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Singapore knew, Johor crown prince didn’t? Surprising, says Malaysia’s Mahathir as he defends port venture backed by Li Ka-shing
- Malaysian prime minister denies not consulting Johor government on plan to build world’s largest ship-to-ship transfer hub in port of Johor Bahru
- Comments appear to put him at odds with crown prince of Johor
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A venture backed by Li Ka-shing to build the world’s largest ship-to-ship transfer hub in the Malaysian port of Johor Bahru has the backing of the local government, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday – an announcement that appeared to put him at odds with the Johor crown prince.
Mahathir shot down claims, repeated on the crown prince’s Facebook page, that federal leaders had “bulldozed through” the project without consulting the Johor government.
“The Johor [chief minister] is aware, he asked me yesterday and I told him about it. I thought everyone knows. This is a project that will benefit Malaysia,” said Mahathir of the transfer hub, which is being jointly developed by the Malaysian company KA Petra and Hong Kong’s Hutchison Port Holdings, which has a 30 per cent stake in the venture.
Mahathir was responding to a social media post written by the group Gerakan Muafakat Johor (Johor Consensus Movement) that claimed the venture had received special treatment because it was linked to the “cronies” of federal leaders. The post also claimed the administration had cut out local businessmen in favour of its own people.
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The claims by the group were reposted on the Facebook page of Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, who did not add any comments of his own.
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Mahathir denied any “bulldozing” and said he was “surprised” the crown prince didn’t know about the project.
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