“Today The Wall Street Journal’s lies and total disregard for the facts in its reporting on Malaysia have been proven again,” said the press secretary to Prime Minister Najib Razak in a statement today.

Sariffuddin attacked WSJ’s multiple reports prior to Muhammad Ibrahim’s appointment as governor, which had said that Najib had appointed Treasury Secretary-General Irwan Serigar Abdullah as the new governor and that Irwan was linked to state investment arm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

“This was said despite no announcement having been made and was based on anonymous sources.

“The new governor has been named today – and it is Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim, the current deputy governor,” said Sariffuddin.

WSJ had most recently in March reported that the Finance Ministry’s “top bureaucrat, Irwan Serigar Abdullah, was expected to be named as the new central bank head by the government in the coming week”.

“Mr Najib is chairman of 1MDB’s board of advisers that oversees the fund. Mr Irwan, as a senior ministry official, is a member of that board,” read the report.

Sariffuddin said that it was a shame that many believe WSJ’s reporting on Malaysia, claiming that WSJ is allowing itself to be “used as the willing vehicle of Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s Anti-Najib Campaign, just for the sake of sensational headlines”.

“The most basic duty of any journalist is to check the facts, especially if the allegations are serious and from political opponents.

“But the WSJ continues to report anonymously sourced lies as facts,” said Sariffuddin.

“They are a disgrace to journalism. As today proved again, Malaysians can’t believe anything they say.”