KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 — PKR's Rafizi Ramli urged the Barisan Nasional (BN) government today to continue its alleged cover-up of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy, saying public backlash against the Najib administration would greatly help the opposition's campaign in the 14th General Election.

The PKR secretary-general said he was happy with how Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his government supporters have been pointing fingers at everyone else but themselves, despite the many damning allegations that have surfaced in the public sphere.

"I'm actually elated with their reaction and how Umno-BN has been trying to cover-up this 1MDB scandal by slandering others including me, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Sarawak Report, The Edge and so on.

"This is the kind of reaction that creates hatred towards the Umno-BN government, and that can help the opposition win the coming federal polls," he said in a statement here.

"Therefore, I encourage Najib to keep up with this tactic because with every day that goes by, public confidence in Umno-BN diminishes," he added.

The Pandan MP was responding to the move yesterday by Internet regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to block access in Malaysia to Sarawak Report, the London-based whistleblower site that has been publishing exposes on the 1MDB scandal.

In an announcement, MCMC confirmed that it has sent out instructions to all service providers in Malaysia to block access to SR’s website, pending investigations into verifying the site’s content.

"The contents could be fake. Such contents could affect the peace and cause national instability, disrupt public order and affect economic stability," the regulator said in a statement.

But in an immediate response, SR founder Clare Rewcastle Brown said the move would not stop her from publishing more exposes on the debt-laden firm. She also pointed out that the government has yet to issue direct denials of the reports.

Rafizi echoed Rewcastle Brown, noting that despite his government's move to divert attention from the scandal, many were still awaiting the prime minister's response to a number of questions on the 1MDB controversy, including the whereabouts of the US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) that was allegedly funnelled into his accounts as well as the firm's reported RM42 billion debt pile.

"When these simple questions are left unanswered, it would only strengthen the perception that there are those using 1MDB for their own personal gain," the Pandan MP said.

Najib, in response to the allegations in Wall Street Journal that 1MDB funds were transferred to his accounts, said recently that he has never taken money from the state investor for personal gain.

The prime minister has not, however, denied that the accounts were under his name.