Tuesday 24 November 2020

Did a Belt and Road project in Malaysia just crash and burn——by Tashny Sukumaran-SCMP [Updated on 24-Nov: Editor's Note]

Did a Belt and Road project in Malaysia just crash and burn?

Author/Source:: Tashny Sukumaran/SCMP


The Melaka Gateway project in Malaysia may be at an end. Photo: SCMP

◆Termination of agreement to build Melaka Gateway could mean the end for US$10.5 billion development

◆Project’s suspension comes after years of neglect by administrations of Najib Razak and Mahathir Mohamad

When the China-invested East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project in Malaysia, which was in a state of stagnation restarted in April last year (2019), Adly Zahari, the then (11th) Melaka Chief Minister (he was the then President of Parti Amanah Negara and Pakatan Harapan of Melaka state) stated that although the federal government has cancelled the port operating licence of KAJ Development, the current developer of the Melaka Gateway Project, the Gateway project development is not affected and can still proceed as planned. The resumption of the Gateway project has also made new progress since then.

There are further changes again lately. On November 16, the Melaka Chief Minister’s Office unilaterally announced the termination of the agreement with KAJ Development on the Melaka Gateway mixed development signed in October 2017.

This article by Tashny Sukumaran (see picture below) is published by the South China Morning Post on 17 November 2020.

Below is the full text of the article –


The government of the Malaysian state of Melaka has terminated an agreement with the main developer of a Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure project after years of delays, raising questions about its future and the Malaysian government’s commitment to other projects under the strategy.

The Melaka Chief Minister’s Office said in a statement that the agreement with KAJ Development on the Melaka Gateway mixed development had been ended after the developer failed to complete the 246.45-hectare maritime initiative, which it signed on to in October 2017 and was meant to include port facilities, economic parks and tourist attractions on three artificially constructed islands.

“The company is also required to return the project site, effective upon the termination notice issued by the state government,” said the statement on the 43 billion ringgit (US$10.5 billion) project, which saw KAJ Development working with three Chinese companies, including state-owned Chinese energy firm PowerChina – the main financial backer.


”Originally proposed in 2014, the project had long been seen as a white elephant, particularly because it included the building of yet another port in a nation already well served by existing facilities. There was little sign that any work on the project had been completed, amid rumours that the Chinese investors had pulled out.

Even now, say observers, it remains unclear if the project can or will continue.

“The project was very ambitious and not very well grounded in an economic or political sense,” said Francis Hutchinson, senior fellow and coordinator of the Regional Economic Studies Programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

“Economically, due to its location and the current overcapacity in the port sector, it was not very feasible. Politically, it did not check the boxes as it would have competed with existing facilities owned and run by corporations, and it did not have buy-in from large conglomerates or government-linked companies.”

“The main local player pushing the project was KAJ Development, which is not an established name at the national level. It had some buy-in from the Melaka state government through one of its subsidiaries, but this is not enough in the Malaysian context to get things going.”

Melaka Gateway was marketed with a strong historical dimension because of the state’s legacy as an important sea route. It was also launched at the same time the belt and road strategy was kicking off, which made the project appealing for Chinese state-owned enterprises seeking potentially profitable investments.


Chinese investment projects in Malaysia. Source: SCMP


“However, after a time, it became clear that did not make economic or political sense,” said Hutchinson, adding that with the proposed benefits of the project mostly going to the state, federal support was unlikely.

“The Najib Razak administration classified it as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, but never included it in planning documents such as the 11th Malaysia Plan or National Physical Plan,” he said, referring to the former prime minister who was in power from 2009 to 2018. “It also never invested any resources in the initiative.”

Hutchinson added that the government that followed Najib’s – Mahathir Mohamad’s Pakatan Harapan coalition – “was openly against the initiative”, with Mahathir stating that “it was not necessary”.

Malaysia has positioned itself as a key nation in China’s Belt and Road Intiative, and was the first to confirm attendance at China’s second belt and road summit last year. It has a host of projects under way, including the widely anticipated East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), a multibillion-ringgit China-backed railway project that will connect rural states along the east coast of the nation’s peninsula.

Recent political movements in Malaysia have made the future of the Gateway even messier, said political economist Terence Gomez.

“The current administration is focused on political survival and battling the coronavirus pandemic. When Pakatan Harapan fell and was replaced by Perikatan Nasional, the project returned to limbo because nobody was paying much attention,” Gomez said.

“The latest news indicates that the project is brought to a close, which is interesting as now we need [foreign direct investment], the Chinese economy has revived and is registering growth. Given this, why are they not choosing to move ahead with the project?”

The Melaka Gatewayis not the first belt and road project to be delayed or cancelled. In 2018, when the Pakatan Harapan coalition came to power, it set about cancelling two natural gas pipeline projects worth US$2.3 billion, citing high costs. It also delayed other projects, including the ECRL.
“The project has been in trouble for a while already but I doubt it will have significant impact in the sense of Belt and Road cooperation”— Ngeow Chow Bing, University of Malaya
The Pakatan Harapan administration, which fell in March 2020 in a political coup, had renegotiated several China-backed projects to adjust costs, citing empty government coffers drained by the administration of Najib, who was recently found guilty of several charges of corruption and abuse of power.

