Group: Probe letter asking for CIA backing

PETALING JAYA: The National Patriots Association wants authorities to probe a purported intelligence unit in the Prime Minister’s Department and its officials who were involved in a letter appealing to the United States to support Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s administration.

Referring to a report by a news portal which revealed that a letter from the Research Division in the Prime Minister’s Department was sent to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Gina Haspel five days before the 14th general election, the association urged an immediate investigation.

“All guilty persons should be punished and an example set to all current officials in the Government, security forces personnel and politicians,” said Patriots president Brig Jen (Rtd) Datuk Mohamed Arshad Raji in a statement.

He said the letter discussed internal security and foreign policy matters that should not have been shared.

Mohamed Arshad also criticised the Najib administration for pandering to both sides of the conflict, referring to the tug-of-war between China and the United States.

He said the administration had tacitly supported China’s domi- nance in the South China Sea, while declaring that Malaysia was pro-United States and supported its presence in the region.

Patriots also called on the Government to investigate the “purported covert involvement” of British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica in the previous election.

“It was fortunate that a month before GE14, Cambridge Analytica got into trouble for mining illegal Facebook data of subscribers and had to wind down its business.

“The dark episode of the covert activities of Cambridge Analytica serves as lessons learnt for our men in the intelligence service, security forces, and those in national security,” added Mohamed Arshad.

Separately, Najib was quoted by a news portal yesterday as saying that he did not instruct the Research Division in the Prime Minister’s Department to pen a letter to the CIA seeking US support ahead of the May 9 general election.

The former prime minister also claimed he had no knowledge about the letter and what was reported in the correspondence.

“I am surprised ... I did not even know of its existence. Not all letters have to go through me,” Najib was quoted as saying.