Saying this question bothered many discerning Malaysians on both sides of the political divide, he warned that Malaysia must not be inadvertently politically compromised, as a result of being lorded over economically by China.
Dzulkefly said in a statement that there were many questions regarding Putrajaya’s current wooing of China that Prime Minister Najib Razak had to answer.
This includes giving the contract to be a master builder for the Bandar Malaysia project to a China-Malaysia consortium and then withdrawing it, to seek other China partners.
“Coming close on the heels of the controversies surrounding the 1MDB-IPIC arbitration ‘settlement’, the PM’s unilateral decision in relying on one superpower to help build Malaysia is at best disconcerting, if not outrightly imprudent.”
He was referring to a dispute between 1MDB and Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company, or IPIC, over payments which IPIC said it did not receive but 1MDB said it had paid. It was later settled, but 1MDB now has to pay the money owed.
Malaysian taxpayers via the ministry of finance (MoF) now have to bear the burden of about RM26.4 billion in payments to IPIC.
Dzulkefly said: “The need for a wider debate or consultation from pertinent stakeholders, on pursuing such aggressive and excessive investment from China, has never been entertained, much less desired.
“What are Malaysians to make out of all these ‘wheeling and dealing’, especially with an economic super powerhouse like China, that they least understand? “
Describing Najib’s wooing of China as a “frantic move”, he said it appeared that the prime minister was in a “desparate rush” to “solve his immediate predicament but seems oblivious of the grave downsides of doing so, on a longer time-line”.
He suggested that an open tender be called for the development of Bandar Malaysia.
“Najib must be strongly reprimanded that while the nation is in dire need of foreign investment, we deserve a better and a longer range view of the nation’s sovereignty, dignity and destiny. Malaysia must not be inadvertently politically compromised, as a result of being lorded over, economically by the Peoples Republic of China.”