Amid Johor’s Iskandar Malaysia boom, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad warned today that the southern region might become “another Singapore” where foreigners outnumber native Malaysians.
Dubbing the region “Johor Baru Baru” — new Johor Baru in Malay — the former prime minister pointed out that properties there would be costly and unaffordable to locals.
“Would the scenic and lavish developing city not be another Singapore?” asked Dr Mahathir in a post on his blog.
“Under the Malaysian system, anybody who has stayed in the country for 10 years in the last 12 years has the right to citizenship. And we just don’t know how to rebuff the request of others.”
Although Dr Mahathir said the capital of Johor would be more attractive and amazing than New York, he warned that the settlers of the luxury skyscrapers would be foreigners and not locals from around Johor Baru.
He pointed out to the city-state of Singapore, which he said was sold to the British in 1819 for 60,000 Spanish dollars.
“Immigrants have flooded Singapore until its natives were buried in the massive city which was erected,” said the nation’s longest-serving prime minister.
“That is how huge the number of these immigrants is, until Singapore became a foreign country which was not returned to Johor even when the island was liberated by the British from its rule.”
Singapore was established in 1819 as a trading post of the East India Company by Sir Stamford Raffles, with the permission of the Johor Sultanate.
It subsequently became one of the British Straits Settlements in 1826.
Singapore obtained its independence in 1963 and joined Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah to form Malaysia, but was expelled two years later.
Dr Mahathir also expressed concern that foreigners settling in New Johor Baru would become voters in the country.
“It does not matter if there is not even one Malay ethnic, as long as the one who votes and chooses the MP is a Malaysian,” he added.
Iskandar Malaysia was established in 2006, when Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was prime minister.
The 2,217 square-km area is divided into five zones, including the present Johor Baru city centre and Nusajaya, the state’s new administrative capital.
Source: The Malay Mail Online
Development of Iskander projects is the vision of the Malaysian to attract investment if no foreigner invest in the project it will be a ghost town a white elephant you can set a quota but to stop foreigner to purchase and invest then why have this project in the first place
As a Johorean we are very proud of the latest and fast developing city. As Sultan of Johor has brought a lot of investment to JB, and Iskandar Malaysia in Nusajaya. Of course property is JB is very costly, one can’t afford to have his own, that is why Sultan of Johor started to intefere the housing board to built more low medium cost house for those middle income of people.
‘Foreigner-infested’? Very sad choice of words. Somethino is infested by cockroaches or lice, but to use the word ‘infested’ in connection with humans is worrying. We foreigners pay tax here in Malaysia and contribute a lot. This is not very welcoming. I feel sad that the politicians more and more blame us for everything and see us only as cows who can be milked…
All this new Development only for the foreigner….
If Malaysian government worries about JB especially the Iskandar area, be infested with foreigners instead of locals, because they can’t afford. Then the government should gave the locals free housing.