Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was interviewed by Malaysia's fortnightly political tabloid Siasah on Aug 9. This is an extract from the interview published in the current issue of the tabloid.
SIASAH: The Iskandar Development Region (IDR) is a massive and expensive project that is said to be very beneficial especially to Johor in the long run. But various quarters - including you, Tengku Razaleigh, PAS members and international financial analysts based in Singapore - are sceptical about whether the project will run as smoothly as planned.
Tun Dr Mahathir: We can develop our territory anywhere we like. But the problem is Singapore's involvement in this project. Why must there be a special joint ministerial committee to decide on the development in Malaysia? Why must we depend so much on Singapore's participation to develop the IDR? As we know, Singapore is not a good neighbour, and even if it agrees to be involved in the IDR, Singaporeans will eventually buy houses or factories and reside here. Singapore reportedly has plans to increase its population to eight million to 10 million (sic), a large part of which will be imported from mainland China. As Singapore can only accommodate up to five million to six million, the rest of its population will probably be placed in the IDR. So if we're not careful, the IDR will eventually be filled with Singaporeans. Past experience has taught us that we lost Singapore because the Chinese population exceeded that of the Malays. And tomorrow, if the government allows Singapore Chinese to occupy the IDR (through business, employment and property purchase) to a larger extent than the Malays, the IDR would be dominated by Singapore Chinese because the Malays cannot afford to buy homes there. Malacca and Penang remain in Malaysia because the Chinese population can be offset by the large Malay population. But in Singapore, the Chinese make up more than 75 per cent of the population while the Malays make up a mere 15 per cent. The Chinese there are rich and control the economy. For this reason, we had to release Singapore because the Chinese were too numerous and controlled the island. And at that time, Lee Kuan Yew, who had initially agreed not to interfere in the political affairs of the peninsula, broke his promise by contesting in the 1964 general election in Bangsar, which led to the late Tunku (Abdul Rahman) becoming incensed and expelling Singapore. Today, we are trying to invite Singapore to enter Malaysia by participating actively in the IDR through various incentives and investment promotions. Eventually, the Johor Malays - who would initially refuse to sell their land - would be blinded by the highly lucrative offers for their properties and sell them to the Singapore Chinese for instant wealth. After that, where will the Malays reside? They will be driven away from the rapidly developing IDR. They won't be able to afford the costly property there and will be forced to live outside the IDR. The IDR will then be filled with Singapore Chinese and Malaysian Chinese who can afford it. What if their numbers exceed the Malay population? We will once again lose Malay territory to the Chinese, as had happened with Singapore previously. What about the Singapore Government's active involvement leading to the formation of the joint ministerial committee? Is this necessary? All this while, we had never sought anyone's assistance or advice to develop our country. We had developed Kuala Lumpur ourselves without anyone's aid. We never called on any foreign minister to advise us on how we should develop KL. We have the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) to plan and advise us on our development. The development of Putrajaya, Labuan, Langkawi and the whole country was the result of our hands and the expertise of our people. Why must we develop the IDR by seeking advice from Singapore ministers? They are just like us. We developed this whole country without the help of foreigners and without the advice of any foreign minister, including Singapore's. In fact, those Singapore ministers sitting on the ministerial committee can't even make decisions without the direction and consent of the island's most powerful