KUALA LUMPUR: DAP central executive council member Liew Chin Tong has accused government-linked companies (GLCs) in the country of squeezing the middle class of their income.
Speaking at a forum entitled “Envisioning The Future Beyond GE14” here today, Liew, who is also MP for Kluang, said the country’s GLCs invested in industries that pinched the pockets of Malaysians, citing the healthcare industry as an example.
“In Malaysia we have a two-tiered healthcare system where if you have money you go to private hospitals and if you don’t, then you go to government hospitals.
“What many people don’t realise is that most private hospitals are actually owned by the government,” he said.
“Prince Court Medical Centre is owned by Petronas and Subang Jaya Medical Centre is owned by Sime Darby.”
He said private healthcare wasn’t the only industry GLCs were investing in which was hitting the pockets of the people as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) had a 49% stake in PLUS Malaysia Berhad.
“This brings into question the role of a GLC, which is supposed to nurture domestic capital.
“I hope that in years to come we’ll be able to look at GLCs as playing a constructive role in giving to the economy instead of investing in these bloodsucking industries.”
Recently, in his discussions with US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Malaysia was now exporting capital to the US through the likes of EPF, Khazanah Holdings and national carrier Malaysia Airlines.
Liew said it was not EPF that had erred by investing in the US but Najib because as finance minister, he had failed to address the real problem with that move.
“EPF sees that the domestic market is unable to fulfil its KPI and so naturally it would look into other avenues.
“The fact that the local economy isn’t giving enough returns on their investment however, means that something is wrong and this means that the finance minister is doing something wrong.”
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