The sword of Damocles

• 7 February 2016
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Just like that ancient Greek each time Najib sits down to eat he can feel the sword hanging by its thin thread directly over his head.  And the eventual consequences will be identical.  For Najib the proverbial sword is the reluctant agreement by Singapore to slow the pace of the criminal enquiries into money laundering and mega theft by himself, Jho Low and maybe others resulting from their theft of huge sums of publlc money belonging to 1MDB

Singapore naturally wants to keep good relations with Malaysia.  Many important matters concern them mutually and if one State can be helpful to the other it will try do so. But covering up mega crime?  No responsible Government can do that and retain its good name and respectability.

And it is just these things (good name and respectability) that underpin Singapore’s reputation as an honest and secure financial centre. Lose that and the money will flow as surely as night follows day. What then could Singapore rely on to mantain its prosperity and its ability  look after its people?

That thought is no doubt already weighing heavily on those in charge. While things were still secret that might have been a gamble worth taking.   But now?