Corruption Scandal: Front Party and Country Truckloads

corruption scandal: In a series of humiliations, the patrician and luxury-loving Najib and wife Rosmah Mansor were banned from leaving the country; truckloads of luggage stashed with cash and valuables as well as hundreds of expensive designer bags were seized from their home and other properties; and anti-corruption police questioned Najib for hours this week about a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal on his watch, according to The Chronicle Herald. After 60 years of uninterrupted rule by the National Front party, many Malaysians are optimistic they are ushering in an era of reform that echoes the democratic transformation of giant neighbour Indonesia two decades earlier. Instead, in a dizzying political drama, he lost an unlosable election and spiraled into ever-deepening disgrace while Malaysians are being feted for advancing democratic values against their global retreat. The difference, they hope, is that it will continue to be accomplished without setting their multiethnic country in flames. The May 9 election that turfed Najib and his government despite an electoral system heavily engineered in their favour was a quiet, dignified but defining revolution at the ballot box, said Malaysian rights activist and lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan. A grouping of progressive Southeast Asian lawmakers has hailed Najib's defeat as a bright spot amid dark times of rising authoritarianism across the region. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.