(June 30): DAP today said it would not accept any change to its representation in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which was looking into the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.

Party secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua will remain as the party's rep in the committee and DAP would back him all the way.

"Pua is DAP's representative in PAC. We will back him all the way and will not entertain calls for him to step down, especially when the PAC chairman (Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed) himself had said there is nothing wrong.

"It is a matter for the PAC to decide. So why are those who are not involved in the PAC making so much noise and being busybodies?" he told reporters in Penang today.

Pua has been urged by Barisan Nasional-linked individuals to withdraw from the PAC for making critical comments and issuing press statements while the PAC's probe into 1MDB is ongoing.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the government was now in the process of searching for the truth to resolve the 1MDB problem, and that Pua liked to issue judgmental comments while the PAC investigation was still ongoing, making him unqualified to remain in the committee.

Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah also suggested that Pua withdraw from the PAC to enable investigations into 1MDB to proceed in a transparent and fair manner.

Lim defended Pua's right and responsibility to speak up on 1MDB as it was a serious national issue that could have contributed to the fall of the ringgit's value and Malaysia's credit rating.

"Does it mean because the matter is being probed and he is a member of the PAC, he cannot talk? Pua had been speaking about information that he obtained from his own sources," he said, adding that DAP was also unsure if the investigation on 1MDB was independent.

Lim also said if Pua was not allowed to make statements about 1MDB, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has become Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's biggest critic over the troubled state investment firm, should be silenced as well.

"If nobody can talk while the investigation is ongoing, then Dr Mahathir also cannot talk. Is Najib going to sue him?

"After all, Najib is suing Pua over 1MDB. Pua has shown that he is not intimidated by the lawsuit and he continues to do his duty as an MP. DAP will support him," he said.

Najib is suing Pua and the owner of the MediaRakyat portal for defamation. In his suit, Najib said Pua had made a speech about 1MDB and slandered him at a DAP fund-raising dinner on November 3 last year. – The Malaysian Insider