dalliances in countries other than Britain for example, out of fear that her actual relevance would seep away faster than it is eroding as we speak.
Thus, we can see why the sudden urge for Clare Rewcastle Brown to put her neck further and further on the line to keep up the appearance of the caring saviour to Malaysians, when in fact her ultimate function is merely to look after her own interests as a British citizen pining for the reenactment of the glorious colonial days of her late father whom she admittedly adores.
Britain is well-known for having propped up crooked regimes in the past. Who is to say that the same won't happen if Agent Clare Brown succeeds in planting her candidate of choice to rule over Malaysia, forever indebted to her significant contributions toward their installment?
Thus, from this point forth, further leaks and speculations from Sarawak Report can safely be regarded as ultimately self-serving and a means for an end that will benefit only Clare Rewcastle Brown with the help of some Malaysian talis barut and her followers abroad.
As far as the NINE QUESTIONS FOR SARAWAK REPORT is concerned, her case has been made, and her true colours have been painted widely across a giant canvas. Any further revelations are surely to repeat another cycle of speculations, but the fact remains: "If you had a smoking gun, wouldn't you have used it much earlier to shoot your target with and send him to oblivion once and for all?"
Evidently, that gun doesn't exist.
The Panel may or may not make comments about each and every cyclical actions that Sarawak Report decides to commit, but we may post an entry or two should we find anything worth commenting on in future.
As it stands, the case against Clare Rewcastle Brown has been made for this court of public opinion, and given the passage of time, more and more readers would be more wizened to this unprincipled chameleon.
The NINE QUESTIONS FOR SARAWAK REPORT Blog is glad to have told you at least a part of their story, and we are also glad for your readership and patience in understanding the materials provided.
Until we meet again, let as many people as you can know the real undisputed facts behind Sarawak Report and CRB by sharing our articles.
Thank you for reading and following us, and may justice prevail.
Firstly, the NINE QUESTIONS Panel would like to extend our sincerest apologies for any shortcomings in our endeavours.
SALAM AIDIL FITRI, MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN
We are sorry for every typographical, grammatical, punctuation, and even factual errors we may have committed in the past in our quest at providing you with the fullest picture that this bewilderingly adventurous saga deserves - and at NINE QUESTIONS FOR SARAWAK REPORT, we focus on the activities and motivations of Sarawak Report and its founder, Clare Rewcastle Brown.
To our knowledge, all facts stated by the panelists check out and should there be legitimate dispute that proves us in error, we are more than happy to respond whether by way of explanation or retraction, whichever action being the correct one to take upon reasonable consideration.
In the true spirit of the month of Syawal, we also extend our heartfelt apologies to Madam Clare Rewcastle and her team of loyalists for our efforts in exposing the truth about their organisation, and insofar that they have failed to achieve their ultimate quests, we - alongside countless others - feel complicit in making that a reality. While we apologise for what may strike you as harsh and stinging facts, we make no apologies for performing our duties of presenting these potentially damaging truths as clearly and unaltered as possible - a fact shown in all our writings, and more importantly unrefuted by Clare Rewcastle Brown herself to this day even as she is in full knowledge of our activities.
On that note, we thank the new and returning readers and seekers of truth who have surged in their visit during the weekend.
Let us be clear that it is not our intention to specify the penalties deserving for these clearly rogue actors, but rather to inform all and sundry that there are certain predetermined consequences that these actions may invite, and those are all dependent on the passage of time, and the specific legal conditions being met.
Their fates should ultimately be decided by more learned and legally-sanctioned bodies.
As an example, let's suppose that Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is indeed guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. Although that is not the case, everyone who have made up their minds untinged by even an iota of uncertainty (well before any investigation had been completed, it must be mentioned) are now left wondering why isn't the man yet in jail or facing some sort of justice or another.
The answers lie, as above, in "the passage of time, and the specific legal conditions being met" - succinctly speaking, of course.
