Foreign investors not ignorant about why Emergency called in Malaysia, Guan Eng tells govt

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today said foreign investors will not be so easily tricked into believing that the declaration of a state of Emergency and the suspension of Parliament is to fight the spread of Covid-19 in Malaysia.

The Bagan MP insisted that the declaration of Emergency and suspension of Parliament shows the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government’s political instability, poor governance and failure to contain Covid-19 infections.

He urged the government not to be blinded by its own smokescreen, adding that such moves will not attract foreign investments.

“Malaysia’s failure to manage and contain the surge of Covid-19 has been used as a pretext by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to wrongly advise the King to declare a state of emergency and prorogue Parliament.

“However, foreign investors will not be easily duped by Muhyiddin that the Emergency and suspension of Parliament is imposed to deal with this public health crisis, when they know that the movement control order (MCO) properly enforced is more than adequate,” he said in a statement.

The former finance minister pointed to Fitch Ratings downgrade of Malaysia’s credit ratings last year and the reasons cited.

“Both Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz and Senior Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali are wrong to say that the Emergency and suspension of Parliament, caused by political instability, will not scare off foreign investors.

“Are they implying that the Emergency and suspension of Parliamentary democracy will attract more foreign investment?” Lim asked.

He added that further governance in the government-linked corporations (GLCs) had deteriorated with the appointment of politicians and revelations of financial malpractices by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

“Even before the state of Emergency, foreign investors have already relocated earlier to other countries. Hyundai relocated its Asia-Pacific regional headquarters for 33 countries from Kuala Lumpur to Indonesia.

“Foreign investors will not be impressed that Malaysia is the first country in Asia to suspend parliamentary democracy, a definite indication of chronic political instability,” he said.

On January 12, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah declared a State of Emergency across Malaysia that will last till August 1 after meeting with Muhyiddin the day before.

Muhyiddin said that the reason a state of Emergency was declared was the threat to Malaysia’s economy due to the spike of Covid-19 cases.

The prime minister added that during the Emergency, the King can allow any ordinance to be made to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases, including taking over private hospitals and private properties.