Prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today brushed off suggestions that there was enough cause to suspend the East Coast Rail Link project, which was contracted to China.
"They (critics) have to negotiate. If they are willing to negotiate with the Chinese and tell me that (the Chinese) can suspend (project), I will follow (suit)," said Mahathir after launching the National Culture and Heritage Charter in Kuala Lumpur.
Mahathir said this when asked for his response to Khazanah Research Institute senior adviser Jomo Kwame Sundaram's suggestion in light of testimonies arising from Najib Abdul Razak's trial.
Najib's former special officer Amhari Efendi Nazrudin had told the court that the ECRL was among the projects devised to bail out 1MDB and SRC International Sdn Bhd.
In view of this, Jomo told a forum yesterday that the RM44 billion project was a "scam" and that China's president Xi Jinping would not want to be associated with international corruption.
However, Mahathir said Jomo, who once served on the government's Council of Eminent Persons, was merely expressing a personal opinion.
"That's his thoughts. But the Chinese government have not told us anything," said Mahathir.
"It may have been (done to bail out 1MDB), but we have a contract to build construct it. As you know we have reduced the scope and cost," said Mahathir.
The ECRL project was relaunched by the Pakatan Harapan administration in July, with a different route and revised cost of RM44 billion, almost half of the initial RM81 billion price tag.
Prior to the trial, Najib had denied allegations that ECRL and other projects contracted to Chinese firms were designed to bail out 1MDB. - Mkini
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