KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — Being bold in declaring his love for trains is what landed former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak an invitation to a preview of Phase One of the Putrajaya MRT line yesterday, according to the rail operator MRT Corp.
Its CEO Datuk Mohd Zarif Hashim said the company extended the invitation to Najib after seeing the latter's unabashed tweet.
“As you know, he actually tweeted that he loved to be on the train. Because of the tweet, we replied to his tweet,” Zarif told reporters at the launch today.
He declined to comment on social media backlash to the move, saying that it is a “separate issue”.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who launched Phase One of the MRT Putrajaya line, told reporters that MRT Corp has a right to decide who it could invite.
“I did not want to comment on why MRT invited him. I just launch it today and the invite is MRT’s right,” he said.
Najib and a number of his family were given an early ride to test out the first phase of the new Putrajaya MRT yesterday, ahead of the official opening by the prime minister today.
He shared several pictures of the ride on his social media accounts, drawing mixed responses from Malaysians.
The new line runs some 17.5km with some 12 stations from Kwasa Damansara to Kampung Batu.
