Despite being slaughtered in the May 9th general election, reducing the MCA political party to just one MP, Mr Wee still believe the tainted projects hatched by scandal-plagued Najib Razak should not be axed. He argues the projects could bring tons of benefits but amusingly, not able to quantify them. He has also warned Mahathir of upsetting the mighty China.
Without him realizing it, Wee Ka Siong has admitted that both projects had indeed been inflated by his ex-boss Najib. Indirectly, Wee has also admitted that the previous government, of which he was part of, had signed the deal without giving the terms of the contracts much thought. This confirmed Mahathir’s frustration – that Najib had signed the stupidest deal in the history of mankind.
Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK), the owner of Malaysia Today portal, has gone the extra mile by blaming billionaire Robert Kuok for Mahathir’s inability to bring home whatever he fancy in his just concluded visit to China. Kuok, one of 5 members of Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) set up by Mahathir, is being blamed for not able to fix Najib Razak’s screw-up.
Yes, after spreading fake news that Robert Kuok, Malaysia’s richest man, was sponsoring then-opposition Chinese-DAP party to overthrow a Malay leader Najib Razak, the naughty RPK now wants the tycoon to be kicked out of the special council of advisers. Yeah, right. As if Jedi Kuok really gives a damn about cleaning up truckloads of shit created by the UMNO-Malay leader.
Kuok, argued RPK, was supposed to deliver a free access to China for PM Mahathir. But that was precisely what the billionaire had delivered – red carpet, a Guard of Honour welcome and a joint press conference with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Heck, Mahathir and his wife Hasmah Mohd Ali also attended a dinner hosted by President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan.
What else do they want from Kuok? Hasn’t he opened the right doors in China for Malaysia? Did they expect the billionaire who has since moved his business to Hong Kong from Malaysia in 1975 to whisper to President Xi to subsidize or bailout Malaysia’s East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and two gas pipelines projects instead?
It’s a miracle that RPK, and pro-Najib cybertroopers, propagandists and bloggers for that matter, hasn’t suggested that Robert Kuok should give away his entire US$13.8 billion (Forbes, 22 August, 2018) of wealth to rescue Malaysia from Najib’s screw-up. They talked as if it was Kuok, and not Najib, who was responsible for the country’s RM1 trillion debts.
Not only was Kuok expected to convince Beijing to cancel the controversial project without any compensation to China, the wealthy Chinese businessman was also expected to bring home RM100 billion cheap money to Malaysia. That’s the problem with ethnic-Malay mentality, even when they are in UK – forever expect handouts and freebies without lifting a finger.
Kuok isn’t the Santa Claus and China certainly isn’t a charity house. Mahathir should thank Robert Kuok for being accorded the official state visit to China considering his anti-China rhetoric before the 14th general election. Shahriman Lockman, a senior analyst with Strategic and International Studies, said – “I think Mahathir got the maximum that we could have expected from his visit.”
Chinese has always been a pragmatic race, like it or not. China has said it would take a “long-term” view to resolving any underlying tensions. Had it been Donald Trump and not Xi Jinping, Mahathir would not have came out from the negotiating table declaring that the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and two gas pipelines projects can be cancelled.
Yes, thanks to Robert Kuok, PM Mahathir was granted the permission by Xi Jinping to cancel the wasteful projects – with compensations, or course. China can easily deny Malaysia’s request for the cancellation of the signed contracts simply because it was Najib Razak’s stupidity (or was it his cleverness?) to sign an agreement which didn’t have “any exit clauses”.
China, if they wish to give a tough time to Mahathir, can actually force Malaysia to honour both projects without any delay because without the exit clauses; Malaysia cannot suspend, let alone cancel the deals. Even if Malaysia is prepared to pay the compensations, the value of penalty will be for the entire cost of the projects – RM81 billion for ECRL and RM9.41 billion for gas pipelines.
That explains why Mahathir repeatedly said during the visit it wasn’t China’s fault – “It is not about the Chinese, it is about the (previous) Malaysian government”. And that’s why Mahathir repeatedly said – “Such stupidity has never been seen before in the history of Malaysia”, referring to the “stupidity” of former PM Najib Razak’s government in negotiating contracts and deals.
That also explains why Mahathir dared not raise the issue of South China Sea during his visit to China. Malaysia has to accept the reality of a dominant China in the region and cannot go to war with Beijing over the South China Sea. He told CNN recently – “They are more powerful, and we cannot fight against them. How do we benefit from their wealth and their power?”
In reality, China has already given more face than it should to Malaysia when it agrees to Mahathir’s request to cancel the projects. In fact, Mahathir was so grateful that he brought up the shared history of Malaysia and China, stressing that there has never been any confrontation in the over 2,000-year relationship. And Robert Kuok was instrumental behind Beijing’s generosity.
From The Coverage
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