Following a revealing speech last night that saw Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin breaking his silence on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, the Prime Minister’s Office today released a statement urging all parties – the DPM included – to be patient and wait for the report on 1MDB from Putrajaya’s Special Task Force.
The press statement stressed that the Special Task Force – jointly coordinated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency, the Royal Malaysian Police, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, and Bank Negara, were in the process of investigating allegations of criminality within 1MDB, and that all parties should give it the time and space to work.
“All parties, especially members of the Administration including Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin need to wait for the results of the investigation,” the statement read.
“We need to avoid making statements that could tarnish public perception of the national leadership, as well as the reputation of the government and UMNO.”
Last night, Muhyiddin spoke at the closing ceremony of UMNO’s Cheras division meeting in Berjaya Times Square, addressing concerns about 1MDB, PM Najib’s currently contentious relationship with his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and speculation that the country’s two top leaders were not seeing eye to eye.
Muhyiddin stressed that Najib should take the initiative to explain what was happening with 1MDB to the people directly, and mentioned that he had urged his boss before to issue clarifications personally, and not through PMO press releases.
The DPM also said that he himself did not fully understand the inner workings of 1MDB or what could potentially be wrong in its operations, and claimed that other members of the Cabinet – other than Najib himself – were equally in the dark.
1MDB is fully owned by the Finance Ministry, Najib’s secondary portfolio in the Cabinet. He also serves as the chairperson of the sovereign development fund’s advisory board.
Muhyiddin admitted to having read The Edge for information regarding the 1MDB case, saying that other than the now-suspended financial newspaper, there was no other source of news on the matter other than Najib himself.
Muhyiddin also revealed that he was in contact with Dr Mahathir, but made sure to disclose his discussions with the former PM to the Cabinet in its weekly meetings so as not to appear inappropriate. He also urged Najib and UMNO to mend ties with Dr M, saying that the former PM’s popularity and public profile would only rise the more Najib and UMNO continued to antagonise him.
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