INTERVIEW | Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin was sent to China as a "special envoy" for "special reasons" ahead of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's scheduled visit sometime next month, Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said.

It has been barely two weeks since he assumed the position but Saifuddin, in his first official media interview, took a diplomatic approach when quizzed on details surrounding the trip.

"You know, special envoys are normally sent for special reasons to achieve special results," Saifuddin told Malaysiakini when met at his office in Wisma Putra last night.

"Sometimes it is best not to say so many things...," the Harapan secretariat chief said with a smile.

While speculations have been milling around Daim's China trip, the matter was only confirmed after he was photographed at a meeting with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing yesterday.

Daim, who currently heads the Council of Eminent Persons, had also personally delivered a letter from Mahathir to Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang at a meeting in Beijing.

Commenting further, Saifuddin pointed out that Wisma Putra has its own way of carrying out Malaysia's diplomatic affairs. This includes deciding which matters could be shared with the media, and when would be the best time to do so.

"We will inform the press but we will choose our language carefully.

"Sometimes there is no real point in sounding like you are very gung-ho because what you need to achieve is something else," Saifuddin (photo) said.

He was responding to questions raised on Daim's visit, which was perceived to have been organised in an unusually low-key manner.

"Do we inform the press? Yes, we will.

"And we have always been informing the media as to what we do on certain issues.

"But we prefer to be polite, we prefer to be diplomatic, rather than being gung-ho," the Indera Mahkota MP further said.

Renegotiating loans and contracts

When met by reporters in Parliament this morning, Mahathir revealed that he had sent Daim to China to renegotiate loans and contracts signed during the previous BN administration.

"Because we find that they (the agreements) are very constricting.

"Part of the money (costs) is not really needed, (so) how do we deal with the part that we don’t need?" Mahathir said.

As part of Putrajaya's cost-cutting measures, Mahathir had announced the suspension of several mega-projects involving mainland Chinese firms.

The projects included the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and two gas pipeline projects - the Multi-Product Pipeline (MPP) in Malacca valued at RM5.35 billion, and the RM4.06 billion Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline (TSGP).

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng revealed that the actual cost for the ECRL was expected to reach RM81 billion, compared to the RM55 billion announced by the previous government.

It was also reported yesterday that the MACC had seized documents in relation to its investigations into the three China-linked mega-projects.

Additional reporting by ANNE MUHAMMAD

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