Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak has rejected DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang’s suggestion that he needs tutors to be schooled on the government’s financial scandals.

“I do not need tutoring from (DAP lawmaker) Tony (Pua), like Kit Siang does, to understand something so fundamental,” said Salleh in a blog post, in relation to the 1MDB issue.

He said what Lim had listed down were merely operational issues involved in doing business.

Salleh pointed out how it is normal practice for companies to raise funds from various sources to buy assets and do business unless the company starts business with a huge paid-up capital.

“And in 1MDB's case the start-up capital was only RM1 million.

“The issue here is did 1MDB physically lose RM42 billion like what has been alleged?” he asked, citing former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad who said that RM42 billion had “disappeared into thin air”.

This, therefore, would mean 1MDB has nothing to show for it, added Salleh.

“That is not true because 1MDB has RM51 billion worth of assets to show for it plus ongoing development for the next couple of decades.”

Meanwhile, on the BMF and Bank Negara forex issues, Salleh said those were real and physical losses with no benefit to the country.

“On the other hand, 1MDB is a going concern. Maybe Kit Siang should change tutors if Tony did not explain this to him,” he added.

Lim in a statement today said Salleh can be tutored on the 1MDB scandal by Pua.

Pua had during a Save Malaysia roundtable yesterday shared slides claiming that the government was exposed to more than RM39.8 billion in debt from government-backed bonds for 1MDB - not inclusive of loans related to Bandar Malaysia and the Tun Razak Exchange.

Commenting on the Save Malaysia roundtable, Salleh said he did not attend the event as it was not about saving Malaysia but had other ulterior motives and hidden agendas.