PETALING JAYA: The government has been urged to come clean on the reasons behind the decision to cancel the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project.
Former Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) president Datuk Seri Akhbar Satar expressed curiosity over the government’s apparent decision to hush up the matter, while Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) president Cynthia Gabriel accused the government of failing to be transparent.
Both were commenting on the decision by Singapore to walk out of the HSR deal and the lack of details on the part of Malaysia over the disagreements that have led to the break.
Just this week, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, under whose term the project was first conceived in 2010, alleged that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government was prepared to pay RM300 million to RM800 million in compensation instead of seeing the project through to realise potential profits of more than RM6 billion yearly.
In a Facebook post, he also accused the government of planning to give the project to its cronies.
Akhbar said the government should stop being ambiguous about the whole deal.
“This is a mega project, which is not a priority at this moment. Why can’t the government just request for a postponement?” he asked when speaking with theSun. “More importantly, why is the government being ‘hush’ about it?”
He alleged that the government had “made mistakes” on mega projects but taxpayers ended up taking the financial hit.
“In Malaysia, nationalising losses and privatising profits have become a policy,” he added.
Current TI-M president Mohammad Mohan said the least the government could do is to make the financial statements public.
In expressing her disappointment, Gabriel said this approach taken by the government “is a reflection of an opaque administration with many things to hide”.
“The government must come clean with the details. Otherwise, it will risk a more serious trust deficit with the people just as we are staring down at the possibility of early elections,” she added.
Given that taxpayers’ money is being used, she said, the people have the right to know the terms (of the agreement with Singapore).
“If it’s true that Malaysia rejected the open tender system to appoint contractors, then we should hang our heads in shame,” Gabriel said.
“There is no point in talking about eradicating corruption when secrecy remains a cornerstone of the administration,” she added.
Gabriel pointed out that rumours about local contractors and cronies being favoured to get rewards and to enjoy the spoils of the project are still abuzz.
This, she said, is in stark contrast to the reasons a Singapore minister had hinted for the cancellation.
Singapore Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung had told the republic’s Parliament that Malaysia’s proposal to remove the system supplier and network operator of the HSR was the main point that lead to the collapse of the agreement between them.
Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan later pointed out that the reason given by the Malaysian government for cancelling the project appeared to contradict what Ong said.
The government had cited the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason for not proceeding with the project.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Johor PKR deputy chief Jimmy Puah Wee Tse said “personal greed” that drove those in power to hasten the project has now left the country poorer by a massive RM820 million.
The government has agreed to pay Singapore a compensation for cancelling the project. While it has stayed mum about the quantum, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed has said that it will be below S$270 million.
