Tun M's response to CIA report, ludicrous: Salleh

PETALING JAYA: Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak (pix) has described former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's response to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)'s report on the Bumiputera Malaysia Finance Limited (BMF) scandal as "ludicrous".
"Mahathir said that the recently-released CIA report implicating him in the 1983 multi-billion BMF scandal is meant to demonise him. And the reason the CIA wants to demonise him, said Mahathir, is because he criticises the US.
"If that is true why did the CIA wait 34 years to do this? They would have done it when he was still Prime Minister and not now when he is no longer important to the US," he stated in his blogpost, yesterday.
He also pointed out that the document was only a small part of the 13 million pages that the CIA had declassified and made available online.
"The CIA did not declassify just these two pages regarding the BMF issue alone.
"Many countries declassify documents that are classified or under the Official Secrets Act after 25, 35, or more years depending on the sensitivity of those documents," he said.
While some documents remain classified forever, Salleh said Mahathir's suggestion that the CIA declassified 13 million pages of documents aimed at demonising him is ludicrous.
On Wednesday, Mahathir had derided the CIA report alleging his administration’s involvement in the banking scandal during his premiership, saying it was an attempt to demonise him.
He had alleged that the theme of the report was a retaliation by the US over his overt criticism of the country’s policies in the past.