Does Prime Minister Najib know that he is the”MO1” referred to in the US DOJ lawsuits to forfeit US$1.7 billion 1MDB-linked assets money-laundered through American banks?

I am quite impressed. Two page headline leads face-to-face on page 12 and page 13 in the New Straits Times - the page 12 headline lead “KIT SIANG’S RETIREMENT OFFER A ‘DIVERSION’” for a three-column report while page 13 headline lead “’KIT SIANG A HYPOCRITE’” for a four-column report.

I have never received such coverage by the self-proclaimed national mainstream newspaper before. Why have I suddenly become so important?

Pity, I am not one of NST fans.

Even greater pity that such prominent coverage comes at a time when the NST has degenerated from a newspaper into a lies-paper, with its formidable circulation in the region of 300,000 copies a day in the past shrinking to the pitiable figure of some 40,000 actually sold circulation today!

But the mission of NST, just like other media in the UMNO/BN stable, is not to report news but to disseminate lies, fake news and false information and there are many such lies, fake news and false information in the two mentioned NST reports today.

It is always quite fun to read the media statement of the “two dictators at a time” press secretary to the Prime Minister and his fifth statement in last eight days is no exception – as he does not know what he is talking about, if he writes the statements himself which I have grave doubts.

It has been said that imitation is the highest form of flattery, and the use of” of the term “Penang Official 1” by the press secretary to the Prime Minister is nothing less than an admission, even though subliminal, of the appositeness and appropriateness of the use of the term “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” in the US Department of Justice (DOJ) kleptocratic lawsuits to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.

Najib’s right-hand man, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, the Director of Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, had admitted in an BBC interview last September that “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” is none other than Najib himself, even stating that only an idiot would not know that Najib is “MO1”.

The question is whether Prime Minister Najib himself knows that he is “MO1”, or whether he may be an idiot like the Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said only las month that “MO1” could be anyone.

Or could there be a case of mistaken identity and Abdul Rahman had committed a grave error in his admission to the BBC last September?

May be Datuk Seri Tengku Sariffudin Tengku Ahmad as Najib’s press secretary can tell whether Najib knows that he is “MO1”.

Or may be Najib himself should break the silence and inform the Malaysian public whether he is aware that he is the “MO1” referred to in the US DOJ lawsuits to forfeit 1MDB-linked assets?

Such revelations would definitely be more interesting than the trash in the media statements in the press secretary’s name but not written by him and about things the writer knows nothing about.

Lim Kit Siang DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Gelang Patah