TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said that Datuk Seri Najib Razak – and not Pakatan Harapan (PH) – was responsible for Malaysia lagging behind its neighbours, adding that it was Najib’s “overpriced projects” and “corruption of the Government” that had caused the problem.
The former prime minister also blamed the country’s predicament happening due to “huge amounts of money Najib borrowed, which have now disappeared”, and the Pekan MP’s initiation of major projects which were overpriced and favoured certain parties but brought no benefit to the people.
“[Because that we have] to settle the huge debts he had incurred, there is no money left to develop the country,” Dr Mahathir said in a Twitter thread.
“What does he expect the Government, that defeated him, to do? Overlook all the crimes he has committed?”
Last week, Najib, in a Facebook post, expressed his “concerns” about the performance of the Malaysian economy and said that the country was lagging behind its neighbours because of the PH government’s decision to call off many projects.
Najib also claimed that the cancellations were politically motivated and done out of spite.
On defending the PH government’s decision to postpone the high-speed rail (HSR) project, Mahathir noted that going ahead with the project would only have drained the Treasury at a time when they need to repay Najib’s previous borrowings.
In 2018, the Mahathir-led PH government decided to postpone the HSR project citing its high cost.
In 2020, the Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin-led Perikatan Nasional government scrapped the project and proposed in its place a KL-Johor HSR line. Malaysia was then forced to pay RM320 mil to Singapore in compensation for cancelling the project.
Mahathir went on to question Najib’s position of asking to focus on the country’s economy, as he was the one that had engineered the backdoor change of Government – not once, but twice.
“Obviously the first change was not to his liking [but] now, he has managed to have his party as the Government. Well, ask his party, ask the UMNO Prime Minister, why are we lagging behind now that Najib’s party is in power?
“It sounds like Najib’s twisting of facts and accusing others of the crimes he had committed. He stole billions of ringgit which affected the development of Malaysia. Yet he puts the blame on PH which he brought down through the back door.” – July 20, 2022
