KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — The Dewan Rakyat Secretariat shot down an opposition MP’s bid to have Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak explain why his government had sold prime land to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) for “dirt cheap”, saying the question was against the parliamentary Standing Order.

Pandan PKR MP Rafizi Ramli said he was notified that his question would not be allowed into the Question Time session as it breaches Standing Order 23(1), which prohibits any questions that aims to obtain “mere opinions” or answers to legal issues that “have yet to become a problem” or are “mere hearsay”.

Rafizi said the refusal to allow the question, which was also posed by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was an insult to voters.

“This act by the prime minister (to refuse to answer the question) is an insult to the people..if he doesn’t want to justify to us it’s ok but at least respect the Parliament by coming here and explain the issue,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

The Pandan MP added that the government’s sale of the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) land to 1MDB at below market price was public knowledge and that just like Dr Mahathir, the opposition as well as the public would want Najib to explain why the land was sold at such a cheap rate.

“Obviously when you question something you are asking for an opinion. I did not ask about his wife. I asked about the land purchase,” he said.

Najib faced allegations of financial misappropriation after a blog leaked documents detailing a deal between Lembaga Tabung Haji and 1MDB, in which the pilgrims fund had bought a plot of land from the state investment arm at a price more than 10 times higher despite 1MDB buying it at below market rate.

In questioning the deal, Dr Mahathir had asked Putrajaya to explain why it had to sell the 70-acre land for the TRX project at only RM64 per square feet when it was valued to be at RM7,000 per square feet.

Najib has yet to respond.

But two days ago, Najib denied that 1MDB’s RM42 billion debt was unaccounted for, saying it is locked in with the value of two major development projects spearheaded by the state-owned fund.

He said the latent value of prime land in the TRX and the planned Bandar Malaysia in Sungai Besi sufficiently accounts for the figure being touted by naysayers as having gone “missing”.

The Auditor-General and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee are currently investigating 1MDB.