Najib criticised for blaming opposition over alleged loss of RM40b investment

The prime minister has come under fire for blaming the opposition for allegedly losing RM40 billion in investments in a Rapid petroleum refinery project in Pengerang, Johor.

Several Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs said the accusation by Datuk Seri Najib Razak during his policy speech at the Umno general assembly in Kuala Lumpur today, was "baseless" and "absurd".

Najib claimed that PR's campaign to stop the project cost Malaysia RM40 billion in lost investments, accusing the opposition coalition of putting politics above the country's welfare.

"I was recently told by the Petronas president that we lost close to RM40 billion in investments from Taiwan. This is after a group of opposition politicians went to Taiwan and scared off the investors," the prime minister was quoted as saying.

PAS MP Hanipa Maidin (pic) is representing several Pengerang residents in filing for a judicial review of the RM60 billion project and earlier this year the Court granted them a leave application.

High Court judge Zaleha Yusof ruled that there were merits for the case to proceed and allowed the leave for a judicial review.

The residents were concerned about the environmental issues and the relocation of people from the project area, also claiming that they had inadequate information about Rapid.

"If our case had no foundation or basis, the court would not have allowed our leave application," the Sepang MP told The Malaysian Insider today.

"The people of Pengerang have a right to question the project. They want to challenge the legality of Rapid."

Hanipa said that if Najib felt that his accusation was valid, he should bring the issue up to Parliament for debate.

"I challenge him to have a special parliamentary seating to debate the issue. He cannot just say this in the Umno assembly and make a blank accusation without any proof.

"In fact, I believe the environmentalists in Taiwan were also against this as they didn't want their local company to be involved in that project," he went on.

DAP's Teresa Kok (pic) , in a scathing comment, pointed out that Najib was going against the wishes of the people as many of them had issues with the project.

"This is absurd. How can he blame Pakatan Rakyat? It shows the failure of the Barisan Nasional government; before they carry out anything, they do not have dialogues, they don't have a good briefing for the people.

"The people in that affected area were not happy. They had a lot of unsettled issues, that's why they protested," said Kok.

Barisan Nasional, she charged, does not think about the solutions on how to resolve the people's issues.

"He (Najib) only has himself to blame for this," she added.

Mahfuz Omar, the Pokok Sena MP, was convinced that the prime minister was simply trying to shift the focus away from his failure in running the country, corruption and wastage, with his continuous bashing of PR.

"The ones who went against the project are the people, and not PR. The party only channelled the voices of the people in making their grouses and dissatisfaction known about the project," he stressed.

"So please don't try to shift the focus," Mahfuz added.