MAHATHIR: WE WIN, WE’LL RELOOK SINGAPORE HIGH-SPEED RAIL

(FMT) – The High-Speed Rail project that will connect Singapore to Malaysia will be reviewed by the opposition should they wrest Putrajaya from Barisan Nasional in the next general election, Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said.

In an interview with Singapore’s Sunday Times, the former prime minister said if the opposition formed the government, it would need to study the feasibility of the project and whether Malaysia really needed it.

“We need to do a study whether it is feasible or not because we don’t have the money and we have to borrow money and that is not something the Malaysian government can bear at this moment,” said Mahathir.

Last month, Malaysia and Singapore inked the HSR agreement. Both countries will jointly award the tender for a Joint Development Partner for the HSR project, which is expected to cost up to RM50 billion.

Mahathir was not completely negative towards the HSR. He said if feasible, the HSR could even be expanded to Penang or up to the Thai border.

“All these things need to be studied carefully and to know what would be the returns on the investment. We accept that we will lose money at first but how much over how long a period,” said Mahathir, the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairman.

It was under his tenure that the Light Rail Transit (LRT) was built, so referring to that he said: “We built the LRT and lost a lot of money in the beginning but now it is so crowded that we have to add more trains.”

In the interview, Mahathir also said Singapore shouldn’t worry if the government led by Prime Minister Najib Razak falls, despite the close ties Najib has built with Singapore.

He said Malaysia and Singapore always found ways to resolve any issues in a peaceful manner. But he did warn that if anything could drive a wedge between Singapore and Malaysia, it would be China, whose relations with Singapore have become tense.

He argued that might force Najib to distance himself from Singapore. “If we have a lot of Chinese investment in Malaysia, they will want to secure their investment and influence the Malaysian government to help them whatever way we can.”

“They will want to make sure that we do not side with Singapore in any dispute with China,” he said, adding that Najib had only been “friendly” towards Singapore because he was in a politically weak position and needed projects like the 350km HSR to boost his standing in Malaysia.

Recently, Mahathir has been a loud critic of the sale of land to Chinese developers in Johor’s Iskandar region and the nature of Chinese developments in the country.