KUALA LUMPUR (May 30): Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's move to scrap the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) mega project came as a surprise to many and the fact that he did not consult the cabinet has raised concern, Malaysiakini reported today.

The news portal revealed that a foreign diplomatic official said that “it would have been better if the decision had been communicated to the relevant stakeholders beforehand”.

The official who spoke to Malaysiakini on condition of anonymity said the PM’s decision on the HSR has led some people to wonder if this could be a revival of Dr Mahathir's authoritarian style of administration during his first stint as leader of the country.

“Everyone is a little worried. We hope this is just a one-off decision as opposed to being a trait of the new administration,” the official said.

According to the Malaysiakini report, Dr Mahathir did not inform Singapore before he announced that the HSR project would be scrapped during a media conference on Monday.

The news portal also reported that both China and Japan, countries who were vying for the HSR contract, were also not informed.

Up until Monday, Singapore's Ministry of Transport said it had not received anything official regarding the status of the KL-Spore HSR project.

“We need to do away with some of the unnecessary projects, for example the high-speed rail, which is going to cost us RM110 billion and will not earn us a single sen. That will be dropped,” he said during the media conference announcing the decision.

Another rail project, the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), has also been under fire for being extravagantly expensive and unnecessary.

Dr Mahathir had voiced his views on the ECRL as being a waste of resources even before his then opposition coalition took power in Putrajaya.

“If we think logically, who wants to spend 14 hours on a train from Kota Bharu, Kelantan to Port Klang, Selangor compared to approximately 30 minutes by flight?”