I'm thinking, this incident gives the impression of a "false report" for there is no clear evidence to support the claim. But it may be intended to be a "shot across the bow" sort of speak, on a political level? On the heels of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte trip to China on Oct. 20th, Malaysian Prime Minster Najib Razak is heading to China this coming week, to also bolster ties with China.
Wikileaks' Podesta Files shed light on US billionaire George Soros' deep concerns about the lack of "freedom" and "constitutional democracy" in Malaysia under Najib Razak. Soros' concerns may serve as a prelude for a series of "color revolutions" in Southeast Asia, Mathew Maavak of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia assumed in an interview with Sputnik.
Leaked Memo: Is Soros Planning 'Series of Color Revolutions' in Southeast Asia?
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201610281046843489-soros-wikileaks-malaysia-leak/
The latest set of documents released by Wikileaks indicates that George Soros and his Open Society Foundation are very concerned about the situation in Malaysia, one of the US' longstanding allies in Southeast Asia.
A memo, sent by Michael Vachon, US billionaire George Soros' "right hand," on March 6, 2016, to Chairman of Clinton's presidential campaign John Podesta shed light on the Malaysian "corruption crisis" and
blamed the country's Prime Minister Najib Razak for "damaging the US' credibility in the region."
"Malaysia could one day be a good ally of the United States in countering Islamic State [Daesh in Arabic] extremism, but not before it has achieved the freedom and constitutional democracy that its people have been denied," the memo read.
However, it seems that the US financial and political elite have yet another reason to be dissatisfied with the Malaysian prime minister, besides his alleged involvement in corruption scandal.
"Malaysian Prime Minster Najib Razak heads to China next week to build closer ties and seek investment, which may further dent US aims in Southeast Asia after a push by President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines to bolster China ties," Reuters reported Thursday.
Both Malaysia and the Philippines have long been in dispute with China over the South China Sea. However, Kuala Lumpur may follow in the footsteps of Manila, seeking to ease tensions with Beijing in exchange for economic benefits, the media outlet assumed.
So, what did Soros mean by highlighting the need for democratic change in Malaysia?
'There is no Business like the Revolutions Business'
"First and foremost, one needs to understand Soros and his business model," Mathew Maavak, a doctoral researcher in Risk Foresight at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and regular contributor to CCTV told Sputnik.
"There is no business like the 'revolutions business.' It is more lucrative than the show business which can flop due to an unforeseen shortcoming. Revolutions, on the other hand, only need to tap into the evergreen market of public discontent. NGOs and the West-friendly media constitute a major subsidiary of the global social revolutions enterprise. Together, they seek out, identify and amplify public discontent in nations not aligned to the United States. Such US-engineered activisms have never led to more equitable societies; rather they have engendered endless bloodshed and global terrorism," the researcher emphasized.
Maavak dubbed these human rights entities and philanthropists "agitprop entrepreneurs."
"To the agitprop entrepreneur, the returns on revolutionary investments are immense," he underscored. "A wealthy hedge fund manager can short a targeted market before executing a pre-planned 'revolution.' The resultant stock market and currency meltdown would provide self-evidentiary 'proof' to an anxious public, exerting more pressure on the government of the day to either capitulate or concede to 'popular demands' that are actually drafted abroad, likely by the IMF!"
"Therefore, even if a revolution fails, the subsequent economic fallout would render local assets cheap for foreign acquisition," the researcher remarked.
Soros' Alleged Role in Asian Financial Crisis of 1997
Maavak referred the Asian financial crisis in 1997, which started in Thailand with the financial collapse of the Thai baht, the country's national currency.
"That seemed like Soros business plan for Malaysia and the ASEAN region during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis," he noted. Indeed, some observers blame George Soros for the slump. South China Morning Post's columnist Zhou Xin went even further, stressing
that Soros, "whose aggressive currency trades were blamed for destroying the Thai and Malaysian economies" in 1997 made yet another attempt to destabilize Asia's economies by targeting Hong Kong markets in 1998.
"The entire region was in turmoil, and the name of George Soros featured prominently in this sordid saga. The 'Reformasi' [protest] movement led by sacked [Malaysian] Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim — who had close to ties to Washington hawks — failed to topple the government of the day," Maavak recalled.
The Reformasi, kicked off in September 1998, consisted of civil disobedience, demonstrations, sit-ins, rioting, occupations and online activism, involving thousands across Malaysia protesting against the government.
However, despite execrating Soros for his role in shorting the Malaysian currency, the ringgit, and for supporting the Reformasi movement, former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad did little to stem the vast NGO and alternative media networks that were being built by the Open Society Foundation and its affiliates, backed by the US State Department, Maavak pointed out.
