GOVT TO KEEP TRACK DUBAI DEBT CRISIS IMPACT ON MALAYSIA'S ECONOMY

PONTIAN (Malaysia), Dec 2 (Bernama) -- The Government will keep track on the
impact of the Dubai debt crisis to see whether it will have any adverse effects
on Malaysia's economy, said Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

"We do hope the consequences would not be too severe because we have
mentioned that 2010 would be the year to look forward to economic growth, with
positive growth figures announced by the prime minister.

"(However), it is still early to see how far it will dampen the already
improved sentiment as far as the world and Malaysia's economy are concerned,"
he told reporters after opening the first private coal-fired Tanjung Bin Power
Plant owned by Malakoff Corporation Berhad, a leading Independent Power
Producer.

Dubai state-owned "Dubai World", a development conglomerate, is seeking a
six-month reprieve from paying creditors nearly US$60 billion in debts.

The crisis had fuelled worries over a possible default by the company which
is involved in projects worldwide. This development sent shock waves across an
already weak global financial environment.

With the latest development, the Deputy Prime Minister said the Government
would have to see whether Middle East investors, who had made prior commitments
to move capital into Malaysia, would honour their word.

There were various sources of excess capital in the Middle East and Malaysia
should be more aggressive in driving its promotion missions to meet the focused
groups in sectors that have an interest in Malaysia, he added.

On another matter, Muhyiddin viewed seriously the disclosure by the
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) that up to 60 per cent of Government
allocations for vital infrastructure projects in Sarawak have been
misappropriated between 2002 and 2008 by certain quarters responsible for
handling the projects.

Muhyiddin said he was surprised by the startling revelation and wanted MACC
to check whether such malpractices really happened.

The Deputy Prime Minister said he did not know if Federal Government
departments and agencies were also involved in such abuses of public funds and
if they were implicated, the Government would want some information from MACC,
the graft-busting agency.

Muhyiddin said he was leaving the matter to Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister
Dr George Chan Hong Nam to deal with it.
-- BERNAMA