Govt not selling out country: Najib

KUALA LUMPUR: There is no question of selling out Malaysia's sovereignty to China on account of the more than RM140 billion in investments and business deals made between the two countries recently.
"What difference does it make if investments come from Japan or the US? Tun Dr Mahathir taught us to look east to Japan and Korea. I am looking east. I just added China to the list, because it will become the largest economy in the world," Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said today.
He said China, with its large surplus capital, will be able to give Malaysia long term loans and moratoriums and Malaysians will ultimately benefit.
Najib said the RM140 billion in investments, inked during his official visit to China, was the country's way of showing gratitude to Malaysia.
"Malaysia reached out to China and formed bilateral relations in the 1970s despite facing widespread opposition, both internal and external, and China did not forget that," he said in his speech at the MCA annual general meeting (AGM) today.
On Mahathir's willingness to work with DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, Najib said their cooperation may merely be for political expediency.
He expressed doubt the two veteran politicians had formed a genuine partnership although they seem to be working together.
"Mahathir had openly called Kit Siang an anti-Malay, anti-Islam racist before. Kit Siang also openly called Mahathir a dictator, among other things.
"This is the politics of hypocrisy at its highest heights. How can we trust this politics of hypocrisy?"
He said he understood there are times when politics have to be put aside for the sake of moving things along, such as in the recently concluded US presidential election.
Najib, who is Umno president and Barisan Nasional chairman, said US President Barack Obama and president-elect Donald Trump had opposing views during the campaign period.
However, Obama and Trump acted in a civil manner to ensure a peaceful transition of power after the election was over.
Najib said the Opposition here has made so many U-turns on numerous issues that they themselves seemed unsure of their own direction.
"They didn't just confuse the people, they themselves seem to be confused. We cannot place the future of the country in a coalition without direction.
"There is no common goal between them except for being anti-BN," he said.