GE14 | Supermax Corporation Bhd managing director Stanley Thai today claimed that he had not been targeting the administration of Najib Abdul Razak when he criticised BN during the 2013 general election.

"This is election season, so it is time for me to clear the air that during the last general election, (the remarks I made were) not referring to the current administration," he told a press conference at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur today.

"Those people like me who were born in the 1960s and 1970s were affected by policies of the previous administration. So, I think it would be appropriate for me to apologise to him," he said.

The rubber glove tycoon, however, declined to name any prime minister or policies that he disagreed with.

"Well, who was the prime minister when I growing up? You have the answer, I am looking at my childhood and adulthood.

"The election is coming, (so) I don't want the other side knocking at my door to get me involved again," he said.

In a 2013 interview with Bloomberg, Thai had said he supported the opposition "to protect the future of my children."

He said Chinese Malaysians had lost their fear of going against BN after the ruling coalition's performance in the 2008 general election.

'Not my cup of tea'

This was the second press conference Thai had called in six days over his apology to Najib.

In the press conference today, he praised Najib for emphasising infrastructure projects that would stimulate development, such as the Pan-Borneo Highway, Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project, and the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL).

"There has been a lot of progress in the last five years; things that had not been done in the last 20 years had been done in the last five years," he added.

"If this infrastructure is in place in the next five years, you can see the economic growth accelerate in Malaysia," he said.

"The brain drain we talked (about in the past) will become brain gain, like a magnet that attracts people coming back," he stressed.

"The BN election manifesto is quite comprehensive. Even if it is implemented 70 percent to 80 percent, I think that will be progress for the country," he said.

This is the manifesto that will be able to gain support in the election, he opined.

He also voiced his support for the goods and services tax (GST) implemented by Najib.

When grilled by media as to why he had only made his remarks about the government in 2013 and not during the previous administration, he said he never expected that his comments would go viral on the internet.

"I wasn't meant to (get) involved (in politics), it was just a casual interview by the foreign media which only asked (me) why some Chinese were not in support of the government,” he said.

Thai elaborated that social media had become so powerful that the news report had gone viral, and he had gotten “sucked” into it.  

He added that he quickly realised that it was "not going to be my cup of tea", and had thus stopped making such remarks immediately after the 2013 election.

He said he had attempted to clear the air in 2016.