Having said that, given the irrefutable information about the crookedness of Sarawak Report's activities - it trying to mask itself as the purveyor of undiluted and non-partisan truth working in Malaysia's best interest as opposed to being an Opposition lackey that is bent on marketing them as the unsullied Godsent to usher in their rule of the Federation - we make no apologies for each and every unrecanted word, phrase and quotation that have been incorporated into the articles written by the NINE QUESTIONS Panel.
The words, phrases and quotations serve as the facts that form the baseline of understanding of the bigger picture than what is being painted and composited by Sarawak Report and company simply because they would rather the mirror only be directed towards the 'away' position.
THE 2016 SARAWAK STATE ELECTION AFTERMATH
Heralding Sarawak Report's growing irrelevance is the recently-concluded Sarawak State Election (SSE2016), held on May 7, 2016.
As the readers may have well noticed, we provided no covering of the SSE2016 due to the simple fact that the State of Sarawak itself bears no relevance to Sarawak Report, which by now is clearly only hijacking the name of Sarawak to serve the personal glory of one single person - Clare Rewcastle Brown. A fraudulent and failed journalist of the past; a whistle-tooting Bandit Queen of the present - 'exposing' everybody else except for herself and her friends.
Aside from spending too much time and effort on things other than Sarawak to maximise her readership and reach, two further simple facts demonstrate this assertion:
1. The parties endorsed by Sarawak Report, namely the repeatedly-defunct alliance of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), Parti KeAdilan Rakyat (PKR) and Parti Amanah Rakyat (PAN) were trounced in the Sarawak State Election and the BN candidate successor to Governor Tun Taib, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem won by a jaw-dropping landslide, but hardly to the surprise of many.
In case anyone is wondering whether we had made a typographical error where the acronym PAS (which stands for Parti Islam se-Malaysia) should be instead of PAN, then they are not alone because PAS was abruptly dropped by the DAP in an acrimonious, self-dectructing divorce that took place at the height of the 1MDB debacle before the year 2015 sighed its breath of last relief.
To put it simply, PAN is the multi-million ringgit love child between DAP and PKR after PAS had to leave in a huff.
While the losers from the Opposition were quick to point to vote buying - amongst other sinister BN-induced factors in their arsenal of 'Standard Excuses for Losing Elections' - as the main reason, they eventually conceded an honourable defeat because in order to maintain that face-saving but thoughtless excuse, they would then have had to answer how then did they manage to 'buy their votes' during the last election. The said election saw a slight, but dramatic uptick in support for the Opposition, thereby slapping their own faces on the backhand.
2. During the run-up to the SSE2016, we barely noticed more than a few articles playing sideshow to the local coverage of what is happening on the ground. Sarawak Report halfheartedly waffles between semi-discharged poison pen mode to insincere feigned praisefulness of the current Chief Minister of Sarawak Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem with the purpose to denigrate the previous CM, whom the former succeeds in one of the smoothest power transfers by a long-serving incumbent Head of Government witnessed in the country by far.
Unlike the previous elections, Sarawak Report went on a more cautious coverage and this is obviously due to it realising that the over-the-top, blatantly tabloid-media-trash gossip-mongering-without-legitimate-factual-backing approach truly do take their long-term toll. The only thing that their reader needs to realise that they are being scammed by Clare Brown and Co., is time to digest the contradicting facts surrounding CB&Co.'s true colours. And time is what it took.
As far as the namesake of the now-satirical Sarawak Report blog is concerned, Sarawak Report has failed, and will continue to fail their ultimate goal: to see to it that their friends in the Opposition take power - if not Sarawak, then just Malaysia would do.
THE SELECTIVE, FAUX 'WHISTLE-BLOWER'
While the 1MDB issue raged on, the excuse we often hear from Sarawak Report for being neck-deep in the muckracking and distortion of information that they received, stole, illegally bought, and swindled - then packaged and primed for worldwide dissemination - was that they are looking out for the interest of the country that is beset in corrupt practices, and that members of the Opposition are frequently targeted for political persecution. So, Sarawak Report flies in for the rescue.
