DAP vice-chairman Teresa Kok today lashed out at an Umno division chief, saying Datuk Seri Syed Ali Alhabshee was afraid to take up her challenge to debate 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) during the Umno general assembly next week.
She said that Umno members, including Syed Ali, should be bold enough to discuss the scandal-ridden sovereign fund and not resort to hiding their fears behind baseless attacks on DAP.
"The issues related to 1MDB, raised by DAP and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad are very serious, which Umno delegates should be bold to take up in their debates," she said in a statement today.
"Syed Ali, the Umno Cheras divisional chief's response to my statement two days ago shows one simple fact – that he is not bold enough to raise the 1MDB issue at the Umno general assembly.
"In order to hide this fact, he has chosen to make baseless attacks against me and DAP. The attacks include the allegation that I have in the past insulted the position of the Malays and Muslims," said the Seputeh MP.
Kok pointed out that Umno former president, Dr Mahathir, too had questioned 1MDB's debts, so Syed Ali was mistaken to have accused DAP of raising the issue to tarnish Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's image.
"Is Syed Ali going to allege that (Dr) Mahathir has politicised 1MDB issue to tarnish Najib’s image?" asked Kok.
She also questioned why Umno wanted to make vernacular schools a main debate topic, and wondered if it was a scapegoat for the "government’s failed policies to bring about genuine national unity".
"If Umno members are keen and concerned about issues of primary school education, they can always discuss rationally why national schools have failed to become the main choice of parents or why, as recently highlighted by the former prime minister, that more and more Umno ministers and leaders are sending their children to private or international schools, whether local or foreign," she said.
1MDB's financial troubles have been widely reported by local and international media, including its ability to pay its debt instalments and the lack of transparency over its operations.
PR lawmakers have also revealed that 1MDB has also been involved in shoddy deals with suspicious companies from several countries ever since it was set up in 2009.
Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua also pointed out that 1MDB has been forced twice to reschedule and restructure an overdue RM6.7 billion loan, incurring heavy costs and penalties.
Dr Mahathir was among 1MDB's staunchest critics, and has called on Putrajaya to explain how the fund had benefited Malaysians and added that there was no need for 1MDB as it only served to add on to the country's debt. –TMI
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