“The project has been in trouble for a while already but I doubt it will have significant impact in the sense of belt and road cooperation,” said China expert Ngeow Chow Bing of the University of Malaya, adding that projects like the ECRL were still more important to China-Malaysia cooperation.

“I think the problems related to this project is well understood by both sides to be unrelated to Malaysia’s foreign policy stand. It is just a failed project,” Ngeow said. “I think the domestic perception perhaps will be affected, but only in a limited way. From the very beginning the project was too ambitious and unrealistic. Unfortunately it could not deliver.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Malaysian belt and road project in doubt.

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工委会议决:将徐袖珉除名

人民之友工委会2020年9月27日常月会议针对徐袖珉(英文名: See Siew Min)半年多以来胡闹的问题,议决如下:

鉴于徐袖珉长期以来顽固推行她的“颜色革命”理念和“舔美仇华”思想,蓄意扰乱人民之友一贯以来的“反对霸权主义,反对种族主义”政治立场,阴谋分化甚至瓦解人民之友推动真正民主改革的思想阵地,人民之友工委会经过长时间的考察和验证,在2020年9月27日会议议决;为了明确人民之友创立以来的政治立场以及贯彻人民之友现阶段以及今后的政治主张,必须将徐袖珉从工委会名单上除名,并在人民之友部落格发出通告,以绝后患。

2020年9月27日发布



[ 漫画新解 ]
新冠病毒疫情下的马来西亚
舔美精神患者的状态

年轻一辈人民之友有感而作


注:这“漫画新解”是反映一名自诩“智慧高人一等”而且“精于民主理论”的老姐又再突发奇想地运用她所学会的一丁点“颜色革命”理论和伎俩来征服人民之友队伍里的学弟学妹们的心理状态——她在10多年前曾在队伍里因时时表现自己是超群精英,事事都要别人服从她的意愿而人人“惊而远之”,她因此而被挤出队伍近10年之久。

她在三年前被一名年长工委推介,重新加入人民之友队伍。可是,就在今年年初她又再故态复萌,尤其是在3月以来,不断利用部落格的贴文,任意扭曲而胡说八道。起初,还以“不同意见者”的姿态出现,以博取一些不明就里的队友对她的同情和支持,后来,她发现了她的欺骗伎俩无法得逞之后,索性撤下了假面具,对人民之友一贯的“反对霸权主义、反对种族主义”的政治立场,发出歇斯底里的叫嚣,而暴露她设想人民之友“改旗易帜”的真面目!

尤其是在新冠病毒疫情(COVID-19)课题上,她公然猖狂跟人民之友的政治立场对着干,指责人民之友服务于中国文宣或大中华,是 “中国海外统治部”、“中华小红卫兵”等等等等。她甚至通过强硬粗暴手段擅自把我们的WhatsApp群组名称“Sahabat Rakyat Malaysia”改为“吐槽美国样衰俱乐部”这样的无耻行动也做得出来。她的这种种露骨的表现足以说明了她是一名赤裸裸的“反中仇华”份子。

其实,在我们年轻队友看来,这名嘲讽我们“浪费了20年青春”[人民之友成立至今近20年(2001-9-9迄今)]并想要“拯救我们年轻工委”的这位“徐大姐”,她的思想依然停留在20年前的上个世纪。她初始或许是不自觉接受了“西方民主”和“颜色革命”思想的培养,而如今却是自觉地为维护美国的全球霸权统治而与反对美国霸权支配全球的中国人民和全世界各国(包括马来西亚)人民为敌。她是那么狂妄自大,却是多么幼稚可笑啊!

她所说的“你们浪费了20年青春”正好送回给她和她的跟班,让他们把她的这句话吞到自己的肚子里去!


[ 漫画新解 ]
新冠病毒疫情下的马来西亚
"公知"及其跟班的精神面貌

注:这“漫画新解”是与<人民之友>4月24日转贴的美国政客叫嚣“围剿中国”煽动颠覆各国民间和组织 >(原标题为<当心!爱国队伍里混进了这些奸细……>)这篇文章有关联的。这篇文章作者沈逸所说的“已被欧美政治认同洗脑的‘精神欧美人’”正是马来西亚“公知”及其跟班的精神面貌的另一种写照!




[ 漫画新解 ]
新冠病毒疫情下的马来西亚
"舔美"狗狗的角色

编辑 / 来源:人民之友 / 网络图库

注:这“漫画新解”是与《察网》4月22日刊林爱玥专栏文章<公知与鲁迅之间 隔着整整一个中国 >这篇文章有关联的,这是由于这篇文章所述说的中国公知,很明显是跟这组漫画所描绘的马来西亚的“舔美”狗狗,有着孪生兄弟姐妹的亲密关系。

欲知其中详情,敬请点击、阅读上述文章内容,再理解、品味以下漫画的含义。这篇文章和漫画贴出后,引起激烈反响,有人竟然对号入座,暴跳如雷且发出恐吓,众多读者纷纷叫好且鼓励加油。编辑部特此接受一名网友建议:在显著的布告栏内贴出,方便网友搜索、浏览,以扩大宣传教育效果。谢谢关注!谢谢鼓励!












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