PETALING JAYA: Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has taken up Najib Razak’s challenge to debate the issue of bailing out Sapura Energy Bhd, saying he is ready to face off with the former prime minister “any time”.
The PKR president pointed out that he made a similar challenge to Najib to debate the economy a decade ago, but he did not take it up then.
“I’m ready for a debate with Najib any time for the sake of the country and the people,” said Anwar in a statement.
Yesterday, Najib accepted Rafizi Ramli’s invitation for a debate on Sapura, and told the PKR vice-president to invite Anwar to join too.
“Two versus one, no problem,” Najib had said in a Facebook post.
Sapura, a government-linked company (GLC), had announced a loss of RM8.9 billion last year, which Najib said was the largest for any Malaysian GLC in history.
Najib and Rafizi have been going back and forth over Sapura, after Najib had initially called on the government to intervene by providing easy interest loans or loan guarantees to Sapura to solve its cash flow problems.
Alternatively, Najib said, Putrajaya could direct Petronas or Khazanah Nasional Bhd to take over ownership of Sapura, citing how Petronas still required Sapura’s services for its projects and had a better understanding of the sector.
However, Rafizi said this would only benefit a “handful of elites”, adding that the money used to bail out the ailing oil and gas company could be put to better use to serve Malaysians. - FMT
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