Standing outside MCKIP, Dr M snipes Najib over land sales to China

Pakatan Harapan and Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his entourage made a stop outside the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park (MCKIP) showroom in a symbolic protest against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's investment decisions.

Standing along a busy highway overseeing the MCKIP showroom, Mahathir complained that the building's name was only in English and Chinese. The national language, Bahasa Malaysia, was glaringly absent from its signboard.

He then sarcastically congratulated Najib for his achievement.

"This is part of our country that has been handed over to foreigners. If we have more industrial parks like this... we will have less land of our own in Malaysia, our lands will be owned by foreigners.

"This is the situation brought about by Najib who supposedly has brought a lot of foreign investments to Malaysia but does not benefit Malaysians at all as the contractors are not Malaysians, the workers are not Malaysians.

"Even the area is being specially managed (by foreigners), who are not from Malaysia. Well done, Najib," he said in a video statement at the site posted on the Kelab Che Det Facebook page.

It is unclear when the trip took place.

The video ended with the song "Anak Kecil Main Api", a song often played at the Umno general assembly to lament the Malays' supposed loss of their own land.

The MCKIP came under the spotlight following Malaysiakini's three-part special report on the ambitious project.

Malaysiakini had highlighted how part of the MCKIP project was walled up with even elected state representatives denied access, leading to some locals describing the structure as Kuantan's "Great Wall of China".

Those who work within the wall, when interviewed by Malaysiakini, claimed the construction of the project is dominated by China workers.

However, the Pahang government has assured the majority of those employed would be locals when the factories come operational.

There had also been mixed reactions from local businesses on the project, with some saying that they have benefitted from MCKIP while others say the gain had been marginal.

MCKIP had also clarified that the perimeter wall, around 9km long according to satellite images, was only limited to the Alliance Steel complex which will be the site of a high-tech factory.

Alliance Steel (M) Sdn Bhd is a joint-venture between two China entities - Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port International Group Co Ltd and Guangxi ShengLong Metallurgical Co Ltd - which had purchase more than half, 710 acres of out the 1,219 acres, in the first phase of the MCKIP.

MCKIP had explained that the long perimeter wall was due to Alliance Steel occupying a massive site, which is rare amongst ordinary industrial companies. It added that access to the complex is subject to Alliance Steel's approval and not MCKIP.

However, MCKIP declined to comment on the claims that construction of the complex was dominated by China workers, stating that it merely sold the land to Alliance Steel and had no powers to dictate its operational activities. - Mkini