DAP wants minister to explain advice to Najib to skip graft conference

Datuk Paul Low owes Malaysians a proper explanation over his advice to prime minister Datuk Seri Najib against attending the on-going 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Putrajaya, DAP said today. Low, the minister in charge of integrity and governance, said he had advised Najib not to attend the meeting due to "possible hostile receptions" and "personal issues". "What are these 'personal issues' – is it that Najib is now regarded by the 1,000 participants at the 16th IACC as one of the corrupt leaders of the world, like Otto Perez Molina who resigned as Guatemala President yesterday mired in a massive, multi-million customs corruption scandal?" asked DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang in a statement. "What does Low mean about a 'possible hostile reception' – did he mean that Najib would have run the risk of being assaulted or manhandled by agitated IACC participants if the prime minister had kept to this original promise to officiate at the opening of the IACC, and whether this is not only his personal view but also the concern of the security people responsible for the prime minister’s personal safety?" Najib was listed as speaker of the keynote address at the IACC. Following Najib's pullout, Lim asked if the prime minister would from now on avoid all international conferences unless they were held in a third world country or he could be assured that no hard questions would be asked. The Gelang Patah MP said the past two days had been "most embarrassing" and "shameful" for the country as its head of government was publicly and internationally "flagellated like a rogue student caught red-handed for gross misconduct". This followed the hard-hitting speeches from Transparency International (TI) top officials. TI president Jose Ugaz had said that the RM2.6 billion "donation" in Najib's personal accounts had all the elements of "grand corruption" while co-founder Michael J. Hershman urged Najib to come clean on the funds. – September 4, 2015.