KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today reminded the opposition against being “more Hamas than Hamas” and “more China than China” when criticising the government’s move to expand trade ties.
Anwar said the opposition was attempting to sow hatred, leading some to misinterpret provisions in the Reciprocal Trade Agreement (RTA) with the United States.
He said this was why Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz challenged opposition members of parliament to specify how the government has compromised the nation’s sovereignty.
“This is the problem with not reading comprehensively. Of course, whatever the US does is thoroughly scrutinised ‘line by line’ by China,” he said during the Prime Minister’s Question Time session in the Dewan Rakyat.
He said some interpreted that the deal restricted Malaysia from dealing with China on rare earth elements.
“So, we become ‘more Hamas than Hamas’, ‘more China than China’,” he said, adding such attitudes were problematic.
Anwar was responding to a supplementary question from Suhaizan Kaiat (PH-Pulai), who sought an explanation on claims that the RTA could compromise the nation’s honour and sovereignty.
Regarding the commitment required from Malaysia to purchase US goods totalling over RM1 trillion, he said that it did not involve the government’s ‘money’, but rather purchases made by government-linked companies (GLCs).
He cited the example of Malaysia Airlines’ purchase of 30 aircraft from Airbus and another 30 from Boeing.
“I did not order those aircraft. This was done by Malaysia Airlines. The same goes for orders from Google and Microsoft. This is not the government.
“The same applies to liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports by Petronas.”
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