The Ghost of Johor

Lim Kang Hoo: "de facto MB"?

Lim Kang Hoo. If you're not a Johorean, you might ask, "Lim Kang who?". That's ok. Even among business journalists in Kuala Lumpur, the name does not ring a bell instantly, recognition comes only after you throw in Danga Bay and Ekovest as broad hints. But within the circle of those in the know in Johor and Singapore, Dato' Lim's name inspires both awe and jealousy, even suspicion. Unlike Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary, the man who has to manage at least two gateways into Johor (Port of Tanjung Pelepas and Senai International Airport), Lim is liked by the Istana. He does many business jointly with the state government, which is not a bad thing, of course, but with some people already labelling him as "the de facto MB of Johor", it can't be all that good, either.

Now, I see Lim's name all over the latest, detailed posting by Zakhir Mohamad, an anak Johor, about being subservient to Singapore in Serving the new-economic master. I have an affinity to both Singapore and Johor so I shall not comment on this alleged slave-master relationship at this juncture.What draws me is how cryptic Zakhir has become in this article. He writes about "..a major corporate play" in Johor "involving a certain public listed company on an land-bank acquisition roll". Parcels of land have or in the process to be lined up for acquisition or injected into this PLC, he said.

But throughout the article, Zakhir made mention of not a single corporate player. He wrote of Iskandar, Petroans, Kulim, JCorp, and the role of an ex-Fourth Floor boy in all this new economic slavery business, but no names. 

Quite unlike Big Dog. Why?

Is he afraid of the Ghost of Johor?

p.s. Lim is not the Ghost. The Ghost is said to be haunting a lot of businesses in the state, asking for 30 per cent here and 30 per cent there. If this ghost's hunger can't be satiated and things are not properly handled, we will have to exorcise this ghost soon.

rocky's bru