ALOR STAR: Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has defended the move to appoint former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the unofficial adviser to the four Perikatan Nasional-controlled states.
Sanusi stressed that the issue of the move paving the way to make Dr Mahathir the prime minister again did not arise as he was no longer holding any power in the government.
"Tun (Mahathir) no longer holds any power. He has no position in the government. He is just offering his help based on his extensive years of experience as a former prime minister.
"He has connections, networks. He is willing to help. There is no issue at all. Whoever wishes to help us, we welcome it, this includes PMX (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim)," he said in a press conference after chairing state-owned Kulim Technology Park Corporation (KTPC) board meeting at Wisma Darul Aman here today.
Present were state Industrial and Investment, Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Committee chairman Dr Haim Hilman Abdullah and his predecessor Datuk Dr Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail.
Sanusi, who is also the state PN chairman was responding to claims by former Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak that the move to appoint Dr Mahathir as the adviser for the four PN-controlled states may make the latter a prime minister again.
It was reported that Salleh claimed that the move effectively puts Dr Mahathir as the de facto leader of PN, adding that the move was "merely the first of many other bigger moves to come".
Last Thursday, Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar announced that PN was mulling to group four of its state governments as "state government four" or SG4 with Dr Mahathir is slated to be made their unofficial adviser.
Meanwhile, Sanusi added that the move to form SG4 was aimed at challenging the federal government's authority in attracting investments to the PN-led states.
"We are not competing with the federal government. Economy is not something that we should block, we should be open about it. If we do that, all of us stand to lose," he said.
On Dr Mahathir's closed-door briefing to him and the Kedah state executive councillors here yesterday, Sanusi said the former premier had informed them that many investors had approached him to express their interest to invest in this country.
"The potential investors from Japan, South Korea, the Middle-East have expressed their interest to invest in areas such as Langkawi's tourism sector, agriculture and son on.
"He informed us that he has proposed to the potential investors to invest in the four Malay-belt states," he said.
Sanusi added that Dr Mahathir has also urged the four states to develop a system to fast-track approval of investment applications.
"Kedah has practiced this under the P10 system in Kedah and we have briefed Dr Mahathir on this. We have the fastest investment application for industrial land under 100 acres.
"Since Kedah is already getting much investments, we are also recommending investors to explore potential investments in the other three states especially Kelantan and Terengganu which have large lands.
"As for Kedah, we will export our expertise in industrial parks management to the three states," he said.