“That is bordering on wishful thinking and being delusional. What makes them think that with so many issues to worry about the whole world is focused on just one issue: 1MDB?” the minister of Communications and Multimedia said in his latest blog posting.

He was referring to a video clip that has gone viral of the US president at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation in Lima, Peru, in which he said: “There are limits to our (US) reach in other countries if they’re determined to oppress their people, or not provide girls education or siphon off development funds into Swiss bank accounts because they’re corrupt…”

Salleh scoffed at the idea that Obama was referring to Najib and 1MDB, and argued that with the many conflicts in the world, the US President surely did not have time for only “one issue”.

“First they say Najib is scared of leaving Malaysia for fear that the US will arrest him. Now they say the US President attacked Najib in his speech,” Salleh said, arguing that Obama was merely making a general reference to US policy and was not, as Mahathir said, making a direct reference to Najib.

He also clarified that Obama had in fact said in clear terms that the US could not interfere in the internal matters of another country.

“So maybe Obama was referring to Mahathir and not Najib. And this contradicts what Mahathir and his people earlier said: which is the US is going to take action against Najib in a US court.”