SABAK BERNAM, June 15 ― The Prime Minister's Department today organised an event to explain current national issues to civil servants here, coincidentally ahead of a by-election on Saturday.
The closed-door event organised by the department's Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) at a school in Sekinchan was attended by 1Malaysia Development Bhd president Arul Kanda Kandasamy, National Civics Bureau (BTN) director-general Datuk Ibrahim Saad and Bukit Aman's Counter Terrorism deputy director Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay.
Barisan Nasional's (BN) Sungai Besar candidate, Budiman Mohd Zohdi, was also present at the briefing today.
Among issues that the trio explained to the audience included terrorism threats, the misuse of the Internet and how 1MDB has been played up by the opposition ahead of the Sungai Besar by-election,
Arul said people should not be fooled the opposition's allegations about 1MDB.
“1MDB is no more an issue. It was a business problem that is currently being solved. All problems will be solved by next year,” he told the audience.
He also addressed the allegation that the Goods and Services Tax was introduced to bail out his firm, saying that it has nothing to do with 1MDB.
Arul maintained that 1MDB's issues were mostly resolved save for an investigation by local police.
“The opposition has politicised a business problem. Not just 1MDB alone, Proton also has had problems like this,” he said when speaking to the crowd of over 100 civil servants today.
“This 1MDB issue has been blown out by the opposition. This has become a big issue after politicians and former politicians not with the government made this into a big issue.”
The 1MDB chief left shortly after the session and declined comment when asked if the briefing was related to the by-election on Saturday.
The event was moderated by Utusan Malaysia's assistant editor-in-chief Datuk Zaini Hassan.
The parliamentary Sungai Besar by-election in Selangor will see a three-way contest between Barisan Nasional’s Budiman Mohd Zohdi, PAS’s Dr Rani Osman and Amanah’s Azhar Shukur.
