Malay first: Najib’s take on Malaysia’s new metro risks upsetting the Chinese

Malaysian prime minister hopes to gain political mileage from the project – but his championing of the bumiputra policy could raise eyebrows among China’s increasingly influential investors and construction firms

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Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, right, and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi arrive at Kajang station to launch the Sungai Buloh-Kajang MRT line in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:00pm, 1 Aug 2017Updated: 10:59am, 2 Aug 2017

As Malaysians cheer Kuala Lumpur’s shiny new 21-billion-ringgit (HK$38 billion) metro link, Prime Minister Najib Razak seems to be doing his best to extract political mileage.

But his championing of the project as a success of the government’s ‘Malay first’ policy could prove disquieting for the Chinese investors and firms whose infrastructure projects are seen as crucial to Malaysia’s fragile economy.

At the official launch of the Sungai Buloh-Kajang Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line last month, the premier sought to paint the completion of the network under budget and on time as evidence that his ruling party’s decades-old bumiputra (sons of the soil) policy – which grants special privileges to ethnic Malays – was paying off.

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That appeared to be an effort to win over voters ahead of a general election expected as early as this year – and no later than August 2018. But his words are likely to raise the eyebrows of mainland Chinese investors and construction firms, who are rapidly gaining influence in Southeast Asia’s third largest economy with huge infrastructure undertakings.

A woman disembarks from a Malaysia Mass Rapid Transit train after the official launch of the Sungai Buloh-Kajang line in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AFP

The Chinese-led projects are seen as particularly important as the Malaysian economy is still reeling from depressed pump prices and a multibillion-ringgit graft scandal at the state investment firm 1MDB that spooked international investors. The country’s planned railway and port projects will receive up to 400 billion ringgit in Chinese investments over the next two decades, Citi Research said on July 4.

In his speech at the launch event on July 17, Najib said the bumiputra policy was successfully implemented in the MRT project because “only those properly qualified were given the opportunity”.