There was a misunderstanding that all the services and equipment used in the construction of East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) were imported from China, said its contractor China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).

It added that some of the services and equipment can be found in Malaysia and are not all from China as claimed by some news reports.

CCCC Limited (International) president Chen Zhong (photo, above) said the company had worked with over 500 Malaysian subcontractors, 157 local suppliers and 91 local consultants in the 688km rail project that spans from Port Klang to Pengkalan Kubor in Kuantan.

"There were reports that the Chinese came and everything were from China, even chopsticks were imported from China.

"Everyone had imagined then that there were no chopsticks in Malaysia," he told the Malaysian media during an interview conducted at the CCCC headquarters in Beijing on Sept 21.

"All of these (reports and remarks were made) due to partial understanding (of the ECRL).

"Whatever that can be found in Malaysia, we will get from Malaysia. We only consider buying from other countries when there is no such material or equipment in the local market, such as the TBM (tunnel boring machine) and rolling stock.

“We are committed to procuring locally as much as possible to cut down on delivery time and reduce cost," he added.

Pakatan Harapan government has claimed that the RM66.78 billion ECRL project was overpriced and mulling other options. The project was issued a suspension notice in July.

ECRL and other mega projects given to Chinese firms had alarmed the local community as these projects reportedly hired a large number of workers from China.

Earlier this year, the then deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Chinese nationals were absorbed into the construction of ECRL due to "language accessibility".

"They had applied to recruit Chinese workers as the equipment and machinery to be used are of China's technology which uses Mandarin for the operating systems and manuals," he had said. 

Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL), the owner of ECRL, had clarified that only 30 percent of the human resources involved in the project were Chinese nationals and workers from other Asian countries.

Malaysiakini was among the nine media organisations invited by the Chinese government to visit Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Beijing, in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of reform and open policy adopted by the Chinese administration.

Also present at the interview were CCCC vice-president Sun Ziyu, CCCC Limited (International) executive president Li Qingwei and CCCC (M) Sdn Bhd managing director Ni Qingjiu.

In the past two years, CCCC did not comment on the criticisms made against the company.

Asked about the negative perception of the Chinese companies in Malaysia, Sun admitted there were good and bad firms.

"However, these minority (bad firms) do not represent all the Chinese companies. While there may be mistakes, we urge the media to rise up and keep us in check. We will accept and rectify," he said.