The flurry of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Malaysia is mostly due to 1MDB, and this is not good news for the country, Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli said today.

FDI through 1MDB projects could see the state investment fund's debt burden extended to 50 or 60 years, instead of the existing 20 years, said the PKR secretary-general.

Rafizi was refuting federal minister Noh Omar's claim yesterday that the influx of FDI in Malaysia showed the 1MDB fiasco was a thing of the past.

"FDI alone as a whole is not a good indicator of the economy. And, you have to see what type of FDI (there are), where were they coming from and so on," Rafizi told Malaysiakini.

"Noh had forgotten the FDI related to 1MDB, included Bandar Malaysia projects, where parcels of the lands were given to 1MDB and now Chinese companies," he said.

Last year, China state-owned construction giant China Railway Group Limited, through its subsidiary China Railway Engineering Corporation (M) Sdn Bhd, acquired a 60 percent stake of Bandar Malaysia from 1MDB with joint venture of Johor-based Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) .

CREC announced in March that it would spend US$2 billion to set up its regional centre at Bandar Malaysia.

It was reported that CREC was one of the forerunners in the race for the construction contract of the proposed Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail project, which would contribute RM100 billion to Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP).

Beside CREC, another construction giant China Communication Construction Company Ltd (CCCC) also sealed a RM55 billion deal with Malaysia on the construction of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL).

While the ECRL is not related to 1MDB's projects, Sarawak Report alleged in July that Najib's administration colluded with CCCC to hike up the cost of the ECRL from RM30 billion to RM60 billion to secretly pay off 1MDB’s debts.

"These are the projects related to 1MDB or to parties friendly to 1MDB. That means, these projects came to us in the first place because of 1MDB,” said Rafizi.

"The huge loan attached to these projects only show that the debt burden of 1MDB will be extended to 50 or 60 years instead of 20 years of bond now.

"It is now being extended to new projects that have to be brought in order to cover 1MDB failure.

"That is not the kind of FDI that shows the world has confidence in Malaysia," said Rafizi.

Noh yesterday hailed the foreign investments as a positive sign, and said that the more accusations the opposition hurled at them, the more investments would come to Malaysia.

Sedition king

The urban well-being, housing and local government minister also described Rafizi as a nasty boy demanding for attention and the "raja penghasut" (sedition king), over the latter's accusations against National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFC).

Rafizi in response said he welcomed the 'sedition king' title - provided the minister gave him the prawns from his controversial farm as a prize.

"I am going to tweet it and tell him that I am willing to accept the award," he said in jest.

He also revealed that he would appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision on the defamation suit brought against him by NFC chairperson Mohamad Salleh Ismail on Nov 1.

Rafizi argued that Salleh only sued him for his remarks related to eight mortgages given for the expensive properties.

"He did not sue me about One Menerung (a condominium in Bangsar), the cows or anything else. So, everything and anything else about NFC had been widely accepted even by Salleh, as being the truth," he said.

"When Umno and BN leaders cannot provide an answer, they go below the belt by belittling and calling names."

He said the more they resorted to these tactics, the more the people will be drawn to the opposition.