By Syauqi Jamil
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Prime Minister Najib Razak said he has no problem to stay away from matters pertaining to Umno after his resignation as party President.
Najib said as a matter of fact, he is giving his full support and cooperation to current President Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to decide what’s best for Umno.
However, the Pekan MP stressed that when it comes to Parliamentary affairs, it is his duty to explain in self defense as he was chosen and voted by the people in GE14.
“I am entitled to defend my policies, clear misconceptions and some manipulation of facts and figures.”
“To be fair, self defense is a right given to any individual and citizen. That’s why I’m exercising my rights to explain my policies and reasoning,” he said.
Najib was responding to former tourism and culture minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, who said that his former boss should distance himself from Umno, given the charges levelled against him over the 1MDB affair.
This would allow the new Umno president, Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to rebuild the party he said.
Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby, Najib explained that things are different now in compared to when Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad stepped down the first time.
The embattled Najib said Mahathir was never questioned for the things that he had done as premier after his resignation, on contrary to him who are showered with criticisms, allegations and questionings.
“Even though there were things that we don’t agree, we stood by it.. The difference with now is they want to find out faults so my responsibility is to defend my self. I will use that right to give a clarification on our past government policies,” he said.
Najib’s previous Barisan Nasional (BN) administration faced heavy criticism from the opposition, former leaders as well as many of the public themselves.
Political pundits suggested that this was due to him being linked with scandal ridden state investment arm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) which act as one of the factor behind BN losing to Pakatan Harapan (PH) at the last elections.
Commenting on Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng who earlier filed a motion to reopen investigations on 1MDB, Najib said he has nothing against it but hopes that the investigations will be done accordingly, not driven by vengeance.
“If PAC decides to reopen investigations its their right but don’t let the mood be into fault finding alone. They (PH) have the mandate to administrate the country so they should instead focus on efforts to develop the nation,” he said.
