In an interview with FMT, Mohd Arshad Raji, who led the Malaysian contingent of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cambodia from 1992 to 1993, said China went into Cambodia in a big way after the end of the civil war there, building roads and bridges.
Nowadays, he said, most of Cambodia’s military equipment came from China. “That’s where the real money is,” he added.
He warned that China would “would give you a bit now, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
But Arshad, who last served as the Royal Malaysian Army’s Chief of Staff for Field Headquarters, said he wasn’t against China in particular but any form of foreign investment which could pose security threats to the country.
“I’m not anti-government,” he said. “I just want the government to exercise caution in making decisions so that no one foreign power can have too much influence over the country.”
He said he was particularly concerned over the RM43 billion Malacca Gateway Project being jointly developed by Malaysian company KAJ Developments and China’s PowerChina International.
He questioned whether Malaysia would have full control of the port and the final say on its design and management.
“Does Malacca really need such a huge port? We don’t want a situation where the port is used for other purposes.”
A recent Singapore Straits Times report quoted an analyst from the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies as saying there was a strategic element in the Malacca Gateway project.
“It always starts with an economic presence, which can then develop into a naval one, because China will be obliged to ensure the safe passage of its commercial ships,” said the analyst, Johan Saravanamuttu.
Arshad said this was why it was important for big projects, especially those involving foreigners and security implications, to be debated in Parliament first.
“Everything we do must be in the best interest of the country,” he said. “This is why we can’t simply enter into agreements which could be detrimental to us. I really hope the government would study all this more carefully.”
Analyst: Is RM43b Melaka Gateway for China trade or military?