Umno sapu semua, Malays poor

Umno sapu semua, Malays poor

By Chua Jui Meng

NOW the Malays are beginning to see through Umno’s 55 years of misleading the community to enrich themselves, their families and cronies.

It sure took a long time for the Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia and several non-governmental organisations to finally see the real problem – the super corrupt and greedy Umno.

Chamber president Syed Ali Alattas lamented that the Malays in Johor are the poorest in Malaysia, with cost of living skyrocketing due to the significant presence of foreigners (Singaporeans) residing in the state.

He also pointed to the fact that 80% of the former Malay-majority owned Iskandar land was now foreign-owned.

Syed Ali said even the Malays in Kelantan were richer because one can buy more with the ringgit in the east coast state.

The Malays can buy a bungalow for RM200,000 in Kelantan but the same would cost RM1.5 million in Johor.

In the past two decades, thousands of acres of Malay ancestral land had been “robbed” by former Mentri Besar Muhyiddin Yassin and now the Ghani Othman-led Johor government using the Land Acquisition Act 1960.

Just look and tell me what you see in Tebrau, Pasir Gudang, Danga Bay, Iskandar  and Nusajaya.

And the latest to benefit from the “seized” Malay land is China’s Country Garden (Holdings) Ltd.

It bought 55 acres in Iskandar’s Danga Bay for RM900 million for property development. The state government, using the Act, had paid the majority Malay land owners only 64 sen psf or RM1.53 million.

Now, locals just cannot afford the houses and condominiums priced from RM800,000 and above. And these properties are on land previously belonging to Malays.

In fact the land grabs in Johor have been going on the past two decades, starting with Muhyiddin, and now with Ghani and his government using the Act to acquire land to be alaienated to cronies for property development.

And the person Malaysians have to thank for such an opportunity to abuse and grab land is Mahathir Mohamad.

It was Mahathir, using Barisan Nasional (BN)’s overwhelming majority in Parliament in 1991, passed the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill.

The rephrasing of sections of the Land Acquisition Act 1960 basically gave incontestable power to state governments to seize private land for development by private companies and individuals. Lands originally acquired for public purposes can also be used for private development.

Before the amendments, land could only be acquired for public purposes or for public utilities like building of roads, schools, hospitals, pipelines, water or power plants, etc.

With the addition of “…for any purpose which in the opinion of the State Authority is beneficial to the economic development of Malaysia”, no land is safe.

The term “beneficial to the economic development of Malaysia” is as subjective as you can get. A piece of land can be acquired to build a posh five-star hotel, an amusement park or a golf resort because in the opinion of the government it would bring in the tourist dollar and create jobs for locals, not to mention enriching the private companies which would, of course, be paying taxes (borrowing quotes from  Thomas Fann http://chuajuimeng123.blogspot.com/2012/10/your-land-is-not-safe-in-malaysia.html)

That was Umno and Mahathir’s “killer” and is the cause of land grabs everywhere today. This has actually rendered all land in Malaysia as unsafe investment.

The moment the land you own is eyed by the greedy Umno cronies, that’s it. In the name of development (read Umno’s pockets), you will be paid peanuts but Umno and its cronies will develop and reap millions or billions of ringgit.

In Johor, who have benefited from Ghani’s massive land acquisitions?

Umno’s cronies and companies like UEM. Chinese towkays like Tan Sri Lim Kang Hoo, Tan Sri Danny Tan, Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah and Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar. And only Singaporeans and the rich non-Johoreans can afford to buy the properties.

Even foreigners are taking us for a ride just because BN-Umno is desperate to show development.

In Nusajaya, the infrastructure and buildings are constructed by UEM on 305 acres called EduCity@Iskandar. University of Newcastle, Raffles University Iskandar, Reading University and a Dutch Maritime University are slated to just move in and operate.

Foreigners benefit and you call this investments? What kind of development plan is this?

Where are the Johoreans in this? Only Umno cronies and foreigners.

Ghani’s latest land grab exercise is in Pengerang where some 22,500 acres of Malay land, including cemeteries, are being acquired for the non-sustainable Petronas Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) project which needs only about 6,000 acres.

Thousands of villagers, the majority being Malays, will be evicted.

Such cruel land grabs will not stop unless Umno is stopped.

Johoreans can rise in the coming 13^th General Election to stop Umno.

Here’s the fear the Malay Chamber of Commerce and NGOs have expressed in a recent congress (in Bahasa Malaysia) and details on China Country Garden's foray into Iskandar:

Kedudukan Melayu Johor membimbangkan

Jamilah Kamarudin

 | January 15, 2013 

Tanah kerajaan diswastakan tanpa mengira harga dan mudaratnya kepada bangsa Melayu serta rakyat Johor keseluruhannya

KUALA LUMPUR: Masa depan hak ekuiti masyarakat Melayu Johor kini didakwa semakin merosot dan jurang perbezaan prestasi ekonominya kian membesar akibat lambakan pelabur asing masuk ke negeri itu.

Kebimbangan itu dinyatakan wakil agensi kerajaan, perwakilan Dewan Perniagaan Melayu Malaysia (DPPMM) dan badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) dalam satu resolusi Kongres Ekonomi Melayu Peringkat Zon Selatan.

Presiden DPMM Datuk Syed Ali Alattas ketika membentangkan resolusi yang tercapai pada 6 Januari lalu itu berkata, kongres turut kesal
dengan isu hak milik tanah orang Melayu Johor apabila tanah kerajaan diswastakan tanpa mengira harga dan mudaratnya kepada bangsa Melayu serta rakyat Johor keseluruhannya.

