Talks of the sale of Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad (MAHB) to a foreign company which is to be taken over by Blackrock is a false narrative created by the Opposition, said Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The Prime Minister lambasted the Opposition who played up the issue although they had dealt with Blackrock directly when they were in power.
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The Prime Minister lambasted the Opposition who played up the issue although they had dealt with Blackrock directly when they were in power.
Read more at https://bit.ly/4ezyQur
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
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NewsTranscript
00:00I would like to ask the Prime Minister to make a statement on the decision of the consortium of government-related investment companies
00:12to sell the MAHB shares to Global Infrastructure Partners, GIP. Thank you.
00:19Please, Prime Minister.
00:22Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister.
00:25I would like to start by congratulating you, Mr. Prime Minister,
00:31for completing this new Hajj.
00:35I pray for a prosperous Hajj, a time of gratitude,
00:39and for good deeds to come.
00:43Thank you.
00:44Mr. Prime Minister,
00:47First of all, this question is related to the Malaysian stance in the fight for the rights of the Palestinian people,
01:00especially Gaza.
01:02I would like to clarify that as a connection,
01:06the government remains firm in defending the rights of the people of Gaza,
01:13including in international talks with US President Joe Biden,
01:21or Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany,
01:26or Australian Prime Minister of Albania,
01:29and recently, Prime Minister Kishida.
01:32And in every meeting, including with Chinese Premier Li Jiang,
01:38we have raised this issue as one of our main issues.
01:44Therefore, the Malaysian government is the only one who is open to meeting the leaders of Hamas.
01:54Even though we are under pressure,
01:58I feel that this is something we must do,
02:02and we must defend the Hamas leadership,
02:05just as we defended Mandela's struggle in South Africa and elsewhere.
02:11In fact, as I have emphasized here,
02:15our stance on the Israeli company is the most firm in the history of the Malaysian government,
02:23because the Israeli company continued to operate until last year.
02:29Only the Madani government has decided to stop all direct trade,
02:37including the Zim company that used our investment,
02:43I think last year,
02:45which has been allowed since 2002.
02:49This means continuation, including in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022.
02:57Therefore, we must accept the statement on the firmness of the government now.
03:02But now there is an issue of consortium,
03:08AMA-HB,
03:11which is owned by around 41% by Khazanah and KBBSP,
03:21which allows foreign companies, especially GIP,
03:27to own with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority,
03:33not GIP, but GIP and ADL,
03:36which owns 30%.
03:39We want to explain this first, as it was raised.
03:43First, with this change,
03:48the ownership of Khazanah and KBBSP increased from 41% to 70%.
03:57This is different from the external narrative.
04:00The external narrative is the sale.
04:02There is no sale of AMA-HB to foreign companies.
04:08So far, foreign companies own around 27%.
04:17And this is what was taken over by ADL, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and GIP.
04:27I want to explain the facts.
04:29Do we have a sale involving the airport? No.
04:33This sale or this exercise
04:37only involves management.
04:39AMA-HB is a company that manages the airport.
04:44The airport is still owned by the Malaysian government.
04:50This is the same as AMA-HB, which was given permission by the Turkish government
04:57to manage Istanbul-Sabiha Goken International Airport.
05:02We were given the right to manage, but it is still owned by the Turkish government.
05:09This is different from the sale of Malaysian rights to Zionists and Israel.
05:16I accept the criticism, but let's base it on facts.
05:21MK's advice yesterday was correct.
05:31In this exercise,
05:34we know why GIP was chosen.
05:41According to KWSP, the competition with GIP started in 2012.
05:51KWSP and GIP have been involved since 2012.
05:58KWSP collaborated with Sydney Airport in Australia and Gatwick Airport.
06:11As we know, after the competition was over,
06:18there was an announcement that BlackRock would take over GIP.
06:25GIP has made a statement.
06:28This does not affect their role in managing the airport
06:33because of their expertise without BlackRock's involvement.
06:37This is an official statement made if all these changes are completed.
06:42So there is no BlackRock issue.
06:44But I want to explain here, with the permission of the President, about BlackRock.
06:48We already know about the world's largest asset manager and so on.
06:55But given the current situation in the country,
06:58BlackRock has a share market value of RM25 billion.
07:07This includes large companies such as Tenaga, Telekom, and Petronas.
07:14And RM7 billion is the Malaysian government bonds and bonds.
07:21But we are under attack now.
07:24Including the people over there.
07:27They forgot that the important decision to give BlackRock a role in 2021,
07:38on 26 February,
07:40if Bagoh becomes Prime Minister,
07:42and many other Prime Ministers are still there.
07:46What is their decision?
07:50That is to hand over KWSP,
07:56a foreign-managed account, SME,
08:01along with private equity,
08:03the first Sharia law in the world,
08:08which was given to BlackRock.
08:12Congratulations.
08:14The total is USD$600 million,
08:19plus RM2.5 billion.
08:22BlackRock's management in 2021.
08:26Because at that time, I was against it.
08:28If you ask me now, I'm against it.
08:31I don't want to make this a political issue,
08:33because the KWSP at that time,
08:36I have reported to Bagoh and maybe the Prime Minister,
08:41that this is only a investment company.
08:45Did BlackRock not involve a pro-Israel sentiment at that time?
08:49Yes.
08:52But in the case of MAHB,
08:55there was never a referendum.
08:57Not like in 2021.
08:59In 2021, KWSP continued to vote for BlackRock.
09:05In 2023, KWSP and Khazanah voted for GIP.
09:12BlackRock was not involved.
09:14The situation was different from the narrative outside.
09:23I am willing to accept the accusation.
09:27But what happened in this case?
09:3041% of the holdings from Khazanah and KWSP
09:39became 70%.
09:42The foreign holdings of 27%
09:45became 30%,
09:47together with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and GIP.
09:52So from our point of view,
09:54there was no significant structural change.
10:01What is happening now is,
10:04the process is being continued.
10:07And in my opinion,
10:11we do not want to interfere in this process,
10:16because it is different from an Israeli company.
10:22Don't forget,
10:24in 2021-2022,
10:26Israeli companies are still operating in Malaysia.
10:30In 2023, we will cancel all Israeli companies' holdings.
10:35And the direction given by the Prime Minister
10:38does not allow any Israeli companies to operate in Malaysia.
10:44This is my explanation. Thank you.
10:51For more UN videos visit www.un.org