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Bloomberg

Chinese investors in Malaysia will face more scrutiny if former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad wins back power in the upcoming election.
Mahathir, the opposition’s candidate for prime minister, said in an interview that Chinese investment was welcome if companies set up operations in Malaysia, employed locals, and brought in capital and technology to the country.
This wasn’t the case now, he said.
“Here we gain nothing from the investment,” Mahathir, 92, said in his office in Kuala Lumpur.
“We don’t welcome that.”
Mahathir’s comments reflect broader concerns about Chinese investment across Asia that have stoked political tensions from Australia to Sri Lanka.
While many countries are eager to benefit from President Xi Jinping’s plan to facilitate hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment throughout the world, they are also wary of becoming too dependent on China.
In Malaysia, Chinese investment has raised concerns over sovereignty and economic inequality. Mahathir referenced plans by Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd. to invest US$100 billion in Johor state to build flats that cost upwards of 1 million ringgit (US$258,000).
The median annual income in Malaysia was 62,736 ringgit in 2016.

“We don’t have enough people with wealth to buy all those very expensive flats, so you’re bringing in foreigners,” Mahathir said.
“No country wants to have an influx of huge numbers of foreign people into their country.”
Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is seeking to extend his premiership for a third term in the general election, has dismissed the opposition’s concerns on Chinese investment as “irresponsible politicians scaremongering.”
Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad on why he’s not ‘anti-China’
A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
“Remember that Malaysian investment into China used to be bigger than Chinese investment in Malaysia, and that we have more Malaysian investments overseas than foreign direct investments in this country,” Najib said at the Invest Malaysia 2018 conference in Kuala Lumpur in January.

“So this is a two-way street. FDI levels vary over time, and such connections are part of, and key to, a healthy and diversified economy.”
China is Malaysia’s top source of foreign direct investment, contributing 7 per cent of the total 54.7 billion ringgit it received last year.
In the interview Friday, Mahathir cited Sri Lanka as a country that “lost a lot of land” because it couldn’t pay back money from China.
Last year, Sri Lanka’s government gave a joint venture led by a Chinese state-run company a 99-year lease to the southern port of Hambantota in return for debt relief.
“Lots of people don’t like Chinese investments,” Mahathir said.
Did Najib sell Proton to Chinese because it was Mahathir's brainchild?
“We are for Malaysians. We want to defend the rights of Malaysians. We don’t want to sell chunks of this country to foreign companies who will develop whole towns.”
The Election Commission has yet to announce a date for the vote, which must be held in the next two months.
Mahathir has vowed to fight a ban on campaigning issued by the government after his party failed to meet a deadline to supply some information and documents.
The opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan, or Pact of Hope, pledged in its election manifesto to encourage continued investment from “China and other Asian countries”.
This would be done only after reviewing all foreign mega-projects to ensure there was no element of corruption, the manifesto said.
Projects include the East Coast Rail Link, with an estimated cost of 55 billion ringgit, Mahathir revealed in a forum Thursday in Selangor.
He said the Pakatan Harapan government would renegotiate the project, possibly seeking to reduce the 688-kilometre (428-mile) line unless there was enough demand. The project is slated for completion in 2024.
Mahathir said if he wins at the polls he plans to restart negotiations on rights and access to South China Sea while ensuring “friendly” relations with all countries.
Malaysia is a claimant to some disputed features in the sea, along with China and other Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam.
“We have to ensure our voice is heard because Malaysia does have islands in the area and this we must uphold,” he said.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Malaysia

Mahathir to review China investments if he wins Malaysia election

Mahathir Mohamad wants to depose his former protégé Prime Minister Najib Razak, in what could be the most tightly-contested polls since the country’s independence in 1957

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak shouts slogans after launching his coalition's election manifesto with other members party ahead of upcoming polls during a National Front coalition, or Barisan Nasional rally in Kuala Lumpur on April 7, 2018. Razak on April 6 announced the dissolution of parliament for an election that will pose one of the sternest tests of his ruling coalition for 60 years, due to a massive financial scandal and a challenge from his one-time mentor and former leader Mahathir Mohamad. / AFP PHOTO / Mohd RASFAN

A model of the Forest City development is displayed at the Country Garden Holdings Co. property showroom in Iskandar Malaysia zone of Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia, on Tuesday, Nov. 02, 2016. While Chinese home buyers have sent prices soaring from Vancouver to Sydney, in this corner of Southeast Asia it's China's developers that are swamping the market, pushing prices lower with a glut of hundreds of thousands of new homes. They're betting that the city of Johor Bahru, bordering Singapore, will eventually become the next Shenzhen. Photographer: Ore Huiying/Bloomberg

Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's former prime minister. Photo: Bloomberg

Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad on why he’s not ‘anti-China’

Malaysia’s former prime minister – and now Number 1 dissident – Mahathir Mohamad. Photo: AFP

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak (L) meets China's President Xi Jinping at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on November 3, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / JASON LEE

