KUALA LUMPUR: Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek has shot down the need for a debate between Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), saying it is not the norm to have a verbal slug match in public.

“During his time, there was also criticism directed against him from former prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, but it is not our tradition to have public debates. If I have any differences of opinion with my father, for example, I don’t have a public debate but we look for ways to [resolve] them,” he said at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

Last month, Dr Mahathir said he was open to a debate with Najib over the debt-laden 1MDB. 

Ahmad Shabery reiterated the Cabinet’s stand on 1MDB, saying there would not be any bailout involving public funds. He said to ensure transparency, the Cabinet had directed the auditor-general and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to look through the company’s books as well as its operations. 

He denied claims that he was opposed to 1MDB and that he walked out of last week’s Cabinet meeting when Najib had told ministers who did not agree with the rehabilitation of the firm to resign. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 9, 2015.