Former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik said his party did not receive any political funding from former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad when he helmed it between 1986 and 2003.

MCA was rich enough and could source its own political funding, added Ling. 

"I did not receive any money from Dr Mahathir," he told a press conference at UTAR Sungai Long campus today.

Asked what advice he would give to the present party leadership, Ling said: "They are clever enough to do what they have to do."

He was responding to allegations based on leaked documents claiming that BN parties received funds linked to 1MDB.

Whistleblower Sarawak Report alleged that Selangor MCA received RM10 million from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. The Selangor MCA had denied the allegation.

DAP lawmaker Lee Kee Hiong, however, claimed that former MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek's statement two years ago could potentially invalidate Selangor MCA's denial.

Citing Chua's interview published by cari.com.my in October 2015, Lee noted that Chua had admitted Najib helped source funds for BN component parties ahead of the last general election.

'I stopped reading papers'

Meanwhile, Ling reiterated his disapproval of leaders misappropriating public funds and putting the money into their personal bank accounts.

"My mind has not changed, I still think that is wrong," he said.

Najib had filed a defamation suit against Ling in 2015 over the former transport minister's remarks that the prime minister had taken public funds.

Ling said he had also lost track of the development in the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) civil forfeiture suit against 1MDB.

"Since I retired from politics I stopped reading papers, including Malaysiakini, which I don't read anyway."

He also declined to comment on the cabinet's decision to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the forex losses incurred by Bank Negara in the 1990s.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Ling replied.

Asked about the anti-kleptocracy rally planned by the opposition in September, he said he may consider joining.

"If I am told about it, I would think about it," said Ling, who was spotted at the 2015 Bersih 4 rally in Perth, Australia.

PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the rally, named “Sayang Malaysia, Hapuskan Kleptokrasi” (Love Malaysia, Eliminate Kleptocracy), will be preceded by a roadshow to explain the DOJ's latest suit against 1MDB to the public.