Lim said it would be difficult to find a denser statement than that made by Salleh that the WSJ would not convince Malaysians of the truth of its reports if it did not reveal the sources for its stories.
In a blog post critical of the WSJ, Salleh had said: “Not once has a name been provided for these sources. If they actually exist, then why doesn’t the WSJ tell Malaysians who they are? Otherwise how can they expect anything they write to be believed, after being proven wrong so many times?”
Lim countered by saying: “It’s the prime minister and his ministers who have been haemorrhaging from a credibility crisis since the 1MDB global scandal burst on the global scene more than a year ago.”
The DAP Parliamentary Leader added that the WSJ should thank Salleh for giving greater publicity to its latest report about the 1MDB scandal.
Lim asked why, despite the avalanche of foreign media reports on the goings-on at 1MDB and related companies, no one named in these reports had sued these media outlets.
This, he added, showed who actually did not have credibility.
In the same statement, Lim challenged Salleh to state the exact instances when the Sarawak Report website had published false reports or statements.
Noting that Salleh had “abused” his power and blocked the Sarawak Report 10 months ago, he said this had not prevented the whistle-blowing website from continuing its expose of 1MDB.
He charged that Najib’s ministers had been very busy indulging in “sophistry, prevarication, obfuscation and downright evasion” instead of being true and frank about the global financial scandals that the Najib Administration faced.
He warned that there was considerable truth in the claim that for the foreign media, Malaysia was now synonymous with kleptocracy.