The recent Wikileaks revelations of scathing observations about the New Economic Model (NEM) and the Malaysian civil service by top Malaysian officials to US diplomats are just “personal opinions” with no impact on policy, said Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Mukhriz Mahathir.

“As long as those are not the policy of the main body, than it is just personal opinions, as far as I am concerned,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the SME Innovation Showcase in Kuala Lumpur today.

mukhriz mahathir khir toyo khairy jamaluddin hujah dialogue 180209 08What is important, he stressed, is the general policy adopted by the government, not the casual opinion of one or two officials.

Mukhriz (right) also posited that Wikileaks itself needs to be verified before it can be taken seriously as the origins of the ‘leaks’ are also in question.

Yesterday, several news portals picked up cables leaked by whistleblower website Wikileaks.

In these, officials of the National Economic Action Council who expressed fears that the NEM is just a public relations exercise without any longstanding impact.

A former official of the Economic Planning Unit was quoted as criticising the Malaysian civil service of being “too Malay, too Umno, too bloated”.

This is not the first time the infamous Wikileaks disclosure of US State Department communiques with its embassies have mentioned Malaysia.

Previous ‘leaks’ involving Malaysia included the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder, stolen jet engines and the sodomy trial of Anwar Ibrahim.