Global Pulse: The Malaysian PM, accused of stealing billions of dollars, is now trying to rig an election

Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak | His official Twitter page @NajibRazak

How to rig an election

How the coalition running Malaysia is still in power is an unanswered question. $4.5 billion went missing from a state development agency, and $681 million appeared in Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bank account around the same time — purportedly from a secret admirer. The matter was made worse through a cover-up operation in which the investigating officials were dismissed. “But in Malaysian elections, alas, voters do not count for much,” writes The Economist.

1MDB, the development agency whose board of advisers is chaired by Razak, is the state agency in question. “America’s Justice Department has accused him and his stepson, among others, of siphoning money out of 1MDB through an elaborate series of fraudulent transactions. Much of the money went on luxuries, it says, including paintings by Picasso and Monet, a private jet, diamond necklaces, a penthouse in Manhattan and a gambling spree in Las Vegas. In February Indonesia seized a $250m yacht that the Americans say was bought with Malaysian taxpayers’ money.”

“All this is unlikely to have improved Mr Najib’s standing with voters. Yet an election must be held by August. Faced with the risk of losing power, the government is rigging the system even more brazenly. Parliament will soon vote on new constituency boundaries. The proposed map almost guarantees Mr Najib another term, despite his appalling record.”

Gerrymandering, which involves drawing constituency boundaries so that opposition voters are forced into fewer seats, seems to be the chosen strategy. The practice is made easier by another electoral “abuse”, called malapportionment, which is illegal in Malaysia but still practiced.

“Unfortunately, the electoral boundaries are not the only way in which the system is stacked against the opposition. The media are supine. The police and the courts seem more interested in allegations of minor offences by opposition figures than they are in the blatant bilking of the taxpayer over 1MDB and the open violation of the constitution at the election commission. The latest budget seems intended to buy the loyalty of civil servants, by promising a special bonus to be disbursed just after the likely date of the election.”

“As long as the electoral system is fair, Malaysians will be able to judge the government and vote accordingly. But a rigged system will rob their votes of meaning. That is the point, of course. Mr Najib may be venal, but he is not stupid. He fears that most voters would not return him to office if given a choice, so he is taking their choice away,” the Economist writes.

The deadly dentists’ disease

Idiopathic Pulmonary Firbrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive lung disease that is incurable. While 200,000 people across the United States have this illness, it has a peculiar target demographic: dentists, writes Cleve R. Wootson Jr. in the Washington Post. 

Dental professionals are 23 times more likely to contract IPF, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a weekly report. “Something in their workplace environment may have been poisoning them, investigators said, although they don’t know what.”

“In April 2016, a Virginia dentist who had just been diagnosed with IPF and was undergoing treatment at a specialty clinic called the CDC with a warning: Several other dental professionals had sought treatment at the same facility,” writes Wootson Jr. This prompted an investigation, which revealed that nine patients over a 21-year period of common work history had the same affliction. The median survival age after diagnosis is three to five years.

“Dentists and people who work in their offices are exposed to a specific set of hazards, particularly silica, polyvinyl siloxane, alginate and other toxic substances that can be inhaled when they’re polishing dental appliances or preparing amalgams.”

“Older dentists usually fare worse, both because of increased opportunities for exposure and because they may have practiced at a time when safety standards weren’t as stringent.”

The CDC hasn’t been able to figure out exactly what caused the IPF. The report will still do some good, writes Wootson Jr., because it has now identified a target at-risk demographic. “Before, workers exposed to dust from wood and metal have been warned to take precautions to prevent IPF, but this is the first time the CDC has warned that dentists and the people who work in their offices are vulnerable,” he writes.

Donald Trump’s diplomatic whiplash

Described as diplomatic whiplash, the New York Times editorialises that Trump has gone from ridiculing North Korea’s Kim Jong-un to accepting an invitation for a face-to-face meeting within two months. This will be the first time that these two leaders will be meeting.

“Mr. Trump, though, is following in the footsteps of the Republicans’ favorite demon, President Barack Obama, who was criticized for negotiating the nuclear deal with Iran. Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Trump has decided that such talks can be in the country’s best interests.”

“But the precipitous way in which Mr. Trump agreed to the invitation, and the fact that this mercurial president, ill informed and ill prepared on complex national security issues, will be across the table from Mr. Kim is worrisome,” the New York Times writes.

Given North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics, Kim Jong-un has clearly been making calculated diplomatic decisions, and presumable has a plan in place. On the other hand, the Trump administration seems completely unprepared, and was blindsided by both North and South Korea at the Olympics. “Maybe such an unorthodox summit meeting between two leaders with a flair for the dramatic will be hugely successful; it could also collapse in failure, making it a very high-stakes gamble for Mr. Trump.”

“Many assumed the next step would be preparatory talks in which experts from each side would test the other’s intentions and then enter into lengthy formal negotiations. What happens now is anybody’s guess.”

“Let’s hope that responsible American officials are not approaching the talks with a serious belief in the skills of a businessman whose impetuousness helped lead to several bankruptcies and who revealed sensitive intelligence secrets to Russian officials during an Oval Office meeting,” the scathing editorial reads.

“Some have argued that Mr. Trump shouldn’t meet Mr. Kim because doing so validates a ruthless ruler. The problem is not so much meeting with adversaries but what you do with that encounter. Mr. Trump has a lot of serious work to do before that day comes.”