Najib has my support as long as he is innocent, Adenan tells Sarawak assembly

(Malay Mail Online) – Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said today he will continue supporting Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the prime minister has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy.

The first-term chief minister, who was winding up debates on the Sarawak budget for 2016, said he was prepared to withdraw his support if Najib is convicted of any crime but pointed out that for now, the prime minister is still seen as innocent.

“If he (Najib) is found guilty in connection with IMDB, I will consider withdrawing our support for him. The man is innocent until his proven guilty.

“Right now, he has not done anything wrong,” he told the Sarawak legislative assembly.

“I owe my loyalty to Najib. He is the prime minister of Malaysia and head of Barisan Nasional (BN), so I continue to support him,” he added.

DAP’s Dudong assemblyman had earlier told Adenan that supporting Najib was akin to supporting the troubled state-owned 1MDB and encouraging Umno’s entry into Sarawak.

In his reply, Adenan claimed he has managed to persuade Umno against coming to Sarawak, saying “at least not in my lifetime”.

“We are different from Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak has many ethnic groups, like the Dayaks, Malay and Chinese. So we cannot have Umno in Sarawak,” he said.

The chief minister added that he was prepared to table a motion in the House to ban the entry of Umno but said such a ban must include peninsula-based opposition parties DAP, PKR and PAS.

To this, Speaker Datuk Asfia Awang Nasar asked the opposition if they would agree to such a motion.

But Yap, instead of responding to the matter, asked Adenan if he supported 1MDB.

“Is this a trap laid out for us?” the chief minister asked in his reply.

He said Sarawak has the absolute right to prohibit the entry of any individual into the state and this cannot be questioned in court.

“Therefore, it is not true to claim that the state only bans the entry of the opposition politicians from the peninsula, but on anyone, including those from BN,” he said .

“For example, we have banned the entry of people like (Chinese convert) Ridhuan Tee Abdullah and (Perkasa president) Ibrahim Ali,” he said.

DAP’s Piasau assemblyman Alan Ling, not satisfied with Adenan’s response, then asked why were opposition federal lawmakers like Tony Pua and Nurul Izzah Anwar banned from Sarawak.

“They are not terrorists and cannot be compared to Ridhuan Tee and Ibrahim. You have to assign reasons for the ban.

“Has the ban on Tony Pua got anything to do with IMDB? You cannot make arbitrary decisions,” Ling told Adenan.

“But why is the DAP dragging IMDB into the picture? It is irrelevant to the issue at hand,” Adenan replied.