Dr M to Najib: You're to blame for Malaysia lagging behind neighbours

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak, not Pakatan Harapan, is the one responsible for Malaysia lagging behind other neighbouring countries, says Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The former prime minister said this in a Twitter thread where he blamed Najib's “silly agreements” and “overpriced projects”.

In the thread, Dr Mahathir claimed Najib’s “corruption of the government” and his initiation of "overpriced" major projects which favoured certain parties but brought no benefit to the people were the cause of the problem.

"Who is he asking to focus on the economy? It cannot be Pakatan Harapan as he (Najib) engineered the backdoor change of government, not once but twice,” he said.

The Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) chairman urged Najib to ask Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob why Malaysia was still lagging behind its neighbours, now that Umno was in power.

It was reported on July 12 that Najib, the former prime minister, had said the country was lagging behind its neighbours and blamed it on the Pakatan Harapan government’s decision to call off many projects.

The Pekan MP was quoted as saying the 2018 general election (which brought Pakatan into power) had set the country behind, and he was worried that those in Pakatan, now in Opposition, wanted to reclaim power.

A high-speed rail (HSR) link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, proposed by Najib’s government, came under scrutiny by his successors.

Dr Mahathir then defended his decision to postpone the high-speed rail (HSR) project.

Dr Mahathir said going ahead with it would only have drained the Treasury.

He added that the money was needed to repay Najib’s previous borrowings.

In 2018, Dr Mahathir decided to postpone the HSR project citing its high cost.

In 2020, the Perikatan Nasional government, led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, scrapped the project and proposed in its place a KL-Johor HSR line.

Malaysia was then forced to pay RM320mil to Singapore in compensation for cancelling the project.

PLUNDERER'S TWIST 1. It is amazing. Najib is at it again. He is blatantly blaming others for the situation that he himself created. [A Thread] — Dr Mahathir Mohamad (@chedetofficial) July 20, 2022