1. Apakah yang sebenarnya dikatakan oleh Adel al-Jubeir Menteri Luar Arab Saudi? Rakaman video beliau yang menjawab soalan yang diajukan oleh wartawan Malaysia disebarkan ke seluruh dunia. Berikut adalah transkripsi rakaman tersebut:
“Tuan Yang Terutama” kata wartawan itu, “Adakah anda menyedari mengenai latar belakang dan maklumat terperinci mengenai isu derma kepada Perdana Menteri Malaysia?”
2. Jika sekiranya penyokong-penyokong Najib gagal mengambil perhatian, soalnya ialah sama ada Encik al-Jubeir sedar mengenai latar belakang dan butiran terperinci mengenai derma itu. Selanjutnya Menteri Luar Arab Saudi menjawab: “Kami mengetahui mengenai derma itu dan ia adalah derma ikhlas tanpa mengharap sebarang balasan”.
3. Dan beliau “sedar bahawa Peguam Negara Malaysia telah menyiasat dengan teliti perkara itu dan mendapati tiada salah laku dan (bagi dia) perkara itu ditutup.”
4. Menyedari kenyataan Peguam Negara tidak semestinya bermakna beliau bersetuju dengan kenyataan itu.
5. Di Malaysia dan juga di kebanyakan negara dunia banyak orang mengetahui kenyataan-kenyataan Peguam Negara. Jika anda bertanya kepada mereka sama ada mereka sedar, mereka akan berkata, ya mereka sedar. Jika mereka ditanya sama ada mereka percaya kebanyakan kenyataan Peguam Negara bahawa 2.6 bilion Ringgit adalah derma yang Perdana Menteri boleh gunakan sesuka hati dan Najib tidak melakukan sebarang kesalahan, jawapan mereka adalah “Tidak, mereka tidak percaya.”
6. Dalam video itu, tidak ada ketika di mana Menteri Luar Arab Saudi itu menarik balik kenyataannya sebelum ini (iaitu ianya satu pelaburan) atau mengesahkan bahawa USD681 juta adalah satu derma. Beliau juga tidak mengatakan bahawa kini beliau telah menemui bukti-bukti baru bahawa ianya adalah derma. Apa yang beliau katakan adalah bahawa beliau sedar ketika ditanya sama ada beliau sedar. Beliau tidak meminta maaf atau menafikan kenyataan beliau sebelum ini yang dibuat dua bulan lebih awal kepada New York Times. Hanya media Malaysia sahaja yang mentafsirkan kesedaran beliau sebagai penafian kenyataan beliau sebelum ini.
7. Menyedari sesuatu tidak membuktikan apa-apa. Salah satu contoh adalah laporan terbaru Singapore Straits Times bertajuk: “KL-Abu Dhabi Stand-Off May Hit Markets” yang mana suatu perenggan tertentu berkata: “IPIC telah berkata ia menyedari laporan media yang menyatakan bahawa 1MDB telah menghantar wang kepada sebuah syarikat bernama Aabar Investment PJS di Kepulauan British Virgin, akan tetapi syarikat itu tidak berada dalam kumpulan korporatnya.” Dalam erti kata lain, dengan IPIC menyedari laporan media itu tidak menjadikan Aabar Investment PJS BVI itu salah sebuah syarikatnya.
8. DPM Zahid meminta saya untuk beralih daripada isu derma itu. Saya berasa Zahid sendiri yang sepatutnya perlu lebih beralih daripada saya. Tetapi malangnya dia tidak mempunyai tempat untuk pergi. Apabila namanya tersilap disebut sebagai bakal pengganti Najib, berlakunya kekecohan, oleh kerana rakyat Malaysia yang bebas menyuarakan penolakan mereka terhadapnya.
THE FOREIGN MINISTER OF SAUDI ARABIA
1. What did the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Adel al-Jubeir actually say? The video recording of him answering the question posed by a Malaysian reporter is available to the whole world. Below is the transcription of the recording:
“Your Excellency” said the reporter, “are you aware of the background and details about the issue on the donation to the Prime Minister of Malaysia?”
2. In case Najib’s supporters failed to note, the question is whether Mr al-Jubeir is aware of the background and details about the donation. Accordingly the Saudi Foreign Minister replied, “We are aware of the donation and it is a genuine donation with nothing expected in return.”
3. And he “is aware that the Attorney General of Malaysia had thoroughly investigated the matter and found no wrongdoing (and in) so (as far as he is concerned) the matter is closed.”
4. Being aware of the statements of the A.G. does not mean he agreed with the statement.
5. In Malaysia and also in many countries of the world lots of people are aware of the A.G.’s statements. If you ask them if they are aware, they would say, yes they are aware. If they are asked whether they believe in the A.G.’s many statements, that the 2.6 billion Ringgit is a donation which the PM can do what he likes with it and Najib had done no wrong, their answer would be “No, they don’t believe.”
6. In the video, at no time did the Saudi F.M. retract his earlier statement or declare that the USD 681 million was a donation. Nor did he say he has now found new evidence that it was a donation. All he said was that he is aware when asked whether he was aware. He did not apologise or negate his previous statement made two months earlier to the New York Times. It is the Malaysian media which interpreted his awareness as a negation of his previous statement.
7. Being aware does not confirm anything. One example is the latest Singapore Straits Times report titled: “KL-Abu Dhabi stand-off may hit markets” in which one particular paragraph read: “IPIC said it was aware of media reports that 1MDB had sent money to a company called Aabar Investment PJS in the British Virgin Islands, but that the company was not in its corporate stable.”
In other words, IPIC being aware of media reports does not make Aabar Investment PJS BVI one of its company.
8. Deputy Prime Minister Zahid told me to move on over the donation issue. I think Zahid needs to move on more than I do. But unfortunately he has nowhere to go. When his name was mistakenly mentioned as a possible successor to Najib, there was an uproar as the free citizens of Malaysia voiced their rejection.
