INTERVIEW | In a sarcastic swipe, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he is willing to agree with Johor Menteri Besar Osman Sapian on allowing foreigners to buy Forest City units if the latter wants Malaysians to live in wooden houses.
He said the foreigners could even develop Johor into a more modern city than Singapore.
"Because these people have money and can invest, they are business savvy and can build beautiful buildings.
"But we will live in wooden houses. If that's what we want, it's okay, I will support the menteri besar of Johor.
"If we want to bring in more people, and they are rich and they will pay more taxes than us, okay. We will be rich," he told Malaysiakini and Sinar Harian during a joint interview yesterday.
The prime minister said this when asked about Osman's statementthat Mahathir could be in the dark about Johor's real estate policies.
Last month, Mahathir said houses being built in the Forest City project cannot be sold to foreigners because the government was "not going to give visas for people to come and live here".
Osman defended the China-backed development and is working with a cabinet-level committee, headed by Local Government and Housing Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, to reach a compromise, such as reducing the percentage of foreign ownership.
However, Mahathir stuck to his guns on the matter.
"I don't want these people coming here and living here. If they make a city that is so big, surely they would not just come here for five days.
"And if they open a shop, because surely there will be a shop - they wouldn't just open it for seven days and then go back to China.
"They would want to live here, and if they want to live here, they would want to be part of our country... then if they ask to become citizens, then we would not be able to refuse," he said. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.