Malaysia's 1MDB should change communications tack

OPAQUE or non-transparent state-owned funds in Malaysia are so 1990s. Then, many of Malaysia's deep-pocketed state-linked funds were shrouded in relative secrecy and slammed for their lack of transparency.

Post Asian financial crisis and a sweeping reform of Malaysia Inc in the early 2000s, their boards and top management were revamped. With that, there was a promise of better governance. To a great extent, much has improved.

But the country's five-year-old sovereign wealth fund (SWF), 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), is tampering with that credential.