KUALA LUMPUR: The Wall Street Journal has misrepresented Lim Guan Eng’s arrest and corruption charges by linking it to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) issue, says Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak.
He said WSJ’s report headlined “Critic of Malaysia’s Najib arrested on corruption charges”, gave the impression that the latter was arrested for his criticism of 1MDB rather than corruption.
Salleh cited that the first paragraph of the report "insinuated that Guan Eng’s arrest was due to his criticism of the Prime Minister’s handling of 1MDB".
The paragraph of the report published yesterday read, “A Malaysian opposition politician who has criticised Prime Minister (Datuk Seri) Najib (Tun) Razak’s handling of state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd was charged with corruption in his role as chief minister of Penang state.”
“The way WSJ presented their news report is as if the entire issue is about 1MDB and Najib, and not because of the alleged corruption. And this is the news agency that the Opposition says is to be believed, is very professional, has no hidden agenda, is not targeting Najib, and so on,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Salleh said WSJ was the exact opposite of what the Opposition claimed and was engaged in a crusade against the prime Mmnister and most likely, against Malaysia as well.
“But then, there are many who still believe that the WSJ is just trying to reveal the truth, and there is no mala fide involved,” added Salleh.