Syed Ali berkata, Keluaran Dalam Negeri Kasar (KDNK) Johor akan ditentukan daripada projek pembangunan Iskandar Malaysia di mana 80 peratus daripadanya dikuasai pelabur asing.

“Projek Iskandar memundur dan memiggirkan orang Melayu dari segi ekonomi sekaligus meningkatkan jurang kemiskinan,” katanya dalam sidang media di pejabatnya di sini hari ini.

Katanya, pendapatan perkapita penduduk Johor juga semakin rendah apabila kebanyakan masyarakat Melayu kini tidak mampu lagi membeli rumah di sekitar kawasan Iskandar.

`Tanah sendiri dimiliki orang asing’

“Bayangkan rumah dengan keluasan 1, 300 kaki persegi kini mencecah RM1juta. Individu yang bergaji RM5,000 pun tak mampu membelinya kerana bank hanya membenarkan pinjaman sehingga RM200,000 sahaja.

“Lebih teruk tanah sendiri dimiliki orang asing…ini situasi merbahaya yang dihadapi penduduk Johor,” katanya.

Koridor pembangunan yang dimiliki Khazanah Nasional Berhad dan terletak di Selatan Johor itu mempunyai keluasan kira-kira 500,000 ekar, kira-kira tiga kali ganda daripada keluasan Singapura.

Sehubungan itu, Kongres itu mencapai satu resolusi mahu mendesak kerajaan memperuntukkan 30 peratus (24,000 ekar) Nusajaya kepada orang Melayu.

Selain itu, kongres turut meminta Jambatan Selat Tebrau yang dikenali sebagai ‘Jambatan Bengkok’ yang terbengkalai diteruskan semula.

“Rugi kalau jambatan yang dibina dengan kos RM700 juta itu terbiar. Kalau tambah modal RM700 juta lagi boleh selesai,” katanya.

Kongres itu juga mengambil ketetapan untuk menggunakan status Melayu, dan bukan lagi Bumiputera bagi mengelakkan daripada penyelewengan dan kekeliruan kepada status ‘Bumiputera’ dimanipulasi oleh pihak lain demi keuntungan pihak tertentu.

Tuesday December 4, 2012

China’s Country Garden buying 55 acres in Iskandar for RM900m

By B.K. SIDHU
bksidhu@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd (IWH), which is transforming the coastline of Johor fronting Singapore into a waterfront haven, has seen its land bank swell to over 4,000 acres via a restructuring and land acquisitions.
Of that, about 315 acres are located in Desaru, which is undergoing a massive boost to become a vibrant tourist and lifestyle destination.
Today, one of China's biggest property developers, Country Garden (Holdings) Ltd, will ink an agreement to buy 55 acres of land at Danga Bay for RM900mil from IWH.
“Country Gardens plans to develop a marina and marina club, hotel, serviced apartments, offices and commercial development that will have a gross development value of RM10bil to RM18bil. This project will take several years,'' said IWH executive vice-chairman Tan Sri Lim Kang Hoo.
“We have a lot of interest from local and foreign parties, but this is the fastest deal we have concluded. We only began talking four months ago. Perhaps their decision-making process is a lot faster than many others,” he said.
He added that IWH was in negotiations with several other parties and expected to enter into many more deals to develop its land bank in the coming months.
Country Gardens wants more than the 55 acres it is buying and Lim said “we are looking for suitable sites to offer to them. We'd rather have them develop different parts of Danga Bay instead of just one area. We have 10 different developments at Danga Bay.''
Danga Bay developments will span over 2,000 acres of the total 4,000 acres. It is being transformed into a premier waterfront destination with features such as cruise ship terminal, marina, fisherman's wharf and tower blocks to house commercial offices, hotels, exhibition and convention centres, and residential properties.
Given the different developments, IWH has to ensure that each developer has product differentiation so that demand will always be there and to prevent a glut.
Country Gardens joins several other developers such as Dijaya Corp Bhd, Brunsfield Group, Australia's Walker Group and Singapore's Azea Residences to develop parts of Danga Bay. Normally, IWH enters into joint ventures for all the developments but Lim said it made an exception to sell the land outright to Country Gardens.
Danga Bay is one of the many developments taking shape in Iskandar Malaysia.
After a restructuring exercise early this year which involved the takeover of Tebrau Teguh Bhd, IWH is now 60% owned by Lim's Credence Resources Sdn Bhd and the remaining 40% is held by Johor state investment agency, Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor.
Hence, IWH had a boost in land acerage. However, Lim said, “we have also been buying land to add to the average. Contrary to market talk, we have bought all the land that we own from the banks via auctions, from individuals and even Danaharta.''
Danga Bay is located on the west side of Johor Baru and Lim said the other parts making the 4,000 were located in the northern part of Johor Baru town, within the town and on the eastern side. The whole city will be linked by trams and MRT while several new highways have already been built.
“And when we sell land, we use the money to buy more land and reclaim more or we also revive abandon projects in the state. All these may cost money but we are doing this to create enough economic activity in the state,'' he said.
All the land will be developed in stages but IWH need investors to undertake the development. IWH will also modernise Johor Baru's central business district to create a more vibrant capital city of the state.
“The entire transformation of Johor Baru will take several years to decades and it would be done gradually to cater to the needs of market demand,'' he added.
On Desaru, he said the plan was to develop resort and lifestyle living accommodation because there would be demand for such facilities when the Pengerang oil and gas facilities take shape. Khazanah Nasional Bhd is also developing part of Desaru into a tourism and theme park centre.
“We will be able to attract expatriates as Khazanah is marketing the development at Desaru. We, the private sector, will not be able to do all that,'' he said, adding that “again, this land in Desaru is something we bought from Danaharta.”