KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had no choice but to avoid attending a highly-anticipated forum on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) due to safety concerns surrounding the event, his office said today.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said that it was informed by the organisers of the “PM’s Dialogue with NGO” — initially scheduled to take place at 10am today at the Putra World Trade Centre — that the event had to be “postponed” on order of the inspector-general of police.

“Hal demikian disebabkan pertimbangan isu keselamatan di lokasi. Ikutan arahan dan nasihat Ketua Polis Negara, Perdana Menteri tidak dapat menghadiri program ini,” it said in a brief statement on its official Facebook page.

(Translation: This is due to considerations of safety issues at the location. Following the order and advice of the Inspector-General of Police, the Prime Minister is unable to attend this programme.)

But the PMO did not elaborate on the nature of security concern.

Yesterday, the “Nothing2Hide” forum’s organiser confirmed that Najib will attend the event.

The dialogue session which is organised and moderated by the Malaysian Volunteer Lawyers Association was expected to see over 1,500 participants from NGOs and civil society groups directing questions at Najib on his administration and leadership.

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad appeared at the forum today, but was stopped by the police midway through his speech on the 1MDB.

Dr Mahathir has been one of Najib’s harshest critics over several issues in recent months, including 1MDB and the current administration’s Bantuan 1Malaysia cash hand-out policies to the low-income group.

If Najib had made an appearance, it could well be the first time that he and Dr Mahathir could faced off each other publicly on 1MDB since the latter started his criticism.