KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Amid growing criticism against Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, the Senators' Council today expressed support for the prime minister and called the attacks against him “baseless”.
The council’s chair, Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman, added that such criticism was common to leaders of all countries.
“Since being elected as the prime minister six years ago, much criticism had been targeted towards Najib, be it his leadership or his personal life.”
“Unfortunately, many of these assessments against him are proven to be baseless...” he told a press conference here in the Parliament.
Abdul Rahim said that the council is confident that the nation is on the right track towards becoming a high income nation come 2020.
He also added that being leader of the country sometimes involved making “unpopular decisions”.
“Therefore, we reiterate our undivided support and trust towards the government led by Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak… we vow to stand by him in seeing that all efforts to improve the living standards of the people and the country as well as to propel the country’s economy materialises to make Malaysia a high income nation come 2020,” Abdul Rahim said.
He also called upon all Malaysians to focus on the efforts Putrajaya has put through for the country’s development.
“We need to stay united to ensure that the various transformation and development programmes see success and for the sake of sovereignty,” he added.
Najib has come under fire over various current issues, namely the repayment plaguing debt-riddled state investment firm 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) as well as the 2006 murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Among the latest to join in criticism is former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
On March 13, Dr Mahathir warned the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that it risked losing votes in the next general election if Putrajaya fails to adequately answer the numerous allegations levelled against 1MDB.
He urged Putrajaya to initiate a forensic audit on the state-owned firm, in addition to the Auditor-General’s scrutiny of its accounts, in order to provide satisfactory explanations to the allegations surrounding 1MDB.
On April 2, Dr Mahathir insisted that police must investigate former commando Sirul Azhar Umar’s claim that he killed the Mongolian under orders, while expressing disappointment over Putrajaya’s attempts to fend off allegations surrounding the heavily indebted state investment firm.
