Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad believed that Tong Kooi Ong is being attacked by anonymous bloggers due to the coverage of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) debacle by the latter's media organisations.
 
"This is all because he was criticising 1MDB, so he is accused of betting against the ringgit. If he had not criticised 1MDB, even if the currency falls, he (Tong) won't matter, but just don't criticise 1MDB," said Mahathir, during a function in Kepong today.
 
According to The Malaysian Insider , the former premier seemed to make light of allegations that Tong had manipulated the currency market to sabotage the economy.
 
"Investigate first whether it is true or not. Because The Edge has criticised 1MDB a lot. This is what he (Tong) is now facing, accusations that he is betting against the ringgit.
 
"Last time, our currency fell because of international traders. After that we can investigate whether he (Tong) has ties with (George) Soros," he said.
 
Back in the late 1990s, Mahathir had blamed Soros for currency speculation, leading to the Asian financial crisis. However, Mahathir eventually accepted in 2006 that Soros was not involved.
 
By invoking Soros' name in the current context, Mahathir could be suggesting that he was not confident about the veracity of allegations against Tong.
 
Several articles have appeared on the blogosphere accusing Tong of deliberately compelling his various news outlets to provide wide coverage to Mahathir, who is critical of 1MDB's business activities.
 
Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia has also called on the authorities to investigate Tong, fueling conspiracy theories that Umno was now putting pressure on Tong to cease critical coverage of 1MDB.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak sits 1MDB's advisory board.