Bandar Malaysia deal flop blessing for bumiputera, says Perkasa

Malay rights group Perkasa said the dissolution of the RM7.41 billion Bandar Malaysia deal is a blessing because it will mean the government can now look into allowing bumiputera participation in the project.

Ministry of Finance-owned TRX City Sdn Bhd said the deal fell through after the consortium consisting of Iskandar Waterfrot Holdings and China Railway Engineering Cooperation (CREC) did not meet payment obligations, despite multiple extensions.

"The cancellation (of the deal) is a blessing because the development of Bandar Malaysia had before this did not include bumiputera participation.

"If Bandar Malaysia is to be developed by joint venture, the parties must first show how they will implement bumiputera participation including quotas.

"As such, we demand the government form a team of officials with integrity under the Prime Minister's Department, to ensure all mega projects involving China or any other foreign nations includes bumiputera participation in a transparent manner," Perkasa vice-president Ruhanie Ahmad said.

Ruhanie (photo), who heads the NGO's bumiputera economy agenda bureau, said the government must study the experiences of Sri Lanka, Pakistan and other nations in Africa to avoid problems due to investments from China. 

Bumi quota for commercial properties

Besides Bandar Malaysia, he also urged the government to set up special ownership quotas for commercial properties to ensure equitable holdings by the bumiputera community.

This includes business premises, office lots and factories, where the rate of bumiputera ownership is "pitiful", he said.

According to the Economic Planning Unit, in 2012, bumiputera ownership of industrial property stood at only 4.5 percent while the community only owned 5.4 percent of office space.

On the residential front, he urged the government to form a special body to buy properties held under bumiputera quotas, which are unsold.

This is to avoid developers from claiming that there are no bumiputera buyers, so they can open it up to the rest of the community at a higher price, he said, and urged action on such developers.

Earlier Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin said there are 88,000 unsold properties which are held under the bumiputera quota in the state.

He said the state allows developers to convert the status of unsold properties held under the bumiputera quota, if a seller cannot be found after a stipulated time.

The fee collected for this conversion will then be used to build homes for the bumiputera community elsewhere, he reportedly said.

Former Johor executive council member Abd Latif Bandi was charged with corruption for allegedly aiding the illegal conversion of bumiputera land to non-bumiputera status for disposal at higher prices.- Mkini