It seems that Clare Brown is more interested in using the interim window between the start and finish of the investigations taking place simultaneously in various Western countries to make up whatever conclusion that can be made so that her version of the truth gets to the people first, and subsequent findings by the investigative bodies - whatever it may be in the end - would then be called into question should it contradict the conclusions made by Sarawak Report. Thus, Sarawak Report scores another cheap shot into the basket of the court of world opinion.
But this crass, belligerent and reckless approach becomes absurd when one of the high-ranking politicians highly regarded by Clare becomes under investigation for allegedly purchasing his current RM6.5 million house in exchange for government favours.
Strangely though, we don't see Clare Rewcastle Brown making even a single peep about the case, whether for or against. Not even to say that he is a victim of political persecution.
This puts them in a dilemma: Sarawak Report is potentially stuck with having made endorsement of the DAP - the party in which embattled Chief Minister of Penang, Yang Amat Berhormat (literally, His Most Respectable) Lim Guan Eng of Melaka is Secretary-General.
1. If he is found to be crooked beyond doubt, then she would be further exposed of another fraudulent claim on top of the other fraudulent claims she had made in the past on different occasions - too countless to recount them all here, but they can be found in our past articles.
It is bad enough for one to endorse another by genuine mistake and good faith after an honest apology, but it is infinitely worse for one to know that someone has been crooked, but keeps quiet about it until one is no longer able to.
That would indeed be a classic case of holding in one's own scream after shooting oneself in the foot.
2. If he is found to be clean, however, then it would be even more obvious that someone who is on a conclusion-jumping-spree would be the first to jump to the rescue of someone so embattled as our unfortunate Chief Minister of Penang.
Though, startling fact remains that Sarawak Report is deathly silent on the presumed innocence of YAB Lim Guan Eng and this leaves the observer to wonder if there is something concrete that Clare Brown knows of, but would rather not reveal perhaps due to the reason stated in dilemma breakdown #1.
The bottom line remains, however, that Clare Rewcastle Brown is
THE LATEST BANK NEGARA LEAKS AND OTHER SIDESHOW ANTICS
As with anybody interested in the logical, proper and legal conclusion of the 1MDB saga, the NINE QUESTIONS Blog isn't impressed with the continued harassment and unlawful publication of materials during the course of investigations.
If their intention was to pressure the Government to initiate proper investigations into the 1MDB scandal, then why are they still producing leaks from officially-protected documents even long after investigation papers have been opened up by various lawful bodies around the world, potentially upsetting the findings of professional investigators (of which Clare Rewcastle Brown is not in fellowship*) who are working diligently to conclude their investigations?
[*The inclusion of over 200 investigative journalists and news organisations (with 22 from the UK alone) involved in the Panama Papers investigation totally ignored Sarawak Report and Clare Rewcastle Brown - a show of how obscure and disreputable both SR and CRB actually are in the world of investigative journalism. Due to the high number of Malaysians and even the fact that one of PM Najib Razak's own sons is found to be on the list of persons of interest, it becomes a terribly huge question as to why didn't someone so prominently associated with 'fighting corruption in Malaysia' such as Clare Rewcastle Brown get the invitation to participate in such a relevant and groundbreaking investigative endeavour. The simple explanation seems to be that Clare Brown in actual, cruel fact, simply isn't a journalist to those who are actual journalists capable of carrying out impartial, professional and clinical investigations without the prospect of abuse to serve a self-important goal.]
In a genuine investigation, a person with information would entrust leaks to the investigative bodies. This is simply due to the need for the various different leaks to be compiled alongside with other leaks obtained or will continue to be obtained through various sources of varying reliability.
It would be the job of the investigative bodies - not the journalist - to ascertain the veracity and genuineness of every datum available in order to determine where they fit into a complex puzzle in order to find specific, irrefutable, provable and accurate answers surrounding any given case.
