Former prime minister asks why those calling for him to apologise do not ask the same of news outlets who carry reports which were more critical than his comments.
PETALING JAYA: Dr Mahathir Mohamad has again criticised the sale of land to foreigners in Johor despite calls for him to apologise for his previous comments.
In a blog post yesterday, the 91-year-old also hit out at a group of NGOs for wanting the police to investigate him over his comments on the issue.
The former prime minister said he couldn’t understand why the “deaf, blind and mute” didn’t lodge a police report against Bloomberg – an international financial news outlet which had written on Forest City – even though they had been more critical of the project compared with what he had said.
“There is a big possibility that these deaf, blind and mute people did not read the report, or if they did, they did not understand it,” Mahathir said.
Quoting the Bloomberg report, he had previously questioned the massive Forest City project – a 1,386 hectare development spread across four man-made islands in Johor’s Iskandar region – which he said would see Chinese nationals buying most of the properties on sale.
Mahathir’s claim that the Forest City project was undermining national sovereignty due to the expected influx of Chinese nationals was slammed by the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Ismail. The ruler said the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) chairman was trying to scare the people over Chinese investments in the state.
Earlier this month, five NGOs urged Mahathir to openly apologise to Sultan Ibrahim and the people of Johor over his comments on Forest City, which they said were “baseless allegations”.
Separately, another group of NGOs lodged a police report against Mahathir on the matter.
In his blog post, however, Mahathir stood by his comments, comparing the sale of land to foreigners to the “sale of Singapore”.
It is believed he was referring to a deal struck between Johor royalty and the British over trading rights in Singapore almost 200 years ago. The deal saw the British being granted trading rights through the Singapore Agreement.
“Now Singapore is a foreign nation which will never be returned to Johor,” he said. He also challenged the NGOs that had lodged a police report against him to visit Forest City and “see it with their own eyes”.
“Try to check if the residents and owners there are local, especially Malays.
“Also, check if the land is being leased and not freehold land as written on notice boards and promoted to Chinese buyers.”
Mahathir added that opposition to the sale of land to foreigners was common around the world, and that no country would accept the influx of foreigners to their country.
“If the majority of Johoreans reject Forest City and the influx of foreigners, their stand does not differ from the stand of other people against the influx of foreigners into their countries.” -FMT
Assalamu alaikum warohmatullahi wabarakatu.
ReplyDeleteSaya ingin berbagi cerita siapa tau bermanfaat kepada anda bahwa saya ini seorang TKI dari johor bahru (malaysia) dan secara tidak sengaja saya buka internet dan saya melihat komentar bpk hilary joseph yg dari hongkong tentan MBAH WIRANG yg telah membantu dia menjadi sukses dan akhirnya saya juga mencoba menghubungi beliau dan alhamdulillah beliau mau membantu saya untuk memberikan nomer toto 6D dr hasil ritual beliau. dan alhamdulillah itu betul-betul terbukti tembus dan menang RM.457.000 Ringgit selama 3X putaran beliau membantu saya, saya tidak menyanka kalau saya sudah bisa sesukses ini dan ini semua berkat bantuan MBAH WIRANG,saya yang dulunya bukan siapa-siapa bahkan saya juga selalu dihina orang dan alhamdulillah kini sekaran saya sudah punya segalanya,itu semua atas bantuan beliau.Saya sangat berterimakasih banyak kepada MBAH WIRANG atas bantuan nomer togel Nya. Bagi anda yg butuh nomer togel mulai (3D/4D/5D/6D) jangan ragu atau maluh segera hubungi MBAH WIRANG di hendpone (+6282346667564) & (082346667564) insya allah beliau akan membantu anda seperti saya...