MCA has demanded Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng clarify Pakatan Harapan's position on Khazanah Nasional.
This is after the sovereign wealth fund's former managing director Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim rebutted Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's claim that it was established to help the bumiputera.
“Is DAP going to remain silent and allow the purpose of Khazanah for all Malaysians to be hijacked for the bumiputera only?” asked MCA vice-president Ti Lian Ker.
He said if Mohd Sherrif, who is retired, possessed the courage to make it clear to Mahathir that Khazanah is for all Malaysians, the finance minister should do the same as well.
“Isn't the minister duty-bound to correct the erroneous statement of the prime minister?
“MCA is shocked that Lim as finance minister did not correct Mahathir's statement which was made last July,” he added in a media statement this afternoon.
Yesterday, Mohd Sherrif was reported as stating that many were shocked with Mahathir's remarks concerning Khazanah's role.
“When Mahathir said Khazanah strayed from his role of helping the bumiputera, honestly, I did not know where that came from because Khazanah was not established for that purpose.
“There are other agencies which are supposed to assist bumiputera entrepreneurs,” he told a forum in Petaling Jaya.
Meanwhile, Ti said it would be nothing short of betrayal if Lim knew the truth, but chose to remain silent and did not protect Khazanah.
“Clearly, Khazanah was not established to help the bumiputera. Yet, Lim and DAP chose to keep silent even now. By not correcting the PM, DAP and Lim facilitated and paved the way for Mahathir to hijack Khazanah for the bumiputera.
“Fortunately, Mohd Sheriff had the good conscience to speak out despite the fact that he has retired and is himself a bumiputera,” he added.
On July 6, 2018, Mahathir called on Khazanah to revert to its initial purpose of helping the bumiputera, adding that it was set up to prevent the bumiputera from buying shares and selling them to others immediately.
“It is quite obvious now that they are doing all kinds of funny things.
“They are buying houses and they are taking over companies (which is not the original purpose for which Khazanah was established),” he had said.
