Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today denied that there was an attempt to illegally smuggle the RM40 million donation for Sabah Umno into the country.

Moontime: The government is being irrational once again. Caught with its pants down, it tried to justify what amounted to a criminal act in ordinary circumstances.

The quick response by MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) saying that there's nothing wrong smacks of political interference and 'sandiwara', which is becoming irritatingly common in Malaysia.

For how long do we need to put up with all these? How can the government be so arrogant and dare to insult the intelligence of ordinary citizens by playing down the gravity of the issue at hand?

We are talking about allegations of money laundering here and the mystery donor, about whom PM Najib Razak curtly refused to divulge. The beleaguered PM must have forgotten that in his zeal to implicate human rights organisation Suaram, he left his back door vulnerable to attack.

Let there be more scandals uncovered and skeletons exposed so that more fence sitters can be convinced to vote for Pakatan Rakyat. BN must be taught a bitter lesson: it doesn't pay to be corrupt.

SMC77: Najib, do you think you are God? Do you think we should accept your explanation without any questions? Your credibility is in the negative territory and there is no reason to believe you.

Odin: Some of those who stumped up the money are alleged to be Andrew Lim, Freddy Lim and Admond Looh, all timber tycoons from Sabah, and Ting Pek Khiing, Ngui Ing Chuang and Simon Ling, the same from Sarawak.

Simple logic tells one that if these people had contributed the money to Umno, and if political donations are not illegal as certain Umno ministers have claimed, then there would have been no necessity for the money to have been transferred in the manner of which we now all know about - a manner that is not only highly irregular, but also one that puts the courier to great risks, such as being waylaid and murdered.

Only those in the illicit drugs trade, members of mobs and other sleazy characters involved in similarly shady dealings would do what the courier has done. Najib obviously lacks the intellect to lie convincingly.

Telestai!: Najib, I'll give you three reasons to say that the funds were smuggled.

1) The funds were in cold hard cash being carried out of Hong Kong, a financial centre which is also the playground of timber tycoons operating in Sandakan and Tawau.

2) The cash was carried by a dodgy bagman - a person who is a linkman to the timber tycoons.

3) Although caught in Hong Kong, the currency of the cash was Singapore dollars (SGD). We all know that SGD is a rather obscure currency and is seldom used in international trade and finance.

Hence, it is highly unusual for cash in Singapore dollars to be carried around anywhere, except for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Now go ask MACC to reopen the investigation files.

Fair&Just: If what have been alleged are true, then I really cannot stand having a country in this world like Bolehland that is corrupt to the core and nothing can be done when revelations upon revelations are made known to the rakyat.

You reap what you sow. The rakyat here are truly stupid if they do not take proactive action in the next GE and their children deserve to suffer under the weight of corruption.

Swipenter: If you try to defend the indefensible and justify the unjustifiable, you usually end up with more questions than an acceptable answer and open up Pandora's Box. Look at how things are turning out for Umno for playing the "foreign funding" card on Suaram.

Now all guns and eyes are trained on the smuggled RM40 million, Amangate and corruption in Umno. The talk of political contribution is not going to sidetrack the original issue of corruption, kickbacks and the links to big business and Umno bigwigs.

In the final analysis, Umno has not learned that it can never be sure of the consequences of its own actions.

Another example, if not for Altantuya Shaariibuu, the Scorpene commission of RM500 million would never see daylight and even now, unknown consequences are still fomenting here and in France.
Absalom: Why the need to carry cash? Why in Singapore currency? Where did it originate from? Who was/were the donor(s)? Why was Chia doing the carrying?

If you have nothing to hide and nothing shady about it, you should be able to answer these questions as a matter of fact. But if it is a kickback of sorts, or an advance payment for some future big 'favour' or drug money, or stolen from the kitty or anything sinister, understandably difficult to explain.

But with Najib's and BN's impeccable record on integrity, this is surely not the case. The money was probably cash collected in charity drives by Girl Guides around the world to save Sabah Umno from the evil opposition forces.

FellowMalaysian: Correction, Mr PM. Your able minister did not explain the fiasco. He just shoved it down the throats of those who attended Parliament that day.

It befuddles me how you could ever deny the facts that have been laid right in front of your eyes. Wasn't Michael Chia caught red-handed by the watchful eyes of Hong Kong's ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) trying to leave the airport with RM40 million cash?

Instead of calling it 'smuggling' or 'money laundering', you have the audacity to even call it ‘legal donation funds' for Sabah Umno?

Why don't you declare that the RM250 million NFC (National Feedlot Corporation) loan given to Shahrizat Abdul Jalil's family actually is a donation from a well-wisher - to save her from all the embarrassment?

Starr: If the RM40 million was not laundered through Hong Kong and smuggled back to the country, why was Michael Chia caught and detained by Hong Kong authorities at the airport? Clearly, the amount smuggled was illegal as it was undeclared.

The explanations of Nazri Aziz, and now Najib, on the dubious RM40 million donation to Umno Sabah is not only unacceptable to the opposition but also the general public, particularly the Sabahans who know very well that the money was timber kickbacks in return for logging rights on Yayasan Sabah concession area which rightfully belongs to the rakyat of Sabah, not Sabah Umno.

For Umno to be involved in such an elaborate scheme of laundering the money around the globe before moving it back to the state bears testimony to the dirty state of the party funding.

It's tantamount to plundering state wealth and exploiting the state resources at the expense of the rakyat. In other countries, the authorities would have nipped it in the butt, irrespective of who they are.

Abasir: Murder, assault, porn video, smuggling, money laundering, vote-buying, fornicating... the biodata is getting longer and disgustingly compelling by the day. Do Malaysians need more reasons to make the right decision?