After more than two decades, DAP veteran lawmaker Lim Kit Siang has finally got his wish - a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Bank Negara's foreign exchanges losses in the late 80s and early 90s.

However, Lim is not thrilled. He said that cabinet's latest decision will not help Malaysia's standing, instead bring the country further disrepute because Putrajaya was ignoring more pressing and current matters such as the state of affairs with 1MDB and Felda Global Ventures (FGV).

"The reaction of everyone in Malaysia and the world to the news that the government is establishing a RCI on the 1980s/1990s forex scandal is: 'Why no RCI on the 1MDB and FGV scandal? Is there going to be RCI into Scorpene scandal?'," wrote Lim.

He also maintained that the forex scandal is an "elephant's carcass" while the 1MDB and FGV scandals remains to be an "elephant in the room" for the government.

Cabinet decided on the RCI yesterday following recommendations by a special task force it had commissioned to gather evidence on Bank Negara's forex losses.

The Prime Minister's Office said that an RCI into the forex scandal will enable a more detailed and holistic investigation in accordance with the law.

It also said that a special task force formed in February to investigate the matter had found elements of a "cover-up and attempts to confuse the cabinet and Parliament".

Lim had initially hoped that cabinet would respond to the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) third filing to seize 1MDB-linked assets when they met yesterday. Yesterday was the first cabinet meeting since the DOJ filed its latest papers.

"Instead, cabinet chose the path of moral cowardice - attracting world attention not for their courage and conviction, but for their unbelievable incapacity to differentiate right and wrong and to feel shame by burying their heads in the sand, ignoring the colossal elephant in the cabinet room and embarking on a caper into the past," he stressed.