"There was a good reason for Mahathir's lack of decisiveness, apart from the occasional arrests and police raids," Maavak suggested,
"Upon stepping down from power, he used these same networks to oust his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and is now using the same Fifth Column to attempt the ouster of current Prime Minister Najib Razak."
A Series of Domino 'Color Revolutions' in Southeast Asia
"Without chaos in ASEAN, Soros and the transnational capitalist class may stand to lose a lot of money," the researcher suggested.
"They need Najib ousted as a prelude to a series of domino 'color revolutions' in the region. In Malaysia, the color chosen was yellow and it is used by the Bersih (Clean) coalition that probably sees [Democratic presidential nominee] Hillary Clinton as the paragon of virtue and transparent governance," he assumed.
Maavak's prognosis is by no means groundless, given the fact that ASEAN countries have signaled their willingness to strengthen their ties with China, drifting away from Washington.
"Washington has suffered geopolitical setbacks in virtually every nation in Asia Pacific," Tony Cartalucci, a Bangkok-based geopolitical analyst, noted in his recent article for New Eastern Outlook, stressing that the US' influence is rapidly waning across the Asia Pacific region.
http://journal-neo.org/2016/10/24/us-attempts-to-shame-asia-for-caving-to-china/
Bidding for hegemony in Asia Pacific US financial and political elite will do whatever it takes to curtail China's influence and pressure ASEAN economies into obeying Washington, according to Maavak.
Malaysian Prime Minster Najib Razak heads to China next week to build closer ties and seek investment, which may further dent U.S. aims in Southeast Asia after a push by President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines to bolster China ties.
Malaysia's Najib aims to take China ties to 'new highs' on visit
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-china-idUSKCN12R0ZU
Malaysian Prime Minster Najib Razak heads to China next week to build closer ties and seek investment, which may further dent U.S. aims in Southeast Asia after a push by President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines to bolster China ties.
Najib is traveling to China with dozens of government leaders and business people. In statement on Wednesday, he said Malaysia was committed to strengthening friendship with China and pushing ties to "new highs".
"We will be signing many new agreements and understandings that will elevate the relationship between our two nations to even greater heights," the prime minister said.
The Oct. 31-Nov. 6 visit comes days after Duterte's Beijing trip, where he declared a "separation" with old ally the United States and said he had "realigned" with China.
Both Malaysia and the Philippines are in dispute with China over rival claims in the South China Sea but Duterte has softened the Philippine position in his push to build China ties and China could ease the dispute with Malaysia by offering economic benefits, an analyst said.
"If it wields its check-book diplomacy shrewdly, it may either tie Malaysia’s hand on its dispute over the South China Sea, or even split ASEAN further on the South China Sea," said Yang Razali Kassim, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), of Nanyang Technology University in Singapore.
The 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which both the Philippines and Malaysia belong to, has struggled in recent years to present a united front to China on the South China Sea. Vietnam and Brunei are also ASEAN members and also have South China Sea claims.
"There are implications should Najib move to get deeper into Beijing's embrace," said Yang Razali.
Najib is eyeing more Chinese investment in infrastructure and manufacturing. Defense deals may also be discussed.
China's increased assertiveness in the South China Sea has heightened U.S.-China tension, with the two trading accusations of militarizing the waterway through which some $5 trillion in trade passes each year.
Last week, a U.S. navy ship undertook the fourth of what the United States calls freedom-of-navigation operations in the past year, to challenge what it sees as overreaching maritime claims by China in the South China Sea.
The United States has seen the Philippines as an important ally in its "rebalance" to Asia in the face of a rising China but Duterte's threats to cut U.S. ties while making overtures towards China has raised questions over the U.S. strategy.
CHINESE INVESTMENT
Ties between Malaysia and China reached a new peak in December when China came to Najib's rescue with a $2.3 billion deal to buy assets of scandal-hit state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), helping ease Najib's concern over the firm's mounting debt.
China has since been pumping more funds into Malaysia.
For the first three months of 2016, Chinese investment in Malaysia's manufacturing sector reached 1.5 billion ringgit ($356 million), making it the largest foreign investor in its manufacturing.
Chinese firms have also secured major deals in Malaysia, including a $7.3 billion port deal in the city of Malacca last month. China is widely expected to win a contract to build a high speed railway.
Malaysia's China push comes amid strained U.S. ties after the U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits linked to a money-laundering investigation at 1MDB, the advisory board of which Najib chaired until recently.
Najib dismissed foreign interference in Malaysia's affairs and questioned why the United States publicized the issue.
"The lawsuits were a strategic mistake by the U.S. ... China will look at this situation with glee," said a person familiar with the matter but not authorized to speak to the media.
Ian Storey, senior fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute think-tank said there would not be a Duterte-style about-turn in Malaysia's foreign relations under Najib.
But the 1MDB case "might temporarily nudge Malaysia closer to Beijing and introduce a bit of turbulence in its relations with Washington".
