Dr Mahathir Mohamad has questioned why Malaysian Chinese were not hired to work on the East Coast Rail Link, if language was an issue.
"We have a lot of Chinese in Malaysia and they can speak Mandarin. If you don't hire them as labourers, at least (take them) as engineers or so on.
"Don't give that excuse, that because they don't understand the language, so they bring in workers from China," Mahathir said at a forum in Petaling Jaya this evening.
He was commenting on a parliamentary written reply from Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi last week, which said that the developers of the ECRL had sought permission from Putrajaya to hire Chinese nationals to construct the rail project
"They have applied to recruit Chinese workers as the equipment and machinery used are the Chinese technology which uses Mandarin in their operating system and manual applies," Zahid wrote in the written reply dated March 29.
Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL), the owner of the ECRL project, clarified today that only 30 percent of its workers will be foreigners.
The main contractor is China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).
Mahathir in his talk at the forum said if the ECRL is already underway after the election, and should Pakatan Harapan form the new government, it would seek to renegotiate the project.
Among others, he said, a Harapan government may seek to limit the project development to a certain length, and only complete it once there is a high enough demand for the project to be completed in its entirety. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.