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I’m standing for freedom of expression, says Najib’s brother

The brother of Prime Minister Najib Razak said yesterday that he was standing up for freedom of expression when he criticised the government’s suspension of a media group which had publishing critical reports of the controversial 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

The brother of Prime Minister Najib Razak said yesterday that he was standing up for freedom of expression when he criticised the government’s suspension of a media group which had publishing critical reports of the controversial 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

“What am I standing for? Freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, that is all,” Mr Nazir Razak told reporters at a Ramadan open house organised by former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Mr Nazir had taken to Instagram last Friday to condemn the Home Ministry’s decision to suspend The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily for three months from today, saying that action should have been taken instead to correct, or to sue the papers, if there was any misreporting.

“This is not defending anyone; this is the principle (of) freedom of the media,” Mr Nazir, the CIMB Group chairman, said yesterday. When asked if he had discussed the issue with Mr Najib, who was also at the event, Mr Nazir said: “I have conversations with my brother. But I won’t share it with you.”

Mr Nazir insisted that “all is okay” in the Razak household despite his disagreements with his elder brother’s administrative decisions.

Mr Nazir has been critical of 1MDB and its directors’ handling of the allegations against the state-owned investment firm, at one point saying they should resign for failing to actively dispel suspicions over its finances.

According to The Edge Media Group, the Home Ministry stated that the reporting of 1MDB by The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily was “prejudicial or likely to be prejudicial to public order, security or likely to alarm public opinion or is likely to be prejudicial to public and national interest”. AGENCIES

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