Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday promised Umno leaders and pro-establishment non-governmental groups that he would solve controversies surrounding 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) in two months, at the earliest.

Najib said so during a closed-door session with Umno division information chiefs and non-governmental organisations at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) yesterday, according to one of the attendees.

Hasan Hamzah, who is de facto leader of the group Gabungan Bertindak Perpaduan Melayu, said Najib had made this pledge and given a time frame of between two and six months.

“[The] earliest is two months, but at any rate, he said he will solve it by the end of the year,” Hasan said when met at the PWTC, which houses the Umno headquarters.

Other Umno leaders, however, remained coy about the details of the closed-door briefing which began yesterday afternoon.

The briefing yesterday was held for Najib, who is also Umno president, to address party grass-roots leaders on the recently-tabled 11th Malaysia Plan, the goods and services tax and other current issues.

Najib is hard-pressed, too, to explain allegations concerning 1MDB, which sits on a RM42 billion debt incurred over six years of operations.

Hasan said that since 1MDB is a business entity, solving it won’t be done in a short time.

“A lot of the allegations against 1MDB are just from the opposition. The PM admitted there are problems, but this is a business entity. It has enough assets,” he said.

“But it cannot be done immediately, so that is what the PM is asking for — time. If we give him enough time, he will be able to solve all the problems,” he added.

Hasan also urged Najib to meet former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as soon as possible to explain the same to the latter.

“It’s all about a clash of personalities. Tun [Mahathir] had his way of administrating, now Najib has his own style,” he said.

Hasan said that Najib, without specifically referring to Dr Mahathir, had said that since Umno supports him, he will stay in the job and solve the problems.

“He said he cannot bow down to an individual’s pressure, whoever that may be,” he said.

“The PM is just disappointed. He feels we shouldn’t be fighting over an issue that is not [so] big,” he added.

Dr Mahathir has repeatedly called for Najib’s resignation.

Hasan said that representatives from 1MDB and the Finance Ministry were also in attendance during the briefing.

Meanwhile, Umno Youth information committee member Rozaidi Jamil said that if Najib had explained such details earlier, many of the controversies surrounding 1MDB would not have taken place.

“What was explained was very clear. If this was explained before this, we would understand. Why wasn’t it answered before?” Rozaidi said.

He also said that if Dr Mahathir was in attendance yesterday, even he would be supportive of Najib. — The Malaysian Insider

 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 15, 2015.

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