BN strategic communication director Abdul Rahman Dahlan has lamented that everyone wants the 1MDB issue to be sorted but no one is giving it time to do so.

"On one hand, everybody wants 1MDB to be resolved but on the other hand, there are so many people criticising it on almost a daily basis, which makes it difficult for 1MDB," he told Malaysiakini during a bowling competition at Putrajaya held in conjunction with the inaugural National Sports Day today.

Every company needs time to turn their business around, he said, but 1MDB does not seem to be given the time to overcome its woes.

"Under any business environment, every company needs time and space to do rationalisation.

"You need to give 1MDB room to breathe, space to move. Then only we can resolve the issue," he added.

Difficult to do turnaround

With the intense criticism 1MDB is under, he said it is difficult for them to execute their rationalisation plan.

"Everybody is not giving 1MDB a chance to be resolved. Everybody is making it difficult for 1MDB to do a turnaround or rationalisation.

"If everybody wants 1MDB to be resolved, then give it time. After all, the prime minister was asking for about six months and that will be early of next year," he said.

Yesterday, attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali had cleared 1MDB officials of wrongdoing despite Bank Negara Malaysia calling for action.

Following this, the former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had branded the country a pariah state in a blog post yesterday.

His scathing remarks also referred to the arrest of lawyer and former aide Matthias Chang under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma), for accompanying his client Khairuddin Abu Hassan to lodge reports against 1MDB abroad.