Najib: Will crooked bridge revival benefit the rakyat?

KUALA LUMPUR: The government must look into whether the “crooked bridge” project will benefit the rakyat, says Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The former prime minister said there was a big challenge because Singapore refused to demolish its half of the Causeway link between the city-state and Johor.

“When I was prime minister, I asked my Singaporean counterpart about the matter and they refused because they said their existing Causeway could still be used for another 30 years.

“I also asked them to deconstruct the Causeway to make way for a new bridge fitting for this era, but did not get the Singaporean gov­ernment’s agreement,” Najib told reporters at Parliament lobby yesterday.

He also said it would make for an odd sight if Malaysia were to construct a new bridge and combine it with Singapore’s old Cause­way.

Najib said when the project was cancelled during the tenure of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a large sum in compensation was paid to the contractor involved.

Separately, Najib declined to comment when asked about him being questioned at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters for six hours on Tuesday.

“I don’t want to comment," he said.

Najib was questioned by the MACC on a fresh case involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

He is currently facing a total of 32 charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power related to 1MDB as well as its subsidiary SRC Inter­national.