Home Ministry should have gone after the 1MDB officials over the missing billions of ringgit instead of The Edge, said Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua.

“Malaysians want to know why the Home Ministry is intimidating the media with regards to its dutiful reporting on the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal?,” he questioned.

“The degree of intimidation is so brazen and crass that the show cause letter did not even specify the allegedly offending articles,” he said.

He also questioned Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on what basis the ministry had issued the show cause letter against The Edge Publications.

“In fact, it would have made more sense if the Home Minister had issued a show cause letter to The Edge or other local publications for publishing some of the statements issued by the top management of 1MDB, which have since been proven to be outright lies,” he said.

The Edge Media Group has sought an extension of seven days to reply in detail to a show cause letter from the Home Ministry on why action should not be taken against Edge Malaysia and the Edge Financial Daily under the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984 for publishing alleged inaccurate articles on 1MDB.