Umno leaders, whether educated in Oxford or UITM, have one thing in common - they fear public scrutiny, according to PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli.

The Pandan lawmaker was responding to Khairy Jamaluddin's remarks regarding elected representatives declaring their assets.

Rafizi described the Umno Youth chief's argument that he had declared his assets to the prime minister and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as "regrettable coming from someone of such Oxford education".

"It makes a mockery of his attempt to brand himself as a voice of reason in Umno when he repeats the exact same lame excuse that (Minister in the Prime Minister's Department) Shahidan Kassim gave to avoid asset declaration.

"In a way, Khairy officially relegates himself in the same league of Shahidan," he told Malaysiakini .

Rafizi, who declared his assets and income last week, said the principle of accountability is that politicians must be answerable to the public who put them in office.

"In a society like Malaysia where politicians and senior civil servants live way beyond their means, the public's yearning for transparent asset declaration should have been the topmost issue that politicians pay attention to," he added.

Rafizi said if Khairy, who is also youth and sports minister, has nothing to hide, then he should not hesitate to come clean.

"He should declare the way that I did, giving minute details of his assets, liabilities, income and expenditure.

"I do not think he would ever dare," he added.

Khairy's reasoning had come amidst questions surrounding Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's wealth and his family's lavish lifestyle.