Critics accuse Najib of selling Malaysia to China
KUANTAN (Reuters) — When Malaysia’s political parties unfurled their election flags and banners this month, Prime Minister Najib Razak’s critics sniggered on social media that the manufacturer named on banners of his ruling coalition was Chinese. Mahathir Mohamad, who heads an alliance hoping to oust Najib, has seized on popular disquiet about Chinese investment pouring into Malaysia and turned it into an election issue. Najib, he says, is selling Malaysia out to China. This could matter for Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and for Malaysia’s economy because Mahathir, who was the country’s prime minister for more than two decades, has vowed to reconsider Chinese contracts if the opposition wins on May 9. “Coming in here, buying land, developing luxurious towns, is not beneficial for us,” the 92-yearold former leader said of China’s investments in a recent interview with Reuters. “Quite definitely, we will review.”
Najib has repeatedly shrugged off Mahathir’s barbs on China, saying that allowing foreign direct investment does not amount to selling the country’s sovereignty.
A senior leader in the ruling coalition, commenting on the banners made in China, said: “The opposition are doing the same thing ... because simply it is cheap and efficient.”
A Nomura report this month on the Belt and Road Initiative showed that Malaysia is one of the largest beneficiaries of Chinese investment commitments in Asia, securing $34.2 billion of BRI-related infrastructure projects.
There have been concerns in some BRI host countries, such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan, about rising debts levels, over-reliance on China and the environmental impact of mega-projects. Critics also say some projects give China access to strategic locations and trade corridors that could hurt the sovereignty of nations.
Objections to Chinese investments in Malaysia, however, have focused on the presence of thousands of Chinese workers, heavy dependence on Chinese materials, and limited opportunities for local companies.
For instance, the $100-billion township project by Chinese developer Country Garden in the Iskandar Malaysia special economic zone of Johor state, has ruffled feathers in a bastion of support for Najib’s United Malays National Organization.
Johor locals complain that large numbers of Chinese people have been allowed to own properties in the project, which is called Forest City. Last year, Chinese nationals accounted for about 70 percent of apartment buyers there.
Other grievances over Forest City have included environmental damage, a property market glut, and the impact of land reclamation on the local fishing industry.