DAP parliamentarian Teresa Kok today questioned Umno leader Syed Ali Alhabshee whether he is alleging that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has politicised the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) issue.

"Is he going to allege that Mahathir has politicised the 1MDB issue to tarnish Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's image?" asked Kok ( left ) in a statement today.

She pointed out how Mahathir, back in September, had raised questions about the heavy debt and usage of funds at 1MDB.

"The issues related to 1MDB and raised by DAP and Mahathir are very serious issues which Umno delegates should be bold to take up in their debates," said Kok.

Her comments came after Syed Ali’s remark yesterday that the DAP is deliberately politicising the 1MDB issue ahead of the Umno annual general assembly.

Hitting out at Kok for asking Umno delegates to debate the debt-ridden state investment arm, the Cheras Umno division chief had said that the Seputeh lawmaker made this suggestion because DAP has an "agenda to ruin Malay unity".

On this, Kok said Syed Ali's ( right ) response simply showed that he was not "bold enough" to raise the 1MDB issue at the Umno general assembly.

"In order to hide this fact, he has chosen to make baseless attacks against me and the DAP, which include the allegation that I have in the past insulted the position of Malays and Muslims.

"It is not surprising that he has not backed his attacks with any evidence because his allegation is a complete lie and there is no way he can produce any evidence," she said.

Najib, on the other hand, has threatened to sue DAP lawmaker Tony Pua for his remarks on the 1MDB.

The letter of demand served on Pua yesterday claimed that he had defamed Najib in a Youtube video.

Pua had questioned why BN component parties did not dare throw down the gauntlet at Najib, who chairs the 1MDB board of advisors, even though the multi-billion ringgit company was late in submitting its accounts.