KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 – Information Chief Shahril Hamdan slammed Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who seemed to be intimidating the people and investors when he threatened to expose the country’s financial position.

The former Prime Minister, he said should not resort to such tactic because during his administration, the country was faced with adverse effects of Covid-19 pandemic which also impacted the world.

“As the Chairman of the MPN, he does not need to be afraid of investors and the people, but why? The situation is not as pretty as it is described, isn’t it?

“While he himself knows that the whole world was affected by Covid when he was our premier, our economy contracted by more than 17 per cent, unemployment rose to 5.3 per cent, 300,000 people lost their jobs while our foreign direct investment (FDI) is the lowest in Asia but we understand no country could escape it,” he said in a video posting on his Facebook.

He said there was no need for Muhyiddin to do so because the country’s financial position could be accessed in various documents.

“No need for Muhyiddin to expose anything about the country’s finances because it can be accessed through various mediums, particularly from the Audit and the Accountant departments.

“The second quarterly report is issued by Bank Negara and the Finance Ministry, and is even published in the BNM assessment on government’s fiscal position monthly. It is in accordance with international standards such as the IMF,” he said.

Shahril added that Muhyiddin himself should admit the success of his successor Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

“Since Ismail Sabri took over, 272,000 jobs were created, unemployment fell to 4.2 per cent, FDI rose by RM24.7 billion in the last quarter of 2021. Our economy is growing again, exports are breaking record highs.

“In Johor, despite facing great challenges with the closure of its border with Singapore, the whole of Malaysia in 2020 lost 300,000 jobs but Johor managed to add 20,000 jobs. Johor has a smaller contraction than Malaysia.

“As a result of three Economic Stimulus Packages (PRE) Ihsan Johor 3.0 introduced by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad, the conclusion is that the economic challenges of Malaysia, the region and the world are big but there is no need to scare off investors and the people.”