On New Year's Day, I read a statement by one of my fellow members of the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and was stunned with disbelief and shock.
Instead of upholding the impartiality and integrity of the PAC, this member - who is also part of the inquiry into 1MDB - saw it fit to issue a statement that prejudiced the entire ongoing inquiry with ill-advised allegations such as: "Expose the crooks behind the multi-billion ringgit scam behind 1MDB which has resulted in tens of billions of ringgit of taxpayers losses."
This YB is obviously basing his allegations on his own biased opinion and not on the accounts, nor on the interviews of the many witnesses that the PAC have called on so far - and certainly not based on what the auditors have told us.
It seems that there is no need for a proper fact and evidence-based inquiry anymore as this particular member has already passed his own judgment - which runs counter to what has been presented in the PAC so far - which is based on reams of documents, proof and testimonies.
No sane person would try to prejudice and dishonour himself and the PAC in such a manner unless this person has a hidden political agenda that is not based on the truth or on factual evidence.
This begs the question if this particular PAC member deliberately wants to be suspended or removed from the PAC inquiry into 1MDB, by very clearly and repeatedly breaking the standing orders of the Parliament and the PAC?
By literally begging for a suspension, ahead of the final findings of the PAC inquiry into 1MDB, does he want to pre-empt the findings to play the victim in order to create a public perception that he has been unfairly blocked from "uncovering the truth and exposing the crooks"?
I advise this particular member to stop playing disgusting dirty politics like this and to honorably discharge your duty as a parliament member and your duty to the public, and focus on fact and evidence-based investigations and judgment on 1MDB.
You owe it to your voters to uncover the real truth and not create untrue perceptions, YB. Stop playing games.
LIANG TECK MENG is the Gerakan secretary-general, MP for Simpang Renggam, and a member of the Public Accounts Committee.
