Ex-MPs slam government over Forest City ‘U-turn’

Aziz Kaprawi says Pakatan Harapan is doing the same thing it criticised Barisan Nasional for in the past, while Shahrir Samad says the government must be consistent.

PETALING JAYA: A former deputy minister has hit out at the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government for allowing foreigners to continue buying freehold property in Forest City after previously criticising the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration over the matter.

Aziz Kaprawi, the former Sri Gading MP, said the government’s stand showed that PH was not consistent and was misleading the people.

He was commenting on Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar’s remarks in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday that the government’s decision to continue allowing foreigners to buy freehold property in Forest City was in line with a ruling issued by the National Land Council in 2014.

“They have lost their credibility,” Aziz said, referring to PH.

“In the past, they claimed the BN government was selling the country’s sovereignty by allowing Chinese nationals to buy property in Forest City.

“If they are consistent in their beliefs, they should amend the laws to prevent the sale of property to foreigners, or at least give their commitment to prevent it from happening.”

Aziz Kaprawi.

Aziz told FMT it was clear that PH’s pre-election talk was mere rhetoric, adding that he felt “sad” for the people although they could now see through PH.

Meanwhile, former Johor Bahru MP Shahrir Samad said it was no surprise that PH had made a “U-turn” on its previous stand.

“Now that they are in the government, they will see that the previous government followed the law, and they too will follow the law.”

If the PH government was “adventurous”, he added, it might push to change the policies it was against.

“I think the claims made against Forest City were quite typical of the then-opposition,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had been the most vocal against it.

“PH should be clear on what changes they want for this country – the laws, the policies and so on.”

Perhaps it was still “too soon” for this, he said, but it was important for the government to be consistent.

Shahrir Samad.

Shahrir also said it appeared as though the new ministers were answering questions in the Dewan Rakyat based on answers prepared by civil servants.

In this respect, he said, the government should form a caucus of ministers to look through parliamentary answers and ensure they reflected PH’s beliefs.

“They should think outside the box.”

In March last year, Mahathir wrote on his blog that then-prime minister Najib Razak was trying to confuse the public by saying the Forest City project would not affect Malaysia’s sovereignty as the properties sold were by way of 99-year leaseholds.

Mahathir said many Malaysians had failed to convert their small plots of land to freehold status although foreigners could easily do so when they bought property in Forest City. -FMT