Dr Mahathir Mohamad committed the ultimate betrayal of Malaysia when he requested foreign powers to intervene and topple the government that was elected by Malaysians, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak.

All this, he said, was because of the former prime minister's selfish political interests.

"Malaysia under this government will never allow foreign interference in our internal affairs. All their (detractors') attempts have failed, and will continue to fail," he said in a statement posted on his blog site.

In the item headlined 'Foreign Interference, Deliberate Sabotage and Double Standards', the minister said: "It must be very frustrating for the WSJ (The Wall Street Journal) and those behind them that with each attack, Malaysia, the government, Barisan Nasional and the prime minister grow stronger."

Salleh noted that for over a year, the American newspaper had launched attack after attack against Malaysia.

"But not a single one of these attacks has The Wall Street Journal been able to provide concrete documentary evidence or name the people who are making the allegations it reports. So how can we believe anything they write?" he said.

Salleh said that the WSJ had now admitted that 1MDB's planned initial public offering (IPO) did not proceed due to negative reporting.

"The truth is that the IPO was deliberately sabotaged. Specific media like the WSJ conducted a global campaign, acting as the willing vehicles of politically motivated forces like Mahathir Mohamad.

"They knew the sabotaged IPO would lead to financial problems at 1MDB. If the company is left alone to proceed with its rationalisation programme, it will succeed," the minister said.

Salleh said the irony was that the campaign against Malaysia came at a time when serious questions were being raised about the links between business and politics in the WSJ's own country.

"Are we to believe that the Department of Justice's only investigation relates to Malaysia? How many US individuals and entities are the Department of Justice investigating? Why doesn't the WSJ have teams dedicated to reporting on this with the same obsession?" he asked.

All of these, he said, betrayed the fact that there were double standards - one set of rules for the West and another for developing countries such as Malaysia which refused to be subservient.

- Bernama