Tan Sri Annuar Musa speaks to reporters at Parliament in Kuala Lumpur July 11, 2019. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

IPOH, July 12 — Lim Kit Siang today openly apologised to Tan Sri Annuar Musa for insulting the Umno secretary-general’s intelligence when the latter was an alumnus of the University College London (UCL).

He noted that Annuar must be “bright” if he could hold a Master’s degree in construction management from UCL, which has produced such illustrious personages around the world like Mahatma Gandhi, Alexander Bell, John Stuart Mill, Robert Browning, John Fleming, Walter Bagehot, Rabindranath Tagore and even Khairy Jamaluddin.

“Annuar’s curriculum vitae is impressive as he holds a master’s degree in construction management from the University College London, which produced great men.

“How could a person who is ‘not bright or with low IQ’ obtain such qualification? Therefore, I withdraw my statement and apologise,” Lim said in a statement.

He said Annuar must have lost his “moral moorings” in commending the appointment of Datuk Seri Najib Razak as chairman of the Barisan Nasional (BN) advisory board when the Pekan MP is now on trial for corruption and has been linked to other scandals involving other Malaysian institutions like Tabung Haji, the Federal Land Development Authority and Felcra Berhad.

“But, something has happened to his moral moorings as he regards a den of thieves as a chamber of saints and idolises Najib,” Lim said.

Najib, who is facing 42 charges of money laundering, criminal breach of trust and abuse of power, was appointed to his advisory role on Tuesday.

Lim previously laughed off Annuar and claimed the latter has “low IQ” for calling Najib an asset to BN following his appointment.

He said that Annuar’s glorification of Najib’s appointment was astounding and unbelievable.

“Soon, only those who face criminal charges, whether corruption, abuse of power or money-laundering would be the ones who are per-qualified for leadership positions in BN,” he added.

*A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.