Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today said the recent royal commission of inquiry into the foreign exchange losses suffered in the 1990s was in response to calls made by politicians, including DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

In his New Year's message, Najib said the RCI, which looked into Bank Negara's losses from forex market speculation during the tenure of then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was part of the government's stepped-up effort to ensure good governance.

"2017 also marked a different milestone, for it was a year in which we redoubled our efforts to ensure good governance in all sectors – which included not allowing past mistakes to remain unaddressed.

"Some politicians, such as Lim Kit Siang (photo), had long called for an RCI into the forex losses between 1992 and 1994. Last year we answered that call by forming an eminent panel to investigate.

"They concluded that Bank Negara incurred losses of RM31.5 billion during that time which, they said, had 'a significant negative impact on the economy of the country, whereby it deprived the country of development opportunities'," the prime minister stated.

The opposition had accused Najib of trying to distract from the 1MDB scandal with the forex RCI by shining a spotlight on Mahathir, who is now in the opposition.

However, Najib said Malaysians have a right to know what happened in the past.

Najib made no mention of 1MDB in his 36-paragraph message, in which he recapped the events in the country throughout the year.

He had previously denied wrongdoing or taking public funds for personal gain.

In 2017, Najib said a "newly reinvigorated" MACC had also shown that wrongdoers will be rooted out.

The prime minister also highlighted his announcement from July that stated the government was cracking down on the culture of crony capitalism created by a "former leader," in an apparent reference to Mahathir (photo).

"The Malaysian people have paid a heavy price so that a few of friends of this former leader could make enormous profits, no matter what the cost to the people.

"We made it clear that this has to end. Lapses of governance, in either the private or the public sector, cannot be tolerated.

"They must be investigated and rectified – not just because this is necessary for Malaysia to continue on its path to high-income status, but because the people deserve nothing less," he said.