A raft of speculations surfaced after Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak removed key individuals from their posts, including Abdul Gani Patail as attorney-general and Muhyiddin Yassin as deputy premier.

Some claimed it was to neutralise a planned coup against the prime minister.

Now, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang is calling for a commission comprising Malaysian elders to solve the riddles that swirl around this episode.

The elders, he said, must probe if there was an attempted coup to topple Najib as prime minister, the sacking of Abdul Gani ( photo ) as AG, the removal of the deputy prime minister and the  arrest as well as harassment of top government officials.

He added it must also determined if these actions were related to the "twin scandals" of 1MDB and RM2.6 billion in Najib's personal accounts.

Lim also suggested a long list of names of those who should sit in this commission. This includes:

Former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, former deputy premier Musa Hitam, former chief justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, former inspector-general of police, Hanif Omar, former attorney-general Abu Talib Othman, former top public servants Rafidah Aziz, Ramon Navaratnam, Simon Sipaun, Daniel Tajem, Noor Faridah Ariffin, P Cumaraswamy, Ambiga Sreenivasan and Yeoh Yan Poh.

Lim, who previously recommended that former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad head a royal panel to probe 1MDB and join hands to save Malaysia, chose to leave him out this time around.

Scope of commission

"This jigsaw puzzle is not a child's play but concerns the fate and future of 30 million Malaysians – and not just one person, Najib or his new coterie of strategists.

"Malaysia is a democratic country in an information era, and Malaysians are entitled to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the 'Last Days of July 2015 in Putrajaya'," he told a press conference.

As for the commission's scope, Lim said it should concern:

(1)  Whether there was a plot in the last days of July to stage a coup against Najib as prime minister by criminalising him and toppling him from office;

(2)  Whether there had been illegal and unconstitutional acts to overawe and frustrate the  attorney-general from exercising his discretionary powers under Article 145(3) of the constitution to "institute, conduct or discontinue any proceedings for an offence";

(3)  Whether there  was any  basis for charging the prime minister for the offence of corruption.

Meanwhile, Lim also said he was not interested in a verbal joust with BN strategic communications director Abdul Rahman.

This was after the latter told DAP to re-read his interview with The Star Online and accused the opposition of twisting his words "beyond recognition" on the so-called charge sheet against Najib.

"Abdul Rahman asked me to re-read his Star Online interview, and I have done so," said Lim, adding that his conclusion remains the same.

The opposition leader also mentioned an article published in Malaysiakini which touched on a purported high-powered meeting held on July 27, which included inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar, Armed Forces chief Zulkefli Mohd Zin, the MACC and Abdul Gani.

Asked why he chose to leave himself out of the list of elders in the commission, Lim said he would be viewed as having a vested interest.

"He (Abdul Rahman) would say I have vested interests. Let those who are independent look into this," he said.

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