DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang said today Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak appeared to be suffering from the worst denial syndrome ever, for claiming that the country is merely facing a "problem of noise" amid the 1MDB scandal.

"Najib's denial syndrome is the worst among all the six Malaysian prime ministers when he can regard the Singapore and Swiss crackdowns on multi-billion ringgit 1MDB embezzlement, money-laundering and corruption as 'a problem of noise'.

"The prime minister cannot be more wrong, and he must be told in no uncertain terms that his premiership is now a liability and no more an asset to foreign investors weighing their options about their investments in Malaysia – unless he can come clean on the various financial and mismanagement scandals haunting and hounding the country for over a year," Lim said in a statement today.

'A problem of perception'

Yesterday, Najib told investors, at the World Economic Forum in Kuala Lumpur when asked how his government would re-establish trust among investors, that the country was merely experiencing "noise".

“The problem is a problem of perception, the problem is a problem of noise. The noise level is rather high, I admit it.

"But it belies the strong fundamentals and commitment (of) the Malaysian government to continued reforms," Najib was quoted as saying.

However, Lim said it beggars disbelief to dismiss the criminal action in Singapore and Switzerland against BSI Bank for violations in the handling of 1MDB-linked funds as a "high noise level".

The investigations have led to the closure of the BSI Bank branch in Singapore while the main bank in Switzerland was instructed to be dissolved after acquisition of EFG International as well as the prosecution of BSI bankers.

Lim pointed out that the government's downplaying of the 1MDB scandal came amid the Edelman Trust Barometer Annual Global Study 2016 finding early this year that public trust in the Malaysian government had fallen from 46 to 39 percent.

"I dare say that public trust in Putrajaya, and in particular in Najib as the prime minister, would have plunged further to unprecedented and precipitous depths in the last quarter, with all the clampdowns and lies in and out of Parliament," he said.

For this reason, Lim added, the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections should be a colloquium on the 1MDB scandal.