Sarawak Report founder to release book on 1MDB

Clare Rewcastle Brown. -AFPpic

KUALA LUMPUR: The key figure behind investigative website Sarawak Report, Clare Rewcastle Brown, will be releasing a book on her experiences in exposing corruption in Malaysia.

The book, also called Sarawak Report, will be launched in Malaysia and Britain.

The website, known for ground-breaking stories of alleged corruption in Malaysia involving some of the country’s most powerful leaders and most notably, its hard-hitting pieces on the troubled state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), was blocked by the Malaysian government in 2015.

It was not until the Pakatan Harapan wrested power from Barisan Nasional in the 14th General Election that the new government lifted the ban.

A warrant of arrest for the British journalist issued in 2015 was also cancelled following Pakatan’s victory.

The Sarawak-born Rewcastle Brown, 58, returned to Malaysia after GE14 and is now set to publish the book about her experiences.

“I would say that this is the story behind the investigation into 1MDB told through my eyes. It has been a very exciting and significant few years for me with much to discover and much of that, sadly, was shocking. I hope to communicate some of the adventure I went through to readers,” she said in an interview .

Rewcastle Brown, who lived in Malaysia for eight years before going to Britain to attend boarding school, worked for the BBC before becoming an independent investigative journalist.

She is the sister-in-law of former British prime minister Gordon Brown who has written the foreword to her book.

“This is not just a story about Malaysia or failures by Malaysians. It is about global failure, corruption and many Malaysians were the victims of that, and the same thing is happening to other countries.

“So this is a message to people across the world that we need to bring law and order to globalisation to protect us from criminals with connections to power. That is why 1MDB is not just a story about Malaysia,” she said.

Rewcastle Brown also revealed that she has yet to return to Sarawak since GE14 and has been told that she is still on the travel blacklist to the state of her birth.

“I will be bringing out the book shortly and it will be launched in Malaysia and Britain, and available online. The exact launch date will be announced soon,” she said.