Dr M pledges to review China loans if Harapan wins GE14

GE14 | Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad has pledged to review loans and investment from China if the opposition coalition wins the 14th general election, reported the Associated Press (AP).

In an interview on Wednesday, he said Malaysia has a large borrowing from China and may not be able to repay.

Mahathir cited how Sri Lanka gave ownership of its port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease in return for debt relief.

"We feel that we will stop the borrowing. We will try to renegotiate the terms of the borrowing. In the case of projects, we may have to study whether we would continue or we would slow down or we would renegotiate the terms," said the former premier.

The opposition had harped on the slew of Chinese investment in Malaysia which easily worth billions in cost, including the RM55 billions East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project, where 85 percent soft loan was provided by China Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank).

Another project funded by China was Kuala Linggi International Port (KLIP), worth RM12.5 billion.

In was reported in February that China invested RM4.77 billion in 33 local manufacturing projects and is also involved in 22 property development projects, with an accumulated gross development value of RM581.2 billion.

Putrajaya had repeatedly denied that the massive foreign investment would threaten the sovereignty of the country.

Meanwhile, Mahathir reiterated his confidence in winning Putrajaya with the growing support from rural Malays, which BN rely on retaining power.

The opposition does not need every government supporter to change their mind, he said.

"We need maybe 30 percent of them to turn around - that would be sufficient for us to win."

'I think there is a wave'

Mahathir, however, predicted only a 50-50 chance of victory for the opposition "because of the government's tendency to cheat, to threaten people, to use money to even block the election process."

"Now wherever we go, we have a huge number of people coming to us and most of them are Malays. They will come out and they will listen to the talks until the very end. They don't move, they don't go away. It shows their interest.

"I think there is a wave - whether you call it a tsunami or not, I don't know - but there certainly is a change of heart among the rural Malays," he said.

According to Bersatu policy and strategy deputy director Wan Saiful Wan Jan, there are 125 rural seats out of 222 parliamentary seats, of which 78 are Malay majority seats, 16 bumiputera Sabah majority, 18 bumiputera Sarawak majority, two are Chinese majority seats and the rest are mixed ethnic seats.

In the event of an opposition victory, Mahathir warned that there could be instability if the win is small.

"With Najib, we can never be very sure that he wouldn't resort to illegal means to retain his position. So if the majority we obtain is small, he might create a problem," he said.

He noted that Najib could declare an emergency in the event of violent political demonstrations.

"The opposition can protest, I suppose. They can take to the streets, but it will mean violence. It will mean a repeat of 1969 (racial riot) on a bigger scale perhaps. That is possible," he said.

If Najib retains power, Mahathir said the country would be bankrupted due to ballooning national debts that the government cannot pay.

"This country will be totally destroyed," he said. -Mkini