KUALA LUMPUR: Veteran Umno parliamentarian Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is concerned that the country’s economy and banking system could be impacted if 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) defaults on its debt.

“We are afraid there may be a default because the government has guaranteed part of it (1MDB’s debt),” the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gua Musang, who was finance minister from 1976 to 1984, told The Edge Financial Daily.

“I do not know whether there could be a default, [but] if there is a default [and] with that guarantee, it will affect the banking system and the economy.”

He added: “Our money is already shrinking as it is, and if it happens like what had happened in Greece [which] I hope not, we will all have no money, you know.”

When asked if the Finance Ministry, which owns 1MDB, has handled 1MDB effectively, Razaleigh said: “I wouldn’t know, ... apart from hearing about what people have been talking about it and reading some of the comments in your paper which [is] most informative.”

He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the finance minister and chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board should personally answer questions on 1MDB in Parliament instead of delegating them to others.

So far, all the questions put forward by opposition MPs in Parliament to Najib have been answered only via written replies. Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan has, however, given oral answers even though they were not to the satisfaction of these MPs.

“That’s why I sent letters, [there’s] no point speaking in Parliament. You speak also you won’t get the airing. Nobody is in the house anyway.

“I sent letters [so that] everybody gets them — from the speaker to the prime minister and right down, and I can release the letter because it is public property,” said Razaleigh.

Razaleigh had earlier in the month sent out open letters to MPs at Parliament, highlighting his views on the problems facing the economy.

On the call by opposition MPs asking Najib to relinquish his position as finance minister, he said: “That is their view. I am only concerned [about] what is happening to the economy.”

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 13, 2014.