Dr M denies pre-empting cabinet on HSR, says honouring promise

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has denied pre-empting the cabinet in announcing the cancellation of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project.

The prime minister said he was merely honouring the promise made by Pakatan Harapan during last month's general election.

“That was decided by the party from the very beginning.

“We campaigned on the issue and I am not going to go away from the decision simply because I could not form the cabinet soon enough,” he told a press conference in Petaling Jaya today.

Mahathir had announced the cancellation of the HSR project on Monday, saying that the project will not benefit Malaysia at all.

After the Wednesday cabinet meeting, Mahathir reaffirmed the decision to cancel the HSR project.

Civil societies and opposition have since questioned whether the decision to scrap the HSR project was announced unilaterally without prior cabinet approval.

Aside from the HSR project, Mahathir has said that the Harapan government would review the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project as well. -Mkini