Suppose we put ourselves into Sarawak Report's shoes, and one day we come into possession of a classified, leaked document that is integral to an ongoing investigation into a matter of public interest. The ethical thing for a proper investigative journalist to do is to hand the classified documents over to the authorities with the intention that the latest leak be included into the investigation.
If the need arises, the proper journalist can, with the agreement of the investigators make a joint public announcement to gazette the fact that the said information had been handed over, and that the responsibility now rests in the hands of the sanctioned and lawful body that is involved in the investigation. Or, the proper journalist can also choose to release a general statement on her news portal, should the investigators refuse to make any joint statement - understandable given the sensitivity of their position. But at no time whatsoever, should the proper investigative journalist take the liberty to score preemptive points at speculations while at the same time jeopardising the fidelity and impartiality of the case being looked into.
This trait is glaringly lacking in Sarawak Report and Clare Rewcastle Brown, and it is this very trait that sets the proper investigative journalists at ICIJ apart from the likes of Clare Rewcastle Brown. Watching them is like watching Slytherin and Gryffindor practice the same magic, but with different intentions and purposes. Maybe 'alohamora' to steal documents and things like that.
Thus, leaking documents and making own conclusions based on (a) one's own biases, and (b) partial information often kept separate from discussions about other data, shows that the actual intention of the leaker-publisher-speculator is not in helping to speed along any investigations that are currently already underway, but simply to preempt any conclusions that may contradict their premature conclusions.
But then if the investigators would happen to conclude in agreement with them, they can then say, "Well, we were correct all along..."
Yes. That would be such a Slytherin thing to do - to do the wrong thing on the off-chance that it may turn out the right one all along.
1MDB 'CRIMES' VS 'CHILCOT' CRIMES
Once again, we had recently crossed an important threshold in world history with the release of the much-awaited Iraq Inquiry Report*, or more popularly referred to as the Chilcot Report, after its Commissioner, Sir John Chilcot, Privy Councillor of Britain.
[*While we commend the British Government for publicly releasing such a self-damning report that is potentially damaging to the reputation of one of its former Prime Ministers, and that we are also hopeful that the Malaysian Government would eventually keep to its promise of putting the 1MDB Report out for public view, we are certainly disagreeable with the manner in which such a document that carries within it a matter of high national and public importance is being treated by Sarawak Report as simply another cheap trinket to be hacked into bits and time-released for whatever nefarious purposes they have planned. The release of such a significant document can only be done in whole, and not in parts. This also makes one wonder why would Sarawak Report not have released the report in whole, if such a document is indeed in their possession. Such an act of disrespect to the nation is simply unbecoming, yet baffling still with regards that Clare Rewcastle Brown had previously declared how much she loves Malaysia and how much she wants to save it from corruption. Well, she can start by not releasing the 1MDB Report in bits - littered with her preemptive conclusions, and not giving the chance for the public to decide for themselves, and if Sarawak Report wants to release it, why not release the whole thing, without truncations. Until that happens, SR's intentions remain suspect to put it mildly.]
Even on the cursory level, it is easy to conclude that the report points out mainly to one thing: That Britain went to war with Iraq under false pretexes and in that as the loyal seeing-eye dog of the United States - that adorable fuzzy little thing that everybody trusts (the dog, not the United States).
Thus, as the report had pointed out, the once-great coloniser of the planet is now reduced to being simply a man's best friend under its former Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair.
Pundits may absolve themselves of any responsibility, but just like any other nation in the world, any decision made by an elected Prime Minister should be a responsibility borne by all. And being such a reckless action committed by none other than one of the loudest proponents of the so-called 'free world', the illegal invasion of Iraq has put a permanent black stain onto each and every citizen of the nation of Great Britain.
Having said that, as Mr Tony Blair was their Prime Minister, at this current juncture, it is they who need to take action against him, and no one else should have that say, unless the matter manages to be heard at an international tribunal - a scenario that is highly unlikely, unless one is named Slobodan Milosevic or Saddam Hussein (both of whom were also responsible of at least thousands of deaths).
