Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad declared that foreigners would not be granted visas to live and not allowed to buy property at The Forest City project near Singapore.
The Country Garden Holdings Co.’s $100 billion projects had targeted buyers from China for its mixed-residential development, as well as investors from Indonesia, Thailand and Dubai.
Malaysia’s My Second Home program allows wealthy foreigners to live in the Southeast Asian nation on a long-stay visa, with Chinese nationals being the largest group of participants.
Mahathir, who was Malaysia’s leader from 1981-2003, said the government’s objection was “because it was built for foreigners, not built for Malaysians. Most Malaysians are unable to buy those flats.”
Country Garden Pacificview Sdn Bhd, the joint venture between Country Garden and the Johor state government that is developing Forest City, said it is in touch with Mahathir’s office as it seeks clarification. Mahathir’s comments are inconsistent with what he said during an Aug. 16 meeting with Country Garden’s founding Chairman Yeung Kwok Keung.
In that meeting, Mahathir “reiterated that he welcomes foreign investments which could create employment opportunities, promote technology transfer and innovations that could benefit Malaysia’s economic growth and job creation”.
Since coming to power in May, Mahathir has taken a firm stance against foreign investments that he says don’t benefit Malaysians. He has put the brakes on several China-backed projects, including the $20 billion East Coast Rail Link project and a natural gas pipeline project in Sabah. Plans for a high-speed rail link from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, which was expected to be a big boost to the Forest City project, have also been suspended.
Sources: Bloomberg.com, Reuters.com