DR Mahathir Mohamad took the rare step of interjecting an opposition lawmaker as the latter attempted to defend Barisan Nasional’s track record on Felda – the land management scheme which lost billions under the Najib Razak administration.

Ahmad Maslan (Pontian-BN) was debating the white paper on Felda tabled in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Ahmad had the floor and refused to allow anyone to interject his speech on how Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH) consistently made profits until Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya.

He was the second person to debate the Felda white paper which detailed the agency’s many financial troubles.

PH blamed the Najib administration’s mismanagement of the historic land scheme for the losses.

Ahmad was deputy minister while Najib was prime minister from 2009 to 2018. He often defended his boss’ decisions on Felda, such as listing its investment arm FGVH, in 2012.

FGVH made between RM500 million and RM1.1 billion profits each year until 2018, Ahmad said.

It lost 1.04 billion in the 2018 financial year, after PH took over the government.

After listening to Ahmad’s talk of FGVH’s successes, Dr Mahathir, who is Langkawi MP, rose to ask if he could interject.

Ahmad then said: “In my life, I’ve only kissed the hands of my late father and the MP for Langkawi. So of course, this is a historic day when he asks to interject. I cede the floor to the MP for Langkawi.”

The prime minister and his deputy, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, were present in the house for the white paper.

“I want to interject because I feel so awed by his fairy tales. But I am perplexed. Why didn’t he tell his old ‘bossku’ of these things? Because if he did, we would not have to come out with this white paper,” said Dr Mahathir.

“(Felda’s problems) are what these thieves have left us. We have to clean up the mess left by these thieves. Please show us where these profits went,” Dr Mahathir said to loud thumps from PH backbenchers.

When Dr Mahathir sat down, Ahmad continued, insisting that FGVH’s profits were real. – April 10, 2019.