Gerakan MP Datuk Liang Teck Meng today continues to hit on DAP’s Petaling Jaya Utara Member of Parliament Tony Pua over a reported Facebook post exposing “crooks” behind 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) on Jan 1.
Liang said it was clear from the post that Tony did not merely “speak up” or criticise 1MDB but had made a judgement that “crooks” have caused “tens of billions of public money to be lost”.
“I am puzzled on where he got his evidence from public information that “tens of billions have been lost due to crooks”. Did he base it on the audited reports or did he read Sarawak Report and arrived at that conclusion?
“And if we can draw conclusions based on Public Information then what is the purpose of holding a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry?
“YB Tony needs to understand that the inquiry onto 1MDB was held precisely to find out the truth behind the allegations made by the public media.
“If we can come to a conclusion based on public information then there would be no need for a PAC inquiry and there is no need for YB Tony to waste his precious time in the many sessions of the PAC inquiry,” he said in a statement today.
This MP misses the point entirely.
In any normal country these Public Accounts Committee meetings would have been held in public so that, as with a court hearing, everyone has a chance to judge the evidence with their own ears.
Tony Pua is making his critique based not only on what is in the public – and there is a heck of a lot out there now, but also on what the rest of us have not been allowed to hear.
So, what is this Gerakan MP beefing about? Is he arguing that the evidence should be covered up and no one should comment on it until the powers that be have issued a statement that suits their purposes and protects their interests come what may?
Of course, that is exactly what he is arguing for!