Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday, 22^nd April 2009: 

Is there not a single one of the 28 Ministers who dare to raise in Cabinet the need for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to clear Najib’s name with regard to the swirling allegations worldwide about corruption and Altantuya C4 murder case?

In his blog yesterday, former premier Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad alleged a campaign by the Western Press on the demonization of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

1. The Western Press launched a concerted effort to demonise the new Prime Minister. From France to Britain to Australia, the articles are identical and carried the same message. The in-coming PM is said to be corrupt and involved in a murder case. The Australian writer says Malaysia is a "pariah" nation. I cannot believe that this demonisation by so many at the same time is a coincidence.

2. Included in the condemnation of the new PM is the allegation that he would bring back "Mahathirism". By this the Western press seem to imply that the fourth PM was a dictator who detained for no reason, manipulated the judiciary, controlled the Press etc etc.

3. As the person concerned I will leave it to Malaysians to judge and to define "Mahathirism". They are the constituents which Najib should care about. The foreign press has an agenda of their own. And their friends in Malaysia are feeding them with the anti-Najib stories as they fear Najib would put a stop to their control of the media.

4. Najib can expect to hear more of this kind of demonisation from the foreign press but it is what Malaysians think that counts. It is with them that Najib has to clear his name.

In typical Mahathirish selectivism, like his notorious case of selective amnesia when he appeared before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam videotapes scandal in January 2008, the former premier deliberately excluded mention that the spate of articles critical of Najib, before and after he became Prime Minister, with regard to the swirling allegations haunting and hounding Najib, whether on corruption or his involvement in the Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu C4 murder case, appeared not only in the Western Press but also in the Asian, Asean and even African press, including India, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa.

Of course, mention of these articles critical of Najib in the Asian, Asean and African press would spoil Mahathir’s case of a campaign of “demonization” against Najib by the Western Press, as he would have to amend and expand the allegation to accuse the International Press, including Asian, Asean and African press, of being part of this international campaign of “demonization” against Najib.

Does Mahathir want a full list of the spate of articles critical of Najib which have appeared in the non-Western press in Asia, Asean and Africa?

Be that as it may, Mahathir was very artful in making a public defence of his 22 years of premiership, when he said he would leave to Malaysians to judge whether they agreed that “Mahathirism” implied “that the fourth PM was a dictator who detained for no reason, manipulated the judiciary, controlled the Press etc etc”.

Malaysians do not need the Western press to define “Mahathirism” as there can be no doubt that it really meant “that the fourth PM was a dictator who detained for no reason, manipulated the judiciary, controlled the Press etc etc”.

How could Mahathir deny the undeniable and defend the indefensible about “Mahathirism”, which is trying to make a come-back in the Najib premiership?

What is most pertinent in Mahathir’s blog, however, is his advice to Najib, viz: that it is what Malaysians think that counts, and “It is with them that Najib has to clear his name”.

Up to now, Najib has not “cleared” his name with Malaysians with regard to the swirling allegations about his credibility, integrity and legitimacy to be Prime Minister in particular with regard to corruption and the Altantuya C4 murder case.

Mahathir had dismissed the former Abdullah Cabinet as a “half-past six Cabinet”. He has yet to dismiss the Najib Cabinet in similar terms although he had expressed his disappointment that it included several “unsavoury characters who had been accused of being corrupt in the previous government”.

With the Najib Cabinet tainted by “several unsavoury characters”, is there not a single one of the 28 Ministers who dare to raise in Cabinet the need for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to clear Najib’s name with regard to swirling allegations worldwide about corruption and the Altantuya C4 murder case?

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary leader & MP for Ipoh Timor