Najib: Mahathir’s behaviour selfish and unbecoming

1MDB merely a tool as Mahathir again turns against the leadership of Umno, PM says.

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Razak today hit out at Dr Mahathir Mohamad, saying that Mahathir’s crusade to seek his resignation was motivated purely by Najib’s refusal to bow to Mahathir’s personal demands and not by national interests.

Posting on his blog today, Najib said, “He wants me to resign, as he previously wanted Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to resign, because I refused to implement his personal demands.”

“It is a shame that Tun has, yet again, turned against the leadership of his own party,” Najib lamented, calling such behaviour “unbecoming.”

“This unbecoming behaviour will be an unfortunate postscript to his legacy,” Najib asserted.

Ironically, Najib was the one who benefited from his predecessor’s resignation in 2009, assuming the post of prime minister as Mahathir’s anointed successor.

Najib said that as prime minister it was his duty to lead the country in his own way and taking into account its best interests.

“I do not believe the people want a former Prime Minister to rule by proxy,” he added.

Najib went on to say that Mahathir was merely using the saga surrounding 1Malaysia Development Board (1MDB) as a means to achieve his aim of toppling him.

“Tun’s attacks in reality are not motivated by 1MDB – he is just using the company as an excuse to try and topple a serving Prime Minister,” Najib claimed. “If 1MDB had never existed, he would find another reason.”

He went on to accuse Mahathir of creating the 1MDB ‘crisis’.

“Tun created a crisis when he recklessly claimed that RM42 billion was missing from 1MDB and that the company’s financial assets, worth approximately RM16 billion, were worthless,” Najib said, adding that such statements were false and “have created unnecessary panic.”

He explained that the RM42 billion figure regularly bandied about as “losses” was in fact “debt”.

“The RM42 billion debt is backed by RM51 billion assets as at the 2014 financial closing,” Najib explained.

“It is wrong for Tun to falsely allege that RM42billion, or RM27billion as he later changed the figure to, is ‘missing’,” Najib added.

He pointed out that after 1MDB had disclosed the whereabouts of the RM42billion, Mahathir shifted his attack to allege that “some billions were lost.”

“This shifting of numbers and arguments casts serious doubt on his claims,” Najib said.

“Regardless, because he is a former head of government, the market and public sentiment have been negatively influenced,” the Prime Minister added.

Najib said that in accordance with his duties as prime minister he has instructed the Auditor- General to conduct an inquiry into 1MDB, and for this report to then be passed to the bipartisan Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

“If anyone is deemed to have engaged in wrongdoing, I will insist that the law is enforced without exception,” he assured.

“If Tun genuinely wants to have answers to the questions he has raised, he only has to wait for the multiple enquiries – by the Auditor- General, Bank Negara and the PAC – to conclude,” Najib pointed out.

“However, he does not seem to have faith in these institutions and the proper lawful authorities, or have interest in their answers,” he lamented.

Dismissing Mahathir’s prediction that Barisan Nasional will lose the next general elections, he called on the ruling coalition to stay united and prove themselves worthy over the coming years, noting that the Opposition itself was “in chaos” and “suffering from fundamental ideological splits.”