GEORGE TOWN, Nov 11 — Accused of demeaning Malays, DAP’s Lim Guan Eng today lashed out at Umno’s Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin for flashing the racial card to detract attention away from answering “important” questions that concerned a dubious foreign property investments by a national land authority using farmers’ money.

He was responding to the former information minister’s remarks last week, posted on the latter’s blog that alleged the DAP secretary-general viewed Malays as incapable of managing international hotel chains when he questioned Felda’s recent RM500 million investment into a London hotel.

“The problem with Umno is when they can’t give an explanation, they go back to play the racism card but they can’t answer the two important questions I asked regarding this issue,” the Penang chief minister told reporters after attending an annual memorial service for World War II veterans at Air Itam.

He reiterated that his main point in Parliament was to ask why should a purchase be made at a higher price when it could have been bought at a lower figure initially, especially when Felda does not have any experience in running a hotel in a foreign country.

“I was questioning why Felda paid RM100 million more than the actual value, was someone making money?” he said.

He emphatically said it is not a question of race at all but more of competency and accountability of public funds.

Last month, in Parliament, Lim had cited a media report that real estate agents Savills and Knight Frank had valued the 198-unit Grand Plaza service apartments in Bayswater, London at £80 million (RM408 million) but Felda had paid the inflated price of £97.9 million for the property.

“How can it be that the price was £80 million (RM408 million) in March but six months later, Felda bought it for £98 million (RM501 million), how can the price increase by 25 per cent in six months?” he asked.

The Bagan MP said Felda then claimed the price went up from £98 million (RM501 million) to £115 million (RM588 million) in one month, which is an increase of 17 per cent.

He again pointed out that Felda does not have the expertise or knowledge in running a hotel in a foreign country, especially against big name competitors there.

“We are not talking about running a hotel in Malaysia because everyone here knows Felda but in London, they are going up against the big boys there, who is Felda there?” he said.

He said his question to Felda was what was its expertise in running a hotel in a foreign country especially when it has not done so before.

“We’re worried about the lack of expertise available and some of their executives available are also related or connected to false degrees and all that, so what we want is for these two main questions to be answered,” he said.

He noted that everything in Malaysia now was racialised when he meant to raise this issue for the sake of competency, protecting public funds and buying things that are value for money.

Using Penang’s state administration as an example, Lim said the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government, when it first took over in 2008, also carried out a policy of divestment.

“This is because we are losing money so we divested out those businesses that are losing money and from losing money, we are now making money so when we do this, why were we not accused of being racist but when we question Putrajaya, we are accused of being racist,” he asked.

He pointed out that the Barisan Nasional federal government also carried out a policy of divestment by getting out of businesses that lose money.

He told Felda to prove that it has the expertise to run the hotel in London and to justify paying for the property at a higher price than an earlier valuation instead of hiding behind the racial card.

In his Zamkata blog last week, Zainuddin accused Lim of having a low perception of Malays and Malay organisations and that Malays deserve to stay as farmers, fishermen and village workers.

He also accused Lim of trying to garner support among the Malays by using “cheap slander” to sow seeds of discord among Felda settlers and the ethnic community.

This is after Lim demanded answers from Felda over the purchase of the London hotel in Parliament.

Last Monday, Felda chairman Tan Sri Isa Samad said that its ownership of eight other hotels had given it enough experience to ensure its latest investment in London would turn a profit.

He dismissed criticism that the state plantation giant was risking taxpayers’ money by investing outside its core businesses, insisting that Felda’s investment in the property sector was a sound business decision.

FIC UK Properties, a subsidiary of Felda Investment Corporation (FIC) Sdn Bhd, bought the freehold of Grand Plaza Serviced Apartments for £98 million from Residential Land in early September 2013.

The serviced apartment, one of the biggest in London, has 198 apartments across 13 period stucco-fronted buildings over 105,044 square feet and is located near the Bayswater underground station.