Will the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak sue the former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitze and American news magazine Newsweek for defamation for calling him a “crook”?

This is the first time that a Malaysian Prime Minister in 60 years has been publicly called a “crook” by an international personality like the former World Bank President and an international news magazine.

Is Najib going to keep quiet and submit to such public defamation or is he going to defend his personal honour and the nation’s dignity by taking legal action to sue Wolfowitz and Newsweek magazine for calling him a “crook”?

Malaysians can still remember that it is more than two years ago that Najib had threatened to sue Wall Street Journal in July 2015 for implicating him in the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals, but nothing has come out of it.

Similarly, can Najib be believed if he now indulges in saber-rattling warning that he would sue Paul Wolfowitze and Newsweek without coming through with any defamation proceedings?

In the last two years, Najib has acquired the epithets of kleptocrat, “MO1” and now “crook”.

If these epithets are flung at Najib because of his personal activities, it is Najib’s personal matter. But when it is hurled against Najib because of his capacity as Prime Minister of Malaysia, it is not Najib’s personal matter but a national issue of great importance. Is he going to take all these infamy and ignominy with a grin without any legal action to establish his integrity and incorruptibility as Prime Minister of Malaysia?

The claim by the Finance Ministry Secretary-General Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar bin Abdullah yesterday that Najib’s statement about the procurement of Boeing jets and the investment by Employees’ Provident Fund’s (EPF) in the United States equity has nothing to do with “strengthening” the US economy has further undermined Najib’s credibility as a result of his visit to White House and meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Irwan said: “The allegation and idea that certain quarters claimed otherwise that we want to help the US economy is baseless.”

Irwan said EPF’s job was to investment and generate returns to depositors and equity investments were the fund’s business. As for Malaysia Airlines, Irwan said the airline had to buy new planes to expand its business.

Irwan, who is also now the chairman of 1MDB, is trying to deny the undeniable.

May be Irwan should state who are the persons who made the “allegation” and gave such an “idea” the Najib’s “value propositions” were intended to “strengthen” the US economy!

Could it be that Irwan did not know or understand what Najib said in the White House on Sept. 12?

For Irwan’s edification, this is what Najib said in that infamous 5 minute 58 second-exchange with Trump in the White House on Sept. 12:

“Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak: Thank you very much, Mr President, for your invitation for me and members of my delegation to meet with you at the White House. I want to say that we come here with a strong value proposition to put on the table.

“Najib: And thirdly, our sovereign fund, Khazanah, they have an office in Silicon Valley. They have invested about $400 million, in terms of high-tech companies, and they intend to increase that investment as well.”

Najib spoke quite simple and straightforward English which cannot be misunderstood by anyone with an elementary grasp of the language.

Or has the standard of English in Malaysia plunged so precipitately that even the Secretary-General of the Finance Ministry cannot understand the simple English of the Prime Minister?

Unless of course what Najib said in the White House was not accurately reflected by the official transcript of the 5-minute 58-second exchange between Najib and Trump in the White House on Sept. 12.

Is Najib going to issue a statement that he had been wrongly quoted in the White House transcript and that he never said what was in the transcript?

Is Najib going to write to Trump to correct the White House transcript and to put in writing what he actually said to Trump in the White House of Sept. 12.

I am sure Najib’s entourage would have their own recording of the infamous 5-minute 58-second exchange between Najib and Trump, and if Najib’s transcript is completely different from what was released by the White House, then all the more the Najib entourage should release its own transcript.

I am prepared to personally listen to Najib’s recording of the 5-minute 58-second exchange between Najib and Trump in the White House on Sept. 12, if Najib claims that the White House transcript is wrong and inaccurate.

I will reserve further comment until this conundrum whether the White House transcript is the true and correct version of what transpired in the 5-minute 58-second exchange between Najib and Trump in the White House on Sept. 12.

When will Najib send out the invitation to interested parties to listen to the true recording of the Najib-Trump conversation at the White House on Sept. 12?

(Media Statement in Gelang Patah on Saturday, 16th Sept. 2017)