KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 ― Datuk Seri Najib Razak questioned today why it has taken three months for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to investigate if all the land owned by the Defence Ministry and Armed Forces had been privatised as alleged.

He was responding to claims by former International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz that some 40,000 hectares of land under the ministry and Armed Forces were now under a company belonging to three people.

"I have a right to speak out in the defence of myself and my party if we have been slandered by certain parties who wish to seize power,” he said in a brief statement on his Facebook page.

Noting that Rafidah had pushed him to patiently await the charges following Defence Minister Mohamed Sabu’s pledge on June 14 to reveal whatever misconduct and malpractices in the ministry, Najib merely said examining the title deed would suffice.

"It will not even take a day, as I know her accusations are completely untrue,” he said.

Earlier in April under Najib’s administration, the ministry denied Rafidah’s allegations and said it took various steps for armed forces’ development projects including privatisation through land-swapping deals.