Najib 'escapes' via tunnel when pursued by Guan Eng on HK sale

PARLIAMENT | Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng's speech in the Dewan Rakyat today was a lively affair, after he tried to entrap his predecessor Najib Abdul Razak over the sale of a building in Hong Kong.

It is believed that this had to do with Najib's recent social media posting about Putrajaya's efforts to sell off the Malaysia Building at 48 Gloucester Road, Wanchai.

The former premier had told the press yesterday that he was "concerned" about the matter.

During the debate on the motion of thanks for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's speech today, Lim accused Najib of attempting to sell the building in the first half of 2018.

"I want to inform Najib (BN-Pekan) that the decision to sell the consulate building in Hong Kong was done under him during the BN administration."

"The decision was done by him before May 9 (2018)... but the decision made was for a direct negotiation at the price of RM1.1 billion.

"When Pakatan Harapan took over, we received an offer when we did open tender. The offer was RM1.6 billion, which is RM500 million more than what BN agreed to," he said.

'Right to reply'

At this point, there was still tension in the Dewan because of an earlier shouting match over the 1MDB scandal and the national debt, which featured prominently in Lim's speech.

The finance minister allowed to be interjected several times before offering Najib (BN-Pekan) the opportunity to explain why the latter's administration tried to sell Malaysia Building.

"Don't try to go around this fact because this was your own decision. Harapan cancelled the sale, which was decided through direct negotiations, and we will sell it through open tender.

"I am willing to give Pekan the chance to reply," he said.

Instead, Najib shot back: "Was the Penang underground tunnel done through open tender? Explain the tunnel first."

Lim tried to press Najib again, but the former premier again talked about Penang.

At this point, opposition lawmakers joined in with chants of "Terowong! Terowong!" (Tunnel! Tunnel!).

When deputy speaker Nga Kor Ming finally restored order, Chow Kon Yeow (Harapan-Tanjong) interjected during Lim's speech with a question that started innocently enough.

"Does the finance minister agree that those who claim that the tunnel (project) was done without open tender are bodoh (stupid)?" he asked, emphasising the word "bodoh."

This led to another round of pandemonium as opposition lawmakers demanded that Chow retract his remark.

Nga ruled that no apology was needed, since Chow did not address anyone in particular.

When order was restored, Chow asked Lim again if he agreed, to which the finance minister only responded with a knowing smile before continuing with his speech.

At a later point, Shahidan Kassim (BN-Arau) said that those who do not conduct the Dewan Rakyat session fairly are "bodoh." - Mkini