A veteran newsman has given 1MDB president and executive director Arul Kanda the thumbs up over the latter's live interview on TV3 aired late last night.
 
"Arul Kanda is frank, honest and all smiles," said Ahiruddin Attan on his blog Rocky Bru. 
 
He said the 1MDB president had come across as "confident and not arrogant, a good listener, very articulate in his analyses and totally engaging". 
 
"And, yes, that smile. How some people would love to wipe that smile from his face. Call it the RM42billion-that-never-vanished smile," he added.

Acknowledging that there would always be cynics, Ahiruddin (photo) noted that Arul Kanda had managed to covert some critics.

The former Malay Mail top editor cited one commentator who wrote how the 1MDB president seemed unperturbed and offered clear explanations.
 
"When it appears that 1MDB has been 'defeated', Arul with his clam explanations was convincing, injecting phrases like 'Alhamdulillah' dan 'InsyaAllah', he managed to change the negative perception towards 1MDB," stated the commentator.
 
'Incessant and insane attacks'
 
Ahiruddin noted that 1MDB has been the subject of "incessant and sometimes insane" attacks over the past months.
 
"But after the RM42 billion claim turned out to be not true (accusers later adjusted the figure to RM26 billion before revising it further to just over RM2 billion) and Swiss national Xavier Andre Justo was arrested (the former PetroSaudi employee will be facing blackmailing charges in Thailand very soon), much of the political ploy against Najib has shifted away from 1MDB and landed on the US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) ‘political donation’ that found its way to the PM's accounts. 
 
"There was a brief attempt to link even that money indirectly to 1MDB but that, too, gained no traction because it was a lie," he said.
 
Ahiruddin quoted Arul Kanda (photo) as saying that "we are the most investigated company in Malaysia" but described it as an understatement. 

 

"As I see it, 1MDB is also the most maligned Malaysian company ever. And none of the earth-shattering allegations and claims made against it has ever been substantiated or proven. 
 
"So far nobody has apologised for the maligning but I doubt Arul Kanda is interested in getting one, either. 
 
"He's always maintained that without the politics, 1MDB would have been there already. With the politics, it's just going to take a little bit more time to get there," he added.