Lim Kit Siang believes that the three-month time frame for the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Bank Negara's foreign exchange losses is tailored for the next general election to help Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak fight Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Yesterday, the government announced the members of the RCI, which came into effect on July 15. It has been tasked with submitting a report to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in three months.

Prior to the announcement, Lim did not rule out the possibility of the general election being held later this year.

The DAP veteran said Najib might even emulate Mahathir, who in 1999 dissolved Parliament midway during the budget debate after presenting the nation's fiscal plan two weeks earlier.

Mahathir and his supporters have accused Najib of attempting to exact political revenge and deflect attention from the 1MDB scandal with the RCI into an incident which happened decades ago during Mahathir's tenure as prime minister.

According to them, an RCI should be formed on 1MDB instead.

Reiterating this call, Lim asked: “Why 'nothing to hide' investigation into the Bank Negara forex losses a quarter of a century ago but no 'nothing to hide' investigation into the 1MDB international money-laundering scandal which had made Malaysia into a global kleptocracy?”

“This will be another gross abuse of powers by Najib, his cabinet and his attorney-general in having a RCI into Bank Negara forex losses a quarter of a century ago but not a RCI into a greater and more monstrous financial scandal.

“What Najib and his cabinet should do is to also have a RCI into the 1MDB scandal with a similar time frame to finish investigations within three months,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lim also trained his guns on attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali over the latter's remark that he had nothing to hide and that he fears only Allah and no human, including Mahathir.

The Gelang Patah MP cited two Quranic injunctions, which read - “Do not act wickedly in the land spreading corruption, disorder or mischief. [Quran 2.60]” and “Do not confound the truth with falsehood, nor knowingly hide the truth [Quran 2.42]”.

Apandi had made the remark following Mahathir's allegation that he is concealing evidence related to 1MDB and that he would be grilled over this if Pakatan Harapan forms the next government.

In January last year, Apandi exonerated Najib in the RM2.6 billion donation and SRC International issues.

He also dismissed claims by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) that 1MDB funds had been misappropriated.

While Apandi said the RM2.6 billion donation Najib received came from a member of the Saudi royal family, the DOJ, however, disputed this.

The DOJ, in its civil forfeiture lawsuits involving 1MDB, claimed that the money had originated from 1MDB.

Najib has consistently denied misusing public funds for personal gain. He alleged that such claims were attempts to topple him from power.