Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar disagrees with the suggestion by Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to create more federal territories.
"Recently, a ‘kurang bijak’ (not so smart) federal minister sought to increase the number of federal territories by taking over land from states.
"Perhaps he has forgotten about the sovereignty of the states," Sultan Ibrahim said in his speech in Muar today.
He said taxes collected by federal government must be used for the benefit of Malaysians in all states and not just the federal territories.
Tengku Adnan’s proposal, the ruler added, would cause fissures between state governments and the federal government.
"It will also result in the people's hatred for the federal government," he said.
Tengku Adnan had previously proposed that parts of Penang, Malacca and Langkawi be made federal territories.
He also claimed that turning Penang in a federal territory would result in more affordable housing and benefit the Malays.
Meanwhile, Sultan Ibrahim also urged the federal government review the role of the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA).
He said the IRDA should only be involved in promoting Iskandar Malaysia to investors and the agency must not usurp powers of the state government.
"IRDA should act in accordance to the needs of the state and local governments. It should not be a case of the state government having to fulfil IRDA’s conditions.
"There are many IRDA projects that are not consistent with the requirements from the local authorities, resulting in many problems for my subjects," the ruler said.
For instance, the development projects at Sungai Segget had resulted in incidents of flash floods in Johor Baru, for which IRDA must be held responsible, Sultan Ibrahim added.- Mkini
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