KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said that Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz could have brought in more investment if he showed the same enthusiasm in his work as how he did in highlighting an allegedly false news report of him meeting an investor who wanted to invest RM500 billion in Langkawi.
Dr Mahathir said that the investment, trade and industry minister’s “over-excited” character made him jump the gun to comment on the supposed record investment.
“Even before the publisher corrected the RM500 billion to RM500 million, Tengku Zafrul had already made a video explaining in detail the highest investment recorded in the country.
“If Tengku Zafrul’s over-excited nature towards inaccurate reports is also present in him when getting investors to Malaysia, I am confident that the country’s dark and gloomy economic situation can be overturned,” he posted on Twitter.
Earlier today, Tengku Zafrul was reported saying that his ministry will roll out the red carpet from “airport to hotel” to welcome Dr Mahathir’s RM500 billion investor, if this was indeed true.
Tengku Zafrul said it would be a remarkable milestone for Malaysia, as previously, the highest investment in the country’s history was RM309 billion, and that was nationally for an entire year.
Dr Mahathir reportedly told Sinar Harian last Saturday that he had met with an investor looking to invest RM500 billion into Langkawi, but claimed that no minister wanted to meet with him.
Sinar Harian today however issued a correction, stating that the figure reported should have been RM500 million.
Dr Mahathir told Tengku Zafrul that making announcements on various proposals and the signing of dozens of investment-related memorandums of understanding without a final decision will not develop the country’s economy.
He also requested Tengku Zafrul to detail out the investments that have been entered into and finalised in Malaysia since he became a minister under this administration.
Dr Mahathir also said that he was surprised to see Tengku Zafrul being appointed as minister under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who had previously criticised him for taking care of banks instead of the people.
“Maybe there is something special [on Tengku Zafrul] that we don’t see yet,” he added.
