THE “cash is king” approach was used by Prime Minister Najib Razak at his White House meeting, when he announced billions of ringgit in investments into the US economy, said Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The former prime minister has repeatedly accused Najib of using the “cash is king” approach to buy over political support, and said Najib used this approached again in his meeting with United States President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday.

The US economy did not need the billions that Najib promised in his three-day visit to Washington, Dr Mahathir said in an interview with  Malaysiakini.

Instead, Najib had pledged up to US$24 billion (RM103.2 billion) of the country’s funds in order to win over Trump’s support, Dr Mahathir said.

“The US can help itself, it doesn’t need our help. But this is Najib’s principle of ‘cash is king’,” Dr Mahathir said.

“...The US has enough money. If they don’t have enough money, they can do quantitative easing to increase their money supply,” Dr Mahathir said.

In a meeting at the White House on Tuesday, Najib told Trump that the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and Khazanah Nasional Berhad were planning to expand their investments in the US, and Malaysia would buy more Boeing jets to help strengthen the economy.

Dr Mahathir criticised Najib, his one-time protégé, for spending Malaysian money on a foreign country at a time when Malaysians needed it most.

Malaysians have been forced to tighten their belts in the face of higher foods prices, while welfare and education aid have been cut to pay for government expenses, he said.

Other opposition leaders also criticised the deals Najib made.

Najib’s pledge to purchase a total of 35 planes from US manufacturer Boeing for Malaysia Airlines was criticised as it comes after the national airline is going through a painful restructuring exercise.

The White House visit also ignited a storm of negative publicity in the US, with leading news outlets urging the US president to not meet with a scandal-tainted leader.

Even after promising all that investment, Dr Mahathir said Malaysia did not get anything significant in return. – September 14, 2017.