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Saturday, 15 November 2014

Is PKR using Dr M to unseat Najib?

Rafizi's NGO called NOW invites Mahathir Mohamad to a controversial forum to scrutinise the beleaguered 1MDB.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR and by extension Pakatan Rakyat have found an unlikely ally in Dr Mahathir Mohamad in their quest to destabilise Prime Minister Najib Razak.

In an unprecedented move, the National Oversight and Whistleblowers (NOW) centre extended an official invitation to Mahathir to attend a forum entitled “1MDB: Malaysia in Debt?” that is aimed at having frank discussions on the many grievous discrepancies in the country’s second sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB.

Confirming the invitation, director of NOW Akmal Nasir said Mahathir’s office had made contact with them this morning but had not confirmed if the former premier would indeed attend.

Explaining the decision to invite Mahathir, Akmal recounted the former premier’s outspokenness in the past regarding 1MDB, and hoped that media interest alone would persuade him to attend.

He added, “So far, I think he (Dr Mahathir) has no avenue to meet the Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan or engage directly with 1MDB.

“That’s why we thought by holding this forum, he might be interested to come, to get a chance to sit with the government and the opposition on this issue.”

Akmal also said that should Mahathir accept the invitation, it would be a stepping stone to host other outspoken politicians like Daim Zainuddin and Razaleigh Hamzah to future events.

The 1MDB forum scheduled to take place at The Club, Bukit Utama on November 19 will also be attended by Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan, CEO of 1MDB Mohd Hazem Abdul Rahman, DAP’s Tony Pua and NOW founder Rafizi Ramli.

Yesterday, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, while speaking to the press about 1MDB in Parliament, briefly mentioned Mahathir saying, “Even Tun Mahathir agrees with me on this (1MDB) issue.”

NOW was founded in 2012 by PKR’s secretary-general Rafizi Ramli.

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