Rakyat have right to know what kind of deals are being made

Dr M responds to royal jab, prepared to face lese majeste charge

Dont just talk: It is indeed frightening to see Forest City JB being built at such rapid pace, despite the poor take-up rate, and it is also true that part of the itinerary for the Chinese tourists from China includes Forest City JB.

What the developers have in mind is to turn Forest City JB as the next Shenzen of China, to compete with Singapore, which is just a causeway away, but at prices of property selling at S$1,300psf. What Dr Mahathir Mohamad predicted might turn out to be true a decade from now, when the Chinese investors arrive in droves to invest in Forest City JB, which is not for their staying but for capital investment.

Aktan: Dr Mahathir has given a fair view on this Forest City development. If this development has happened in, say Penang, I wonder what the governor would have said. But Mahathir is always respected as one who calls a spade a spade. We would expect him to say that same thing as reported.

Anonymous #19098644: The rakyat of Malaysia have the right to know what kind of deals are being made, especially when it involves billions of ringgit and hundreds of thousands of foreign buyers. What Mahathir said is factually correct.

We might not have agreed with his policies in the past, but what he is championing is in the best interests of the country today. The corrupt “MO1” government has zero credibility, it destroyed the good name of the country and looted the country of its wealth. The result is that we are selling anything and everything left right and centre to foreigners.

RCZ: Dr Mahathir is absolutely right. Investment is not about selling off Malaysia. And after Umno and PAS demonised the Chinese, one wonders how they are allowing the Chinese to inhabit Malaysia by the millions, which is being sanctioned by their leaders.

But maybe these Umno sheep can’t stop their leaders and royalty, and just are told to follow blindly. Ball over to the other side to counter-argue Mahathir’s analysis.

Anticonmen: When you take away equality, you are a racist. When you also restrict freedom of speech, assembly and religion, you create opportunities for abuse of power.

Fair Play: Which is worse? Flooding the nation with millions of Muslim illegals to strengthen the Malay/Umno hegemony (and forever alter the Malaysian landscape) or selling land to rich PRC Chinese and give 700,000 of them residency, as alleged.

Mahathir, by his actions at the prime of his powers, had altered the Malaysian landscape that no amount of repentance, and however long (he is already 91 years old now), can ever bring back the lost decades, and perhaps for decades to come, before we can start all over again.

Tulan: Dr Mahathir, I think you forget about those poor Filipino and Indonesian Muslims that you gave blue ICs to during your time in Sabah and Sarawak. At least those Chinese are bringing in some money.

Kickstart: Look who’s talking. He imported one million Filipinos into Sabah in Project IC.

Do not crucify my beloved country: Well done Dr Mahathir. Malaysian monarchs are like Chinese tea, they wake up only when very hot water is poured on them (when their personal interests are stepped on）. Anything else, like when the desperate calls from the oppressed rakyat are made, these are ignored and they remain deep asleep and actionless. So, money is the root of all evils and the sultans are not above this temptation.

SSDhaliwal: The gauntlet has been thrown, let’s see if there is any response from the intended parties to refute Mahathir’s allegations. On the other hand, Mahathir speaks like he’s an angel who had no violence during his time. Hypocrisy, if you ask, since he was one of the architects of May 13 to propel him to become PM.

T C Chan: For Johor to have any credibility, he must first declare his interest in the project. Otherwise, it is just protecting one’s self interests. If it is one apartment in China for one free unit in Malaysia, then there isn’t any capital inflow.

Thickskin: “The scheme is introduced wherein you can buy property in China and get one flat or house free in Malaysia.” This is common knowledge and is used to bypass the strict laws of China to restrict the outflow of the renminbi.

I have been there and the security guards greet visitors in Mandarin. The sales personnel (women dressed in mini Singapore Airline look-alike uniforms) show prospective buyers, all of whom were mainland Chinese, around. I believe that in time, those civil servants posted at Forest City have to be able to converse in Mandarin. BTW, the renminbi is accepted readily there. There is no need to go and look for a money changer.

TimesAchanging: The best part of all this is both sides get to say what they want to say. Both sides have not used (not yet) force to silence the other yet. Great. Both sides have some good points. Only China will have the guts to do this kind of development and only they can source buyers for the properties.

But it’s also true that there will be more foreigners around in JB and you will never know what the effects will be. Actually it is the Malays who are always defensive about their land. Now they say OK? For the rest of us non-Malays, I say bring it on. It’s a globalised world. Be confident of ourselves.

RM2.6 billion turkey haram: Dr Mahathir is right. When the Chinese buy up a big number of apartments in any area, it is turned into another Chinese enclave. Not healthy for our country.

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