Malaysia to sell assets that are ‘not useful’ – Mahathir

Dr Mahathir Mohammed (Bernama)

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional Bhd will sell assets that are “not useful to us” to raise funds to pay off the country’s debts, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said.

However, no decision had been made yet for Khazanah to dispose of its entire assets, he said.

“No, they are just studying whether they should (sell) or should not, but no decision has been made,” he told reporters after launching the Heritage and National Culture Charter, BERNAMA news agency reported.

The assets that are not worth keeping will be sold in order to raise funds to pay debts left by the previous government, he said.

“Remember that the previous government borrowed more than $1 trillion that is a burden to us. They borrowed and the money was not invested. It’s hidden. If the money were invested, we (would be able to) go back to the related companies and get back the money, but we don’t know where the money is,” he was quoted as saying by the news agency.

The prime minister said Khazanah was originally set up to purchase shares which were allocated to the Bumiputeras but it had gone beyond that.

“That is not the original mandate for Khazanah but now we are trying to go back to the original objective,” he said.