CNA's documentary Malaysia - "A fractured nation" one-sided, says Salleh

Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak described a documentary by Singapore-based Channel NewsAsia (CNA) yesterday as biased as it portrayed a bad image of Malaysia using only interviews from opposition sources.

He said the report entitled "A Fractured Nation" did not reflect the real situation in the country, and that CNA should have come up with a balanced report by interviewing those who were members of the ruling party.

"The report is clearly one-sided because it highlights only negative things about Malaysia, and CNA interviews only those who are members of the opposition.

"Channel NewsAsia's report on Malaysia Day is unfair, biased and regrettable, and should be rectified," he said.

Salleh said this in a statement to Bernama after attending the distribution of meat from sacrificed animals in conjunction with the Aidiladha celebration at Mile 7, Kesapang, near here today.

"CNA should take into account the views of all parties as the report seems to portray our country is facing a lot of problems which is not all true. This report clearly shows that they have a point of view or an angle to hurt our country," he said.

The CNA report stated that Malaysia Day was supposed to be an occasion to strengthen unity of all Malaysians but was allegedly taken advantage of by certain parties to sow discord and disunity through protests with a racial overtone.

In rebuttal, Salleh said the foreign media was determined to spoil the good name of Malaysia with reports based on dubious sources.

He opined that the negative reports were initiated not only by the outsiders but also a certain group of people in the country.

Salleh said the majority of the people and leaders of the country had expressed their full support to the Prime Minister, adding that "such acts divulge the futile path".

"The issues they raised on 1MDB and a RM2.6 billion political donation have been answered...The Prime Minister has said 1MDB's account must be audited and a report was sent to the Public Accounts Malaysia (PAC)... So let PAC carry out the investigation.

"The government has also plans on 1MDB's rationalisation (recovery) and we believe within six months, these problems can be solved,"he said.

On the US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) which was channelled into Najib's personal bank account, Salleh said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption (MACC) had said it came from donors as a political donation.

Salleh said so far there was no law in the country that "bars anyone from collecting money for political purposes".

MACC was quoted as saying in a statement recently that it knew the identity of the donor who had banked in RM2.6 billion into Najib’s personal account.

1MDB is a sovereign wealth fund.