This picture taken on December 6, 2016 shows Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad gesturing after an interview with AFP at his office in Putrajaya. Malaysian ruling party icon Mahathir Mohamad has accused current leader Najib Razak of "destroying" the country by clinging to power despite a corruption scandal, and vowed to campaign vigorously for the opposition in coming elections. In an interview with AFP, the 91-year-old former prime minister excoriated Najib over the sensational graft allegations swirling around the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund. / AFP PHOTO / Manan VATSYAYANA / TO GO WITH AFP STORY MALAYSIA-POLITICS-CORRUPTION-NAJIB-1MDB-MAHATHIR,INTERVIEW BY M. JEGATHESAN

Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim speaks to the media in Kuala Lumpur February 4, 2015. REUTERS/Olivia Harris/File Photo

This picture taken on April 19, 2016 shows visitors view the scale model of development at Forest-City on one of the man-made islands on the Malaysian side of the Straits of Johor. A planned multi-billion-dollar new city near Singapore is attracting interest from investors with promises of luxury living but there are questions over its future owing to China's economic woes and warnings of environmental catastrophe. / AFP PHOTO / ROSLAN RAHMAN / TO GO WITH AFP STORY: SINGAPOREMALAYSIA-PROPERTY-REAL-ESTATE-ENVIRONMENT - FOCUS BY MARTIN ABBUGAO

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir bin Mohamad speaks during a dialogue session in the 20th International Conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo on May 22, 2014. The two-day conference was held with the theme of "Rising Asia - Messages for the Next 20 Years." AFP PHOTO/Toshifumi KITAMURA / AFP PHOTO / TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA

*** ONE TIME USE ONLY *** Sultan Ibrahim Ismail of Johor. Photo: Internet

The sun rises over Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AFP

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak addresses the nation in a National Day message in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur August 30, 2015. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Malaysia’s Najib Razak fires starting gun for battle royale with one-time mentor Mahathir

The expectation among political watchers is that the vote will be held in late April or early May, just before the start of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks during a news conference following the temporary deregistration of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) in Petaling Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia April 5, 2018. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin

The exact polling date will be announced in the coming days. Photo: AFP

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Photo: EPA

A Chinese flag flies over Sri Lanka as China extends its reach into India’s backyard

The Hambantota port deal is just one of a series of infrastructure forays China has made into Sri Lanka in a region usually regarded as India’s backyard. Photo: AFP

Pumps dredge sand to reclaim land at the site of a Chinese-funded $1.4 billion reclamation just next to Colombo’s main sea port on January 2, 2018. China will invest $1 billion in the construction of three 60-storey buildings at a mega-project near Sri Lanka's main port, Colombo said on January 2, as Beijing aims to boost its influence in the Indian Ocean. / AFP PHOTO / LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI

Pumps dredge sand to reclaim land at the site of a Chinese-funded $1.4 billion reclamation next to Colombo's main sea port on January 2, 2018. China will invest $1 billion in the construction of three 60-storey buildings at a mega-project near Sri Lanka's main port, Colombo said on January 2, as Beijing aims to boost its influence in the Indian Ocean. / AFP PHOTO / LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI

Did Najib sell Proton to Chinese because it was Mahathir's brainchild?

Touted by Malaysia’s former premier as his brainchild, the struggling state-linked car manufacturer is now almost half-owned by a Chinese firm, a life lesson in the perils of subsidising ‘national icon’ industries

A Malaysian flag reflected on a Proton car window. Photo: Reuters

A Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Boyue sport-utility vehicle (SUV) stands on display following a signing ceremony between DRB-Hicom Bhd. and Geely in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Friday, June 23, 2017. Chinese billionaire Li Shufu said Geely will consider producing Lotus sports cars in China after agreeing to purchase stakes in Malaysian carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd. and its British unit. Photographer: Charles Pertwee/Bloomberg

To go with AFP story 'MALAYSIA-CHINA-AUSTRALIA-AVIATION-ACCIDENT-LAW' FOCUS by Dan Martin A man looks at Malaysia Airlines' aircraft parked on the tarmac at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on February 25, 2016. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 next-of-kin have begun filing a slew of lawsuits over the plane's disappearance as a two-year deadline approaches on March 8, with some hopeful that court scrutiny will help reveal answers about what befell the ill-fated plane. AFP PHOTO / MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP PHOTO / MANAN VATSYAYANA

epa06491184 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (R-front) shakes hand with commitee members as he arrives at a 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) event for the Special Haj Sponsorship Programme at Putra Mosque, Putrajaya, Malaysia, 02 February 2018. Razak presented letters of sponsorship to 1,200 religious pilgrims so they may attend Hajj scheduled for 14 July. EPA-EFE/AHMAD YUSNI

China’s Geely Automobile Holdings recently bought a 49.9 per cent stake in Proton, Malaysia’s national car manufacturer. Photo: Reuters

Mahathir Mohamad’s new political party temporarily dissolved ahead of Malaysia polls due to missing paperwork

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. Photo: AFP

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Asia

Southeast Asia

Mahathir Mohamad wants to depose his former protégé Prime Minister Najib Razak, in what could be the most tightly-contested polls since the country’s independence in 1957


Mahathir Mohamad, the opposition’s candidate for prime minister, said that Chinese investment was welcome if companies set up operations in Malaysia, employed locals, and brought in capital and technology to the country.


Malaysia election 2022