“I want to go to China as early as possible, and will head there in August,” he said at a press conference here.

He added that former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, who leads the Council of Eminent Persons, would also be heading to China at an earlier date.

“I think he wants to talk with the Chinese about some contracts. He is free to do what he likes. Whatever advice he can give, he can give it to me but I can reject his advice,” he told reporters after a Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting.

Mahathir said several issues would be brought up during his trip to China, including alleged unfairness in the terms of contract for the ECRL project and the loan involved.

“The interest rates are also of concern to us because they are much higher than what the government usually borrows. Normally it is 3% and below. This is very high.”

Other matters which Mahathir addressed during the press conference:

On Low Taek Jho’s whereabouts and reports that he is in Macau

I have not been following the voyages of Jho Low, so I don’t know where he is.

It is up to the people tasked with tracing him and dealing with all the problems caused by 1MDB.

On complaints by former prime minister Najib Razak’s family that the act of freezing their bank accounts was a form of revenge

Why would we want to take revenge? When they (the previous government) did (similar things), we didn’t complain. My friends had their accounts frozen, they didn’t complain.

This is an accusation. They can take it to court if they feel they have been wronged.

On the government’s stand on controversial Indian preacher Zakir Naik

As long as he is not creating any problems, we won’t deport him because he has PR status.

On who will be contesting the Sungai Kandis by-election

We have not shortlisted the candidates.

On whether the PH logo or the PKR logo will be used in the by-election

The PKR logo will be used as PH does not want to confuse the people.

On a report that Khazanah Nasional is straying from its mission

It is quite obvious that they are doing all kinds of funny things. They are buying houses, taking over companies.

They were formed to buy shares allocated to Bumiputeras, because when they (the Bumiputeras) buy, they sell to others. So we created Khazanah. They should go back to their original purpose.

ECRL main contractor ‘upset’, hopes suspension will be lifted