KUALA LUMPUR: Umno Information Chief Tan Sri Annuar Musa today slammed opposition parties for comparing the state sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) issue with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)’s alleged foreign exchange (forex) market losses in the early 1990s.
He said that unlike 1MDB, the forex scandal actually led to financial losses and was never investigated or discussed in the cabinet.
"The forex loss involved real money. I was in the cabinet then, but it was never discussed or investigated, (even though billions of ringgit were lost). It involved Bank Negara, which means it involved the people's money.
"1MDB is not a government agency, it's a government-linked company (GLC). It only used RM1 million of government money. Besides, the 1MDB issue was investigated by several authorities and it was discussed in Parliament.
"If we had conducted an investigation on the forex loss, at least we would know what our weaknesses are, so that (the incident could serve as) a guideline for us in the future," he told reporters at Putra World Trade Centre here today.
Annuar said Umno will pledge its full support to the government's efforts to initiate an investigation on the issue.
Meanwhile, when asked about former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's statement on yesterday’s RUU 355 gathering, which he described as a “political ploy”, Annuar said it was a case of the "pot calling the kettle black".
"What Tun said was politically-motivated too. Everything we do is politically-motivated and it doesn't mean it's bad. There's nothing sinister about politics.
"Don't look down on politics and politicians. Politics is about the people's welfare and how you run the country," he added.