Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today said he accepted Malaysiakini's apology with regards to a report on a manifesto from a 'support group' which was wrongly attributed to him.

He also praised journalist Wong Choon Mei - who had written the report - as having shown "high values of professionalism" in claiming responsibility for the error. Wong had resigned yesterday.

najib parliament 141008 Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby, Najib said he was satisfied with the apology issued by the news portal.

"I accept the apology or the decision to seek an apology by the editor of Malaysiakini on the publishing of the completely untrue manifesto that I (purportedly) issued.

"Secondly, I want to state that the journalist who resigned over the said article has shown high values of professionalism as she has demonstrated her responsibility (and) accountability for the story which is not at all true," he said.

"The question is the guilty quarters - the real culprits - behind the report are still hiding and we still do not know who is responsible for the said story," added Najib, who is also Umno deputy president.

Asked if any investigation would be carried out to determine those quarters behind the manifesto, Najib said he would "leave it to the authorities."

Malaysiakini had on Sunday carried a report on a manifesto attributed to Najib that supposedly contained his promises as Umno president-in-waiting.

Among the alleged promises was to defend till the last drop of his blood the supremacy of the Malay race.

The following day, a close aide of Najib told Malaysiakini that his office had not issued any such manifesto nor was it sanctioned or authorised by the office, which did not have knowledge of the document.

The manifesto had been sent by a so-called 'support group' of Najib.

'Don't be duped'

The deputy premier has been the target of a spate of allegations and attacks, including being linked to the case of murdered Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The accusations intensified soon after Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that he would not contest the Umno presidency in March next year in order to pave the way for Najib to succeed him as party president and thereby as premier.

Other than the Altantunya case, Najib was also accused of being involved in a scandal involving the Defence Ministry's RM2.3 billion deal with Eurocopter for a new fleet of helicopters.

Najib has denied the allegations.

The Umno leader has also won more than sufficient nominations to qualify him for the party presidential election in March, and is expected to romp home unchallenged.

Questioned about the smear campaign, Najib said he expects "to face all kinds of things" until March.

"Well, obviously, nobody likes to face such baseless attacks and allegations (and) which are totally unfounded and I call upon the Malaysian public not to be duped by such attempts," he said.

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