Hishammuddin says not quitting, rumours just ‘negative spin’

(Malay Mail Online) – Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein today denied talk that he will resign as defence minister in objection to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s handling of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) issue.

Responding to a user on Twitter, Hishammuddin said he is not going to tender his resignation as he had been rumoured to do during today’s Cabinet meeting.

“No i am not ― ‘negative spin’ by some irresponsible people,” the minister said in answer to a user with the screen name @Nessie43 who asked if he was leaving.

According to a report on Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia on Monday, Najib told his Cabinet ministers to resign if they disagreed with his stand on 1MDB, the debt-laden investment firm now under probe for alleged impropriety.

This was later clarified by senior Cabinet member Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz, who said the prime minister did not issue an ultimatum but was urging members of his Cabinet to be united on the issue.

Hishammuddin had then fuelled speculation about his future in the Cabinet when he issued a post on Twitter that suggested his support for Najib on the issue was conditional.

“I agree on condition 1) Rationalise 1MDB 2) Accountability if there was any wrongdoing 3) Transparency with 1) & 2),” he tweeted in Malay on his official handle, @ Hishammuddin H2O in response to a news report tagged to Astro Awani on Monday.

On Friday, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah announced a rationalisation plan for 1MDB  that involved a US$1 billion (RM3.68 billion) injection from Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company and its subsidiary Aabar Investments.

He also announced that 1MDB’s cornerstone projects, the Tun Razak Exchange and Bandar Malaysia, would be spun off into separate entities but denied that the parent firm itself would be wound down, disputing a report by national news agency Bernama.

1MDB was incorporated in 2009, after the prime minister announced the decision to turn the Terengganu Investment Authority state fund into a federal agency.

Since then, 1MDB has been dogged by negative publicity over its finances and a debt pile that has reportedly hit RM42 billion, and most recently cash flow problems that saw it struggle to meet a RM2 billion loan payment.