Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz chided Perkasa for describing the launch of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project on Aug 9 as a “Chinese affair”.
The Umno supreme council member said if he could turn back time, he would want to learn the Mandarin language.
"They (Perkasa) are racist. Who are they (Perkasa)? They are not important, they do not represent anybody," Nazri told a press conference in Shah Alam this afternoon.
The vocal minister also asked if the Malay rights group would condemn him for using the English language
"It doesn't make Bahasa Malaysia spoken less. In a multilingual world, I speak English. Do they want to condemn me for speaking English?
"We are all multilingual. Only people who are small minded and have an inferiority complex (make such statements).
"If I had a chance to turn my age to my younger days, I would learn Mandarin. What's wrong?" Nazri added.
The RM55 billion ECRL project will be funded with a soft loan from China's Exim Bank.
As a condition of the loan, Beijing gets to decide the contractor of the project. The project was awarded to China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).
Back in April, Perkasa called for the government to be transparent on all major projects involving China by tabling updates on the investments, at least every six months.
China is involved in several ongoing developments in Malaysia, including projects in Iskandar Malaysia in Johor Baru; the RM4 billion Kuantan Port expansion project that will see the construction of a new deepwater terminal; and the multi-billion ringgit Forest City in Johor Baru. - Mkini
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