Kit Siang sudden interest on Jho Low

On the 5th of December, DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang came out with a statement questioning former Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussein progress on locating fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or commonly known as Jho Low. Previously, Hishamuddin had offered himself to bring back Low to Malaysia with help of his ‘Chinese friends’ in China.

Previous story: Former Defence Minister will bring Jho Low to justice?

Interestingly, if we look at Kit Siang’s issues in the media from October to December 2018, he has been active in addressing on the 1MDB scandal, but he seldom mentioned Jho Low. Could it be his sudden interest on Jho Low is a move of him teasing Hishamuddin?

In fact, in the past month, more than 50% of the time, Kit Siang addresses on the scandal. ‘Goldman Sachs’, ‘Rally Against 1MDB’, ‘Opposition MP’, ‘Protes bagi Menyatakan Bantahan terhadap Skandal 1MDB’ and ‘Stop Pulling Our Legs on 1MDB’ are amongst the top news in the media on Kit Siang. All of them are linked to 1MDB, but not specifically targeting on Jho Low.

From the dependency chart, especially after May 9, the DAP advisor has been consistent in his statements in relation to 1MDB. Meanwhile, in comparison to Kit Siang in relation to Jho Low there is a huge gap. This means that when Kit Siang talks about the issue of 1MDB, he seldom quote Low’s name.

However, starting November, the gap began to narrow. And recently, in early December, it is seen that both almost have a similar trend. This means, while he talked about 1MDB in early December, there is a considerable amount of mentions on Jho Low particularly on December 5.

Malaysia Indicator found that on this day, more than 50% of Kit Siang’s exposure in the media is on him questioning Hishamuddin on his quest to find Jho Low after the latter self-appointed himself back in October.

All this while, Kit Siang seldom mentions Jho Low in his statements to the media, even when he talks about 1MDB. Why all of a sudden, he decided to raise the matter on Hishamuddin; casually choosing a day after Low and four of his accomplices were charged with money-laundering charges in absentia? Is this Kit Siang trying to imply that Hishamuddin actually did not try at all to locate Low?