The same thing can be said of 1MDB and the after-effects of the bad management decisions that it had committed that prompted such a massive scandal to hit the country. In the end, it is all Malaysians who will be bearing the brunt of any proven guilt to borne by the actual responsible parties. As it stands, there still is nothing yet that serves as concrete proof of PM Najib having masterminded and personally benefitted in the lost fortunes of 1MDB. Not even after all the leaked documents, there is still nothing.
Nothing that warrants stunts such as the bogus waran tangkap or 'arrest warrant' issued by some poor crud at Sarawak Report who can hardly tell that one actually needs an investigation to actually conclude to actually issue any convincing arrest document.
International investigations? Still nothing as yet. We recommend letting them take as long as they need, but even in that case, the Swiss investigators had also helpfully clarified that PM Najib is not a subject of their investigation. That certainly punched out most of the air from all but the biggest of hotheads, and out of those, it seems that Clare Rewcastle Brown is leading the pack to fashion anything and everything into something that can incriminate, and thus bring down the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
It's like, "Look, a rabbit! That surely means 'Jibby' stole all that money, killed the Mongolian and shot the plane with the submarine he bought." And it's becoming more and more like that as the day goes by and they can't seem to get into another mindset other than their by-now fringed and debunked theories about the Prime Minister's supposed guilt.
But suppose that he is 100% guilty of whatever it is that Sarawak Report wants him to be guilty of. Let's say he did kill the unfortunate Mongolian supermodel. Let's say he did take all that money and then some. Say he did all of those things. Must be a bad man and he must be punished. So what punishment do we give him? In order to determine that, we should at least compare his case with similar ones from elsewhere.
Oh conveniently, we also have the Chilcot Report. Let's see what happened in Iraq and compare it with the 1MDB scandal, as both of them are reports that could potentially break a Prime Minister's career and legacy.
To keep it simple, let's compare the very basics: the costs of war in terms of human and material tolls. To date, the now pointless war in Iraq (2003-2006) cost the UK £8.4 billion (yes that is the pound before Brexit rates). With that money, it manages - together with the USA - to cause around 251,000 violent deaths, according to website IraqBodyCount.org. Out of that were about 179,000 civilians. That is the basic cost breakdown for the "I'm with you, whatever" War in Iraq.
Compare that to the alleged 1MDB losses and put that into perspective.
Mr Tony Blair is still a man-at-large, living in complete freedom at home in the UK, and is expected not to be recriminated for his actions.
At the risk of being insensitive - not our intention - we question the overwhelming sense of priority that some people of influence has about the world around them. Here we have a Briton, daughter of a former colonial officer demanding for the stepping down of the democratically-elected Prime Minister of the sovereign country of Malaysia, a former British colony. She unilaterally charges, along with her local cohort of Opposition politicians, the leaders from the ruling Government as inconsolably corrupted and thus require immediate removal from office in order to save the country from certain destruction. It is a huge relief that she is not in command of a standing army, otherwise - as history would show - she may have sent some liberation our way in the very Blair sense of the word. And how about Mr Blair? Still Scott-free while Clare is busy chasing the ant across the tanjung.
And to Clare Rewcastle Brown's hard-core supporters, we ask, "What the hell are you zombies thinking? Whatever it is, you're the last people we should be listening to."
CONCLUSION
At the very end, the bottom line is this: Whatever leaks that have been partially exposed to the public and possibly doctored by Sarawak Report, the truth remains that other than causing a commotion amongst bored readers catatonically awaiting some sort of determinable conclusion to this long-winding and draggy operatta, none of these individual leaks actually contain any smoking gun that actually points out to the Prime Minister Najib having actually committed whatever crimes that they had initially accused of him doing - most famously amongst the myriad array of accusations were the "disappearance" of RM42 billion (false: it was a RM42 billion debt incurred by 1MDB. It seems that their target audience in this case is people who can't tell the difference between "missing" and "debt") and RM2.6 billion were siphoned out from 1MDB to PM Najib's personal accounts (false: PM Najib admitted that it was a donation from a Saudi royalty, whom was later determined to be the late King Abdullah himself and this was later corroborated by the Saudi Foreign Minister).
