Panglima bugis jangan kecut teloq pulak...

Panglima bugis jangan kecut teloq pulak....

Najib dalam satu temubual dengan wartawan Al-Jazeera pun 

tergagap-gapap nak jawab soalan. Tunggu masa nak cabut lari saja... 

‘Let's rock,’ Najib says after 

Anwar agrees to debate on Sapura...

The debate between former premier Najib Abdul Razak and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim on the financially-troubled Sapura Energy Berhad is going ahead, with Najib upping the ante by offering live media coverage.

This is after Anwar this morning accepted Najib's challenge to debate the matter.

"Game on. I agree to debate with Anwar. Let's rock!

"I have asked Anwar and (PKR man) Rafizi (Ramli) to arrange with the media if they want to stream it live.

"Please contact my aide to find the latest date suitable for all," Najib said on Facebook today.

Taking to Facebook earlier, Anwar said his stand remains unchanged since he first challenged Najib to a debate on the economy over a decade ago, which ultimately did not happen.

"My stand is clear and did not change since more than 10 years ago when I had issued a similar (debate) challenge to him, which went unheeded.

"Now he chose to challenge me during early Ramadan, after failing to answer Rafizi Ramli's rebuttals on the issue of Sapura's 'bail out' at a time when the poor and small traders are not cared for," said the opposition leader.

“I am ready to face and debate Najib Razak at any time for the people and country.”

Rafizi previously claimed Najib was "afraid" after the Pekan MP set a condition for both of them to take their social media sparring on Sapura's financial state into a real debate.

Najib had said he was prepared to accept the debate challenge but added that the PKR vice-president must bring his "boss" along.

"Both of you can be on the same stage to debate with me or you (Rafizi) can assist him (Anwar). Two versus one, no problem," Najib had said.

-

‘I've replied to Rafizi’

In his latest social media post, the Pekan MP said that contrary to Anwar's claim, he has already answered Rafizi's contentions about Sapura.

He said Rafizi's claim that he is proposing to use public funds to bailout elites is untrue because Sapura's demise would hurt 10,000 employees and 4,000 mostly small to medium vendors.

He added that 10.6 million Amanah Saham Bhd depositors are also exposed through Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), which holds majority shares in Sapura Energy.

He said his proposal was not to give Sapura the money but for government to guarantee a working loan to Sapura by banks, similar to how Air Asia was offered an RM500 million government guarantee for its working loan.

Najib's second proposal is for Petronas to take over Sapura Energy and turn around the company. "These two suggestions have no impact on the government's annual budget and do not involve an injection of public funds to Sapura," Najib said.

Instead, he said, the Pakatan Harapan government had bailed out elites when PNB pumped in RM2.7 billion in January 2019, to become Sapura's biggest shareholder and turn it into a government-linked company.

Further responding to Rafizi, Najib said he was silent when Sapura's top management received fat paychecks because it was then a private entity.

On Rafizi's suggestion that the government should just allow Sapura management to execute its rationalisation plan, Najib said this could endanger the banking system.

This is because the rationalisation plan presented by Sapura involved seeking banks to write off debts of RM7.6 billion and selling key assets.

"If banks agree to this, it would bring losses to the banking system to the tune of RM7.6 billion - that is three times the losses of Genting HK.

"It will hurt the dividends for the rakyat's savings and the local stock market," he said.

But if banks refuse to write off the debt, Sapura will face bankruptcy, hurting employees and destroying the local oil and gas vendor ecosystem, he said.

"So, I have answered all three of Rafizi's contentions with facts and evidence. Did Rafizi lie to Anwar?" he asked.

Sapura Energy is a public-listed company but has received large investments from state-owned PNB, which is in charge of funds such as Amanah Saham Bumiputera and Amanah Saham Malaysia.

PNB holds a 40 percent stake in Sapura Energy, which had increased from slightly more than 10 percent in 2018 as it continued to pump money into the firm facing financial challenges.

However, Sapura Energy has recently required further financial help, raising questions if PNB will have to pump further funds to get the firm out of its financial woes.- mk

cheers.

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