Transparency International president Muhammad Mohan said this money was on top of the compensation that has to be paid to Singapore. It will all be taxpayers money, so the rakyat have the right to know, he said.

“At least on the Malaysian side of the project, the government should reveal the details of the cost so far.

“They are using taxpayers money, after all, to pay the compensation,” he told FMT.

Earlier today, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for economic affairs, Mustapa Mohamed said the government could not reveal the cost of compensation after cancelling the project as both countries are bound by a secrecy clause.

Previously, a government source had told FMT that Malaysia would have to pay Singapore some RM320 million in compensation, although former prime minister Najib Razak said this could rise to RM1 billion, given how much Singapore had spent on the project.

Mohan said the rakyat had the right to know the reasons for cancelling, including the terms and conditions of the 350km rail project.

“What is the disagreement about? They should also be transparent with any other information that needs to be revealed on the Malaysian side,” he added.

Cynthia Gabriel, the founding director of Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4), also said the government had to be transparent.

“It’s taxpayers’ money. They are not dealing with their grandfather’s (money),” she told FMT.

She said the “unelected government” must rise above all else and prove to the rakyat that it can be open and accountable.

“If this practice of secrecy continues, we are headed for a more opaque (government) and potential deep corruption,” said Gabriel.

Economist Yeah Kim Leng said the reasons for cancellation and the cost of compensation would be part of good governance and accountability.

“If everything is kept under the veil of secrecy, there will be a negative impact on credibility and good governance.

“Such public projects, typically, are not under direct negotiations but open tender. This can be made public,” said Yeah.

The Sunway University professor added that the project was of public interest and the government should look at ways to make the details public, especially on the Malaysian side.

“If it is cloaked in secrecy, it may create the impression that the government has something to hide,” said Yeah.

Carmelo Ferlito, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), however, said the government may be bound by its secrecy clause.

“If this clause is indeed in place, there is not much the government can do,” he told FMT.

However, Ferlito said that for the sake of transparency, the clause should have been eventually contested earlier by the government.