A portal, which is a staunch defender of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, noted that PAS has yet to sue Sarawak Report over the allegation it received RM90 million from Umno.

MyKMU.net, which claimed that Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad has asked pro-tem president Muhyiddin Yassin to approach PAS, urged the latter to remind PAS about the lawsuit.

"Since the allegation surfaced in August, PAS took a month or so to start its legal action against Sarawak Report. Now, it has been two months, but the suit has yet to materialise.

"The last (development) was that PAS purportedly submitted all the documents to a renowned lawyer in London, but the story ended there," MyKMU.net added.

The portal also pointed out that even the identity of the lawyer was not disclosed.

In view of this, it said, PAS supporters should take heed of the fact that it is not easy to sue outsiders who make accusations.

Najib faces similar hurdles

Citing the different legal environment abroad, the portal said Najib is also facing similar hurdles in taking legal action against Sarawak Report editor Claire Rewcastle-Brown.

The prime minister's detractors have repeatedly challenged him to haul Sarawak Report and The Wall Street Journal to court on their reports concerning 1MDB and other related matters.

According to them, Najib has never hesitated in filing defamation suits against local political opponents and media publications.

On Aug 13, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said legal action would be taken against Sarawak Report within a month, and that the suit would be filed in the United Kingdom.

"We have decided to bring the case to UK courts as we understand that the media (Sarawak Report) is based there.

"We know a senior lawyer, a Queen's Counsel, who had dealt with us on a previous case.

"(It will be done) at the soonest, within one month," Hadi had told a press conference then.

PAS leaders were incensed by a commentary published in Sarawak Report a week earlier, which stated:

"He (Najib) has gone on to ‘woo’ the PAS Islamic party away from the opposition coalition in the normal way he woos - RM90 million is widely reckoned to have flowed into the top echelons of PAS in recent months."

Rewcastle-Brown later clarified that the report clearly stated that this was what was "widely reckoned", and not something that it claimed to have happened.