DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang has urged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to heed his own warning against slanderous statements by irresponsible parties.
In his Hari Raya address, Najib had warned against such statements, especially on social media.
"I support Najib's call and urge the prime minister to give meaning to his Aidilfitri address to avoid slanderous statements by ensuring that his government and the Umno/BN coalition which he leads do not become the father of lies, fake news and false information," Lim said in a statement today.
He pointed out that Umno and BN have been committing "hypocrisy" a lot lately, as they preach against fake news and false information while concocting their own.
One instance, he said, is a commentary by the BN Backbenchers' Club (BNBBC) portal which claimed that the allegations about the US$27.3 million pink diamond necklace did not exist in the US Department of Justice (DOJ)'s latest filing on 1MDB.
"This is a downright lie, as any reading of the DOJ kleptocratic suits would show that the pink diamond necklace allegation was specifically mentioned (in the filing)," Lim said.
The DOJ had alleged in the filing that the 22-carat pink diamond necklace, worth US$27.3 million, had been purchased by businessperson Jho Low for a "Malaysian Official 1's" (MO1) wife.
Facts, not insinuations
Lim said the only truth in the BNBBC commentary was a statement about how slander is a bigger sin than murder.
Another lie perpetrated by the Umno and BN, he claimed, was Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan saying that the DOJ was unfairly targeting Najib's wife, Rosmah Mansor, with its latest filing.
Naming Rosmah as MO1's wife, Abdul Rahman said that the DOJ had insinuated that she was involved with impropriety and implied that she had committed a wrongdoing, even though the DOJ had no plans to seize the jewellery, including the 22-carat diamond necklace, allegedly bought for MO1's wife.
Lim said Abdul Rahman was wrong, as the DOJ did not make such insinuations. Instead, he said, they provided facts and figures related to the purchase of the diamonds.
"There could be nothing more specific about the allegations of money-laundering and diversion of 1MDB funds for lavish private and personal high life," he said.
He also alleged that the third example of Umno and BN perpetrating untruths were Umno propaganda saying the DOJ suits were a form of foreign intervention.
Why didn't PM complain to Trump?
If that was true, then were the cabinet ministers "totally remiss, unpatriotic and disloyal" in failing to protest against the US government for the intervention in Malaysia's domestic affairs, he questioned.
"Did Najib, who attended the Arab-Islamic-US summit with US President Donald Trump in Riyadh in May, protest to the US president about the DOJ's 'foreign intervention' in Malaysia?" he queried further.
All Malaysians, Lim said, do not want any foreign intervention in Malaysia's domestic affairs after all.
Two weeks ago, the DOJ filed its third civil forfeiture suit linked to 1MDB, where they sought to seize an additional US$540 million in assets acquired with funds allegedly misappropriated from the state investment fund.
This puts the allegedly misappropriated figure at US$4.5 billion in total, with the DOJ seeking to seize a total amount of US$1.7 billion in assets purportedly acquired using stolen funds from 1MDB.- Mkini
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