PETALING JAYA, April 16 — The Save Malaysia movement automatically lost its purpose after Saudi Arabia's foreign minister confirmed that Datuk Seri Najib Razak had indeed received a RM2.6 billion donation from a member of the country's royal family, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

The youth and sports minister also said the movement backed by both politicians and civil society will slowly see its appeal diminishing as the assertion made by the Saudi official proves that the government had been accountable on the matter.

“All the political efforts and agenda to bring down this government is not gaining traction and even so that the Saudi government confirmed that the money was donated without wanting anything in return,” Khairy told reporters here.

“So to me, all the attempt to supposedly save malaysia has been rendered meaningless because there is nothing more to dispute,” he added.

But Khairy admitted that the Saudi official's confirmation about the donation may not necessarily be able to reverse the public's negative perception about the controversy.

“We have to work hard to convince the public. We should make the Saudi government's statement viral,” he said.

National newswire Bernama reported Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir as saying at the summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul yesterday that Saudi Arabia was also fully aware that Malaysia’s Attorney-General had found no wrongdoing in the money transfer to Najib’s personal bank accounts.

UK paper The Guardian reported Adel as saying that “the matter is closed”, without elaborating on who had donated the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) or why.

The Save Malaysia movement, which is pushing for Najib's ouster over allegations of financial impropriety, is led by former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and comprises politicians from both sides of the divide and civil society.