In fact, instead of smoking guns, we get a smoky hall full of mirrors - the perfect premise for Clare Brown to conjure more rabbits out of her old hat of tricks. Unfortunately for her, we have all seen that the rabbit was actually a hare, and only her most die-hard fans are still going, "WOW! Another rabbit, please!" while clapping away with gnashing teeth.
Many are just sticking around to see how the whole show would end. Would the circus tent come crashing down on the one-trick pony? That is not for us to determine, and we are glad for it.
As recent events have shown us, the cracks are showing in the once-shining knight's armour that a saviour from the fair land of England has been wearing in order to fulfil her manifest destiny over the poor, mistreated and naked brown people of Borneo.
Unlike in the glory days when the sun never set on the British empire, when her father used to be a colonial 'knight' of his own, Clare Rewcastle Brown is faced with the embarrassing reality that her once-Great country is but a shadow of its former imperial self.
Save for a few misguided individuals, no citizen of a former colony would look too kindly upon someone from the former 'mother country' coming along to show the once-subjugated populace how things should be done. Because, "Look at my country and gaze at Her Greatness."
And as we can see in the events culminating into what transpired in 2003 with the start of the US-UK Iraqi War (Operation Iraqi Liberation, as it was originally coined before someone realised that it bore a Freudian slip of an acronym), can we trust any Briton (a politically entrenched and rooted at that) who comes along into one of their former colonies and says, "I am here to save you"?
Only the lunatics with ulterior motives would welcome such 'saviours' with open arms. In the Malaysian terminology, those elements are often referred by their callsign: "tali barut".
No wonder then, we see Sarawak Report cleanly avoiding such potentially disrobing topics such as British military dalliances in countries other than Britain for example, out of fear that her actual relevance would seep away faster than it is eroding as we speak.
Thus, we can see why the sudden urge for Clare Rewcastle Brown to put her neck further and further on the line to keep up the appearance of the caring saviour to Malaysians, when in fact her ultimate function is merely to look after her own interests as a British citizen pining for the reenactment of the glorious colonial days of her late father whom she admittedly adores.
Britain is well-known for having propped up crooked regimes in the past. Who is to say that the same won't happen if Agent Clare Brown succeeds in planting her candidate of choice to rule over Malaysia, forever indebted to her significant contributions toward their installment?
Thus, from this point forth, further leaks and speculations from Sarawak Report can safely be regarded as ultimately self-serving and a means for an end that will benefit only Clare Rewcastle Brown with the help of some Malaysian talis barut and her followers abroad.
As far as the NINE QUESTIONS FOR SARAWAK REPORT is concerned, her case has been made, and her true colours have been painted widely across a giant canvas. Any further revelations are surely to repeat another cycle of speculations, but the fact remains: "If you had a smoking gun, wouldn't you have used it much earlier to shoot your target with and send him to oblivion once and for all?"
Evidently, that gun doesn't exist.
The Panel may or may not make comments about each and every cyclical actions that Sarawak Report decides to commit, but we may post an entry or two should we find anything worth commenting on in future.
As it stands, the case against Clare Rewcastle Brown has been made for this court of public opinion, and given the passage of time, more and more readers would be more wizened to this unprincipled chameleon.
The NINE QUESTIONS FOR SARAWAK REPORT Blog is glad to have told you at least a part of their story, and we are also glad for your readership and patience in understanding the materials provided.
Until we meet again, let as many people as you can know the real undisputed facts behind Sarawak Report and CRB by sharing our articles.
Thank you for reading and following us, and may justice prevail.
–The NINE QUESTIONS Panel
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The NINE QUESTIONS Blog will return with more facts.
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