Zahid denies trying to sabotage unity government with shelved projects remarks

Zahid denies trying to sabotage unity government with shelved projects remarks

3 hours ago

FMT Reporters

The deputy prime minister says he is prepared to produce documentary evidence of the official directive to counter the allegations.

Rural and regional development minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi insisted that the claims of postponed or cancelled letters of acceptance for the shelved projects were accurate.

PETALING JAYA:

Deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has denied allegations that he attempted to sabotage the unity government with his remarks on the shelving of several rural development projects in Sabah and Sarawak.

Zahid, who is also rural and regional development minister, insisted that his remarks on the postponement or cancellation of the letters of acceptance (SST) for the projects were accurate.

He also said he was prepared to produce documentary evidence of the official directive to counter the allegations made against him.

“I have no intention to do that (sabotage), but those are the facts… Whether they were postponed or cancelled, what is clear is that all SSTs that have been and are due to be issued were ordered to be cancelled.

“I have evidence of the directive letter that was issued. I can show it to the Jelutong MP,” Bernama reported him as saying at a press conference after officiating an event at Dewan MPJ Alamanda in Jasin, Melaka.

Yesterday, Jelutong MP RSN Rayer accused Zahid of trying to sabotage the unity government with his remarks on the shelving of several rural development projects in Sabah and Sarawak.

Rayer said Zahid made the government seem indifferent to the infrastructural issues faced by the two states as well as rural communities in the peninsula.

He said claims that the funds set aside for the shelved projects had been wasted had angered the public, even though finance minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan had clarified that no projects had been cancelled.

Rayer also alleged that Zahid was conspiring with the opposition to topple the government.

Last week, when winding up the debate on the 2027 budget, Zahid had claimed that projects in Sabah and Sarawak were shelved on the orders of the rural and regional development ministry’s secretary-general, despite funds being set aside for it.

Amir later rejected claims the finance ministry had cancelled projects, saying the rural and regional development ministry was merely told to hold off on awarding new road contracts until the unpaid bills were cleared.