Kit Siang : Answer Dr M’s criticisms in Parliament
The Prime Minister should not answer questions surrounding his personal behaviour through proxies
(Free Malaysia Today) – DAP elder statesman Lim Kit Siang on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak turn up in Parliament and answer criticisms leveled at him by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and others.
Mahathir has been after Najib for quite some time now on the source of his family’s “tremendous wealth”, and the RM42 billion debts accumulated by the Ministry of Finance-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), touted as a strategic investment arm. Mahathir has been reported as saying that “the government has no business being in business”.
Pandan MP and PKR Secretary-General Rafizi Ramli has been pressing for answers about the new private jet, Airbus ACJ 320, costing RM465 million, commissioned by the government for the use of the Prime Minister.
Lim, also the DAP Parliamentary Leader and Gelang Patah MP, was commenting on the statement made by a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Shahidan Kassim, who had confirmed in the media that he will address Mahathir’s criticisms in Parliament on Thursday.
“Najib should come to Parliament himself to answer personally the criticisms by Mahathir and others and not through a proxy, even though a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department,” reiterated Lim. “Previous Prime Ministers in Malaysia, or Prime Ministers and heads of governments in other countries, don’t depend on their underlings to answer criticisms directed at them.”
