Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi was commenting on reports that the government would be filing for a gag and prohibitive order in the High Court to stop the public from discussing the former prime minister’s bid to serve the remainder of his SRC International sentence under house arrest.

“This has fuelled speculation and negative assumptions on social media, damaging the government’s credibility,” he said in a Facebook post.

He also said it would be in the government’s best interest for the Attorney-General’s Chambers to abandon its pursuit of the order. Otherwise, it risked fuelling the belief that the government was “hiding more secrets”, he said.

Yesterday, senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan said Najib’s lead counsel Shafee Abdullah had objected when he made an oral application for the order.

Justice Hayatul Akmal Abdul Azi took note of the objection and directed the government to file a formal application by Jan 20.

Muda had also criticised the government for seeking the gag order, saying Putrajaya should not curb free speech on the matter.

The youth party asked if there were personal interests behind the move, saying the government’s application reflected its fear of maintaining transparency in the matter.