KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — Senator Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said Malaysia would usher in a RM500 million investment in Langkawi, Kedah, even if this was not the RM500 billion that a news outlet incorrectly reported Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as saying.

Responding to the former prime minister’s criticism of him earlier today, Tengku Zafrul said it was his express duty as the investment, trade and industry minister to question Dr Mahathir’s claim of such an investment from the now-corrected Sinar Harian report.

He said it was not his job to correct remarks attributed to Dr Mahathir in the report, which he pointed had stood for over three days and was corrected only after Tengku Zafrul questioned the implausibility of Langkawi being the destination of RM500 billion in investments.

"But back to my original remark. I said it matters not who brings in the investment as it would be Malaysian who benefit when investments come in.

"So, if there really is a potential RM500 million investment for Langkawi, inform Miti of the investor’s details and we will help facilitate this,” he said in a statement today.

Earlier today, Dr Mahathir mocked Tengku Zafrul as "overexcited” in correcting the former over the reported claim of a RM500 billion investment for Langkawi.

The ex-PM also called Tengku Zafrul unfit for his ministerial position and challenged the latter to list out the investments that have been realized in his time as a Cabinet member.

On Saturday, Sinar Harian reported Dr Mahathir as claiming no minister would meet him despite his contact with an investor wanting to invest RM500 billion in Langkawi.

Tengku Zafrul published a video questioning the figure on Sunday, in which he said the highest investment that the entirety of Malaysia has ever managed was RM309 billion in a year.

Today, Sinar Harian issued a correction to say reported figure was RM500 million.