KUALA LUMPUR: An investigation should be launched into why the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is taking sides in Malaysia’s politics and internal affairs, said the prime minister’s Press Secretary Datuk Seri Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad.
Alluding to what he described as WSJ’s latest false report today, he said the WSJ alleged that Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was not interviewed by Malaysian investigators, claiming this showed that the investigations which cleared the prime minister of any wrongdoing were “undermined by political pressure and a lack of transparency”.
However, Tengku Sariffuddin noted that it was a matter of public record, and was widely reported by other media at the time, that Najib was interviewed for multiple hours on Dec 5, 2015 by the primary investigative body in this case, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
“The prime minister gave his full cooperation to the investigators, and publicly instructed all relevant bodies in the government to do so as well,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Taking a swipe at the WSJ, he said the media outlet not only deliberately ignored these key facts, but lied and said the prime minister wasn’t interviewed.
“This shows their biased agenda and continues the WSJ’s consistent pattern with its Malaysia reporting.
“They rely only on anonymous sources and smears by (former prime minister) Tun (Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) and his new allies in the DAP, including Tony Pua, in this latest article,” Tengku Sariffuddin said.
He said these unverified lies, which it failed to give any evidence for, were then presented as facts by the WSJ, just like its multiple reports falsely claiming that the prime minister had appointed Tan Sri Irwan Serigar Abdullah to be the new Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia.
Tengku Sariffuddin said journalism should be about independently reporting news based on verified sources.
“Instead, the WSJ has become a willing vehicle for the propaganda of the prime minister’s political opponents who have openly declared their intent to unseat the democratically elected government,” he said. — Bernama