Najib: My comment on helping strengthen the US economy was misconstrued

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today said his comment to United States President Donald Trump on wanting to help strengthen the US economy was "misconstrued".

“Sometimes statements made by leaders including me have been misconstrued to confuse the rakyat. This is especially so when I spoke to Trump at the White House recently.

“I said that I was there to strengthen the economy which did not mean that we will contribute to the US’ economy without receiving anything from its economy.

“I meant that we were not there to ask for alms but that we were there as a successful country which has the potential to be a significant global player,” said Najib during a hi-tea session with female media practitioners in Kuala Lumpur today.

Among the deals Najib and Trump had agreed on during the meeting was that the Malaysian aviation industry would buy between US$10 billion and US$20 billion of US-made passenger planes and aircraft engines.

Najib had also announced that the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) would increase its US investments by between US$3 billion and US$4 billion.

The premier, earlier during the event, also warned media practitioners against spreading fake news and told them to continue playing their role in disseminating information about the government’s policies.

This, he said, was important in the fight to counter the opposition’s propaganda.

“We face what has been termed as ‘fake news’, especially through the online media which influences the rakyat greatly, particularly the youths.

“As such, media practitioners must be swift in countering fake news that is spread through the online media,” he added.

Meanwhile, Najib, who was accompanied by his wife Rosmah Mansor, also announced a donation to the Permata programme.

The amount, however, was not revealed. Permata is an early childhood education programme, of which Rosmah is the patron.- Mkini