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'Shafie's remark shows he's leaving Bugis ship'
Published:  May 29, 2015 8:58 AM
Updated: 9:55 AM

Cabinet minister Shafie Apdal’s claim that ministers cannot be held responsible for the 1MDB scandal is not only a renunciation of their collective responsibility, but also of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, says Lim Kit Siang.

Shafie said yesterday ministers had fulfilled their obligations by raising questions on the debt-laden finance ministry firm, in which Najib is the advisory board chairperson.

“(Shafie is) striking a posture that is tantamount to breaking ranks with the PM and declaring he is not prepared to swim or sink with Najib on the 1MDB scandal.

“(He is saying) that if Najib is to drown, he should do it alone without dragging down the others,” Lim, who is DAP parliamentary leader and Gelang Patah MP, said.

Lim ( photo ) said while the rural development minister’s failure to understand collective responsibility is “shocking”, more shocking is his claim that ministers are in the dark about the extent of the scandal.

He had claimed that ministers were in the same boat as the rest of the country, who are clueless about 1MDB’s financial standing.

“How could this be when the cabinet at its meeting on March 4 cleared the troubled fund of wrongdoing, making all the 35 ministers individually and collectively responsible for the 1MDB scandal?” the DAP veteran asked.

What of Muhyiddin?

The same question can be asked of Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who despite being part of the cabinet which declared 1MDB healthy, now wants 1MDB board members sacked , Lim said.

Shafie, Muhyiddin and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin are the only cabinet members who have spoken out on 1MDB.

Khairy ( photo ) said urging for the 1MDB matter to be resolved should not be misconstrued as disloyalty to the PM.

In a separate statement today, Lim called for the cabinet to be given enough time to study and understand the 1MDB problem before accepting any roadmap to help the company.

 

"The cabinet should not repeat the farce of its March 4 meeting, when the ministers went through the motions of being briefed by 1MDB and its auditors Deloitte, with few ministers understanding what was going on.

 

"But the cabinet still prematurely and foolishly cleared the troubled fund of wrongdoing and issued 1MDB with a clean bill of health and integrity," Lim added.

Meanwhile, PAS information chief Mahfuz Omar challenged Muhyiddin to follow speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia’s example and step down as a show of protest over the DPM’s unhappiness with the handling of the 1MDB scandal.

“Emulate the courage shown by Pandikar, who is willing to step down from his post over the constraints on the parliamentary institution.

 

“Only with such show of bravery will Najib open his eyes and take immediate action,” Mahfuz said in a statement released yesterday.

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