Few believe Najib's 100-storey denial: It was not my idea

Another tall story?

Malaysia Chronicle

Few Malaysians are willing to accept Prime Minister Najib Razak’s denial that the 100-storey Warisan Merdeka was not his idea.

“As at 9.08 am 20/10/10, 1 in every 300 Malaysian FB users (24,400 in total) says No!” read the latest update on Facebook page 1M Malaysians Reject 100-storey Mega Tower.

The Facebook page was created after Najib announced the RM5 billion-skyscraper project on Friday during the Budget 2011 presentation in Parliament. The PM has defended the project as not wasteful and would instead bear economic gain for the people.

However, Najib – who has been dogged by allegations of corruption throughout his 33-year political career - also took pains to distance himself from the project.

"The tower idea did not come from me, but was proposed by PNB's board of directors which felt it was viable. I did not direct PNB on the matter," Business Timesreported him as saying.

Slipping it through the YPB?

But gauging from the backlash that followed his comments, he may as well have saved his breath.

In Twitter-world, financial people and other pundits were quick to point that he probably steered the project through Yayasan Pelaburan Bumiputera Board of Trustees, which fully owns PNB.

"NajibRazak is chairman of Yayasan Pelaburan Bumiputera (YPB) Board of Trustees. YPB wholly owns PNB," was one of the most popular tweets that followed his denial.

Pundits also pointed to the conspicuous silence of PNB CEO Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman, who had refused to take calls from the press on the proposed construction in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

We don't need taller buildings

Najib - in damage control mode

Critics of the project warn that not only will it damage the environment, but also create traffic havoc that would necessitate high-cost transportation adjuncts to correct, such as an MRT link, thereby forcing taxpayers to foot additional billion-ringgit bills.

They also want the money to be channeled into other urgent projects.

"Malaysia needs better education, better health care, better public transportation, safer neighbourhood, cleaner water, but not taller building. We don't need another white elephant!" said 1M Malaysians Reject 100-storey Mega Tower.