Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has questioned a ‘former national leader’ for supposedly holding double standards on foreign investments.

He said the former leader - who he did not name - had claimed that the RM43 billion Malacca Gateway project is another project that would undermine national sovereignty, but did not question another port project that involved investment from companies from India.

This appears to be a veiled reference to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who recently questioned the Malacca Gateway project that is a joint venture between the Malacca government’s KAJ Development Sdn Bhd and the China energy company PowerChina International.

“Strangely, when the former national leader raised the Malacca Gateway as something that would undermine national sovereignty, at the same time I was announcing a port that would be developed by parties from India together with MMC. He didn’t question that announcement at all.

“Why has there been a double standard? Such are the questions that we should ask, because truth should be something we the people hold on to, and for the people to judge what is good for them, for the society and for the country.

“The role of reporters are of the utmost importance,” he said in a speech tonight at the Malaysian Press Institute–Petronas Malaysia Media Awards 2017 awards ceremony tonight.

Mahathir was quoted criticising the Malacca Gateway project by the South China Morning Post on April 15.

Najib had made a speech about the Pulau Carey Maritime City project on April 3, which entails a US$9.39 billion (RM41.3 billion) joint venture between Malaysia’s MMC Port Holdings Sdn Bhd and India’s Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd to build a new port.

Mahathir is also a vocal critic of the Forest City project, which is also a joint venture involving a China-based company that he claimed would undermine national sovereignty.

He had previously dismissed charges of being a racist as not credible.

In his speech tonight, Najib stressed that the issue of sovereignty does not arise when it comes to foreign direct investments (FDI).

“Where does FDI in the past been ever equated with questions of sovereignty? It has never been a question of sovereignty.

“FDI has always been about investment, creating jobs, (and) generating more economic activities,” he said.

He also pleaded to the media personnel present to help combat baseless allegations.

Najib said while he had humbly admitted that the era of “government knows all is over” and that the government indeed has weaknesses, he would not tolerate “wild, baseless allegations”.

“They are completely unfounded. Please help me to distinguish between wild allegations and facts, because we owe it to the people of Malaysia, and we owe it to the country Malaysia,” he said.

As examples, he reiterated the Petronas–Saudi Aramco deal that was nearly scuttled by false claims about the health of Malaysia’s economy, and false claims that 40,000 Bangladeshis had been brought to Malaysia to influence the 13th general election, where the claims could not be corrected until the elections were already over.