Civil society tells Cameron of 1MDB, racial and religious woes in Malaysia

1MDB debts were among the issues brought to British PM David Cameron's attention during his visit to Malaysia yesterday. – Reuters pic, July 31, 2015.Corruption issues, 1Malaysia Development Berhad's (1MDB) debts, racism and religious intolerance were among the concerns raised by Malaysian civil society to British Prime Minister David Cameron at a meeting yesterday.

The meeting, organised by the British High Commission in Malaysia, was held with prominent leaders of civil society that included National Human Rights Society (Hakam) president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, spokesperson of the group of prominent Malays (G25) Datuk Noor Faridah Ariffin and Malaysia Bar president Steven Thiru.

Ambiga said she talked about 1MDB and money laundering, an issue, she added, cut across borders.

"You can stop what's going on in this country but you cannot stop investigations into things that have happened outside the country.

"For me, this are serious issues that we are facing and that's what we've managed to communicate to the British prime minister," she said.

Ambiga said the group also touched on Cameron's speech on corruption in Singapore and hoped that he communicated it to Najib.

"Well I think he agreed on issues on corruption. I mean, we brought to light his speech in Singapore and we said we hope that's the sentiment, we hope he communicated to our prime minister and he said yes," said Ambiga.

She said Cameron was very receptive and they were grateful to the high commission for organising the meeting.

"He (Cameron) was only here for few hours and I think it was important that they understand the aspirations of the people of Malaysia."

Cameron arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday on a one-day working visit.

According to national news agency Bernama, the two leaders held a meeting at Perdana Putra before proceeding to a delegation meeting.

Cameron's visit to Malaysia was part of his Southeast Asian tour to boost United Kingdom's trade and investment.

- TMI