Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali says Putrajaya should address allegations surrounding 1MDB instead of suspending two publications belonging to The Edge. – The Malaysian Insider filepic, July 24, 2015.
Instead of suspending The Edge's publications, Putrajaya should answer allegations about misappropriation of funds involving 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), Malay right-wing group Perkasa said today.
Its president Datuk Ibrahim Ali said he was not taking sides over the suspension, but only wanted to be consistent in his response to the alleged financial scandals involving the Finance Ministry-owned investment firm
"Regarding the suspension, I do not want to say if it is correct or not. I have to be consistent in the 1MDB issue because we want the truth and the government needs to focus now on answering the issues that arise from the scandal," he said.
The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily have been slapped with a three-month suspension starting July 27 over their critical reportage of 1MDB, which has racked up debts of RM42 billion in six years of operations.
Failure to stop publication for three months will result in the withdrawal of the publishing permits, the letter from the Home Ministry had said.
The Edge Media Group publisher and CEO Ho Kay Tat said the media group will go to court to get the suspension lifted.
Ibrahim today said his stand on the 1MDB scandal was the same as his stand on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy case, where he said the crux was on whether the former opposition leader had committed sodomy or not.
"It is the same as Anwar's case, the accused said there is a conspiracy but my stand at that time is to state whether the sodomy happened or not. Whoever exposed it or planned the conspiracy is another matter, the fact is it happened.
"What I mean by being consistent is that the allegations, whether they are true or not, must be answered by 1MDB and the government.
"Do not try to run away. (They should) answer directly, but now another matter has been raised which I feel does not help in improving Malaysia's credibility," Ibrahim said, referring to suspensions.
As such, he said Putrajaya needed to focus on the real issue which is to explain in detail and openly problems related to 1MDB.
1MDB has been accused by its critics, led by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and opposition politicians, for failing to answer directly to questions and allegations raised about its funds, debts and dealings.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is chairman of 1MDB's advisory board and Finance Minister, is also under scrutiny following claims that US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) from entities linked to the investment firm had been channelled to his personal bank accounts.
He has denied taking funds for personal gain, but has not directly addressed the alleged transfers to his accounts.
- TMI
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