PETALING JAYA: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim did not seek high-speed rail funds from China during his maiden state visit to China from 19 to 22 September last year, says Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook.

“The high-speed rail issue was never raised during the visit,” he said.

“A foreign report claiming that the King failed to seek funds from China is inaccurate.

“Sources quoted in the reports are misleading the readers,” said Loke, who was part of the delegation accompanying the King during his state visit.

Loke was referring to an exclusive report released by Bloomberg on the second day of the state visit that the Malaysian King failed to seek funds from a Chinese corporation for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail project.

The DAP secretary-general recently led a delegation of party leaders to visit Sin Chew Daily headquarters in conjunction with Chinese New Year.

He said the objective of His Majesty’s state visit was to strengthen ties between Malaysia and China.

The agenda did not include seeking funds from Chinese investors for the high-speed rail project, he added.

Loke also ruled out the possibility of the King raising funds for the high-speed rail project in private events.

“Bloomberg also said that YTL staff were part of the delegation. In fact, the delegation did not include officials from the private sector.

“Apart from palace staff, those in the delegation were Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming and I,” Loke said.

There were also foreign media reports claiming that the high-speed rail project would be a money-losing project as it was without financial backing from the government while China needed to handle its financial challenges and would not be interested in the project.

Loke did not agree with the claim that the project would not be profitable.

“Flights between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore are among the busiest in the world. Once the high-speed rail project takes off, airline companies would be making losses.

“There are private companies prepared to offer financial backing to the project,” he said.

Loke also said the project had not been terminated.

The instruction from the Cabinet was to carry out the project without using government funds.

“The government will invite the private sector to participate in the project.

“We should not be too pessimistic about it. As long as there are companies keen on taking up the project, we will be moving forward,” he said.

Loke described the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high speed rail project as a “luxury”, as the fares are not subjected to social obligations under public transport.

Unlike the state-owned rail company Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB), the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail does not shoulder social obligations.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced early this month after an unofficial meeting with his Singapore counterpart Lawrence Wong that the project would be deferred for one to two years pending participation from the private sector.