INVESTMENT, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has hit back at Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad over the latter’s accusation that he was “over-excited” over a report that misquoted the former prime minister.
In a series of tweets yesterday (July 11) night, Tengku Zafrul said his responsibility is to scrutinise potential ventures and dispel any negative perceptions about how investments are managed, not rectify any reports that misquoted the 98-year-old veteran politician.
“I am the MITI minister, not your political secretary,” he said, referring to his ministry’s acronym.
The Dewan Negara senator went on to question the delay from Dr Mahathir’s end to have the information on the report rectified to reflect the correct numbers.
“Tun, the Sinar Harian report came out on Saturday, July 8. I commented on this matter on Monday night, July 10, and the report was amended only after that on July 11. Didn’t any of your aides reach out to Sinar Harian and request the report be corrected?” he asked.
“Or did you purposely choose not to rectify the report as it was more sensational and made it look as if you were so great?”
In a video yesterday Tengku Zafrul said that his ministry will roll out the red carpet from “airport to hotel” to welcome Dr Mahathir’s RM500 bil investor, citing the Sinar Harian report before it was amended.
He said the amount, if it were true, would be a remarkable milestone for Malaysia as previously, the highest investment in the country’s history was RM309 bil, and that was from various sources throughout the country in one year.
On the same day, Dr Mahathir took to social media to say that the report had since been amended to reflect the actual sum he had stated, which is RM500 mil and not RM500 bil.
He sarcastically pointed out that Tengku Zafrul seemed a little “over-excited” by the inaccurate report saying that he met investors who wanted to invest up to RM500 bil in Langkawi.
In the same series of tweets, Tengku Zafrul said he does not care who was responsible for bringing in the investments because it was the public who would reap the benefits.
“If it is true that there are investors who are keen to pour RM500 mil into Langkawi, please let MITI know so that we can help facilitate the investment.” – July 12, 2023
