Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin sees the Chinese investment in Johor as part of a global trend, as China has now emerged as an economic powerhouse with a huge middle class that has a penchant for property across the globe, reported The Malay Mail.
“This is a global phenomenon and it behoves all parties, particularly the private sector, to attract investment from China, and specifically to Johor. More so when Johor is just next to Singapore,” he said in rebuttal to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s claim that between 700,000 and 1.5 million Chinese nationals are expected to enter Johor.
Describing the claims as illogical and baseless, Khaled said Dr Mahathir should understand the importance of foreign investment as the latter had travelled the world during his stint as prime minister just to persuade countries to invest in Malaysia.
Moreover, data from the Land and Mines Office show that only 29,218 units were registered to foreigners, which works out to just two percent of all property within the state, said Khaled.
Assuming four people occupy each unit listed in the National Property Information Centre, there would still be just 116,872 foreigners in those homes – a wide gap from the lower end of the former prime minister’s claim, he added.
And should it be true that Chinese nationals plan on moving to Johor, such occurrence would be consistent with the country’s My Second Home (MM2H) programme – a scheme introduced during Dr Mahathir’s time as prime minister to encourage foreigners to relocate here.
“So, what is happening in Johor is just the manifestation of this policy. We want to make Johor Baru a residential destination with modern features for a global community…Not a destination to gain citizenship or voting rights!” said Khaled.
Notably, Dr Mahathir previously said that more than 700,000 Chinese national will be given Malaysian identity cards – a claim he based on a Bloomberg report that raised concerns on the scale of the Chinese-built Forest City project within the state.
Khaled noted that Dr Mahathir’s act of giving much credence to the report is an act of hypocrisy as the former prime minister usually dismissed these foreign media outlets during his time in power.
Image sourced from Iskandar Development
Diane Foo Eu Lynn, Senior Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email diane@propertyguru.com.my
