KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad should refrain from making comments that can hurt Malaysia’s image and efforts to attract more foreign direct investments (FDI), said a Gerakan leader.
Gerakan secretary-general Datuk Liang Teck Meng said the former prime minister’s ill-judged remarks on alleged negative repercussions of China’s investments in Johor could create fear among citizens and investors and kill off potential investments.
“My Tuanku has rightly pointed out what is felt by many Johoreans,” he said in support of Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, who rapped Dr Mahathir for his comments on development projects such as Forest City in Johor.
In an interview with a local English daily, Sultan Ibrahim was quoted as saying that Dr Mahathir had gone too far in twisting the Forest City issue by claiming that some 700,000 mainland Chinese would stay there while huge tracts of land had been sold to the Chinese.
Liang told Bernama, Dr Mahathir’s inconsistent views on many national issues were akin to throwing stones at himself, as many of the policies he criticised were introduced by his administration.
Liang, who is also member of parliament for Simpang Renggam, echoed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s statement that getting FDI did not mean that Malaysia had been sold off to foreigners.
“Look at Singapore, they are developing so well and if Johor does not compete with Singapore to attract more FDI, we stand to lose out,” he said.
Prof Dr Ahmad Martadha Mohamed of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) said it would be ill-judged to stop Chinese investors from coming to the country when the economic superpower was investing in many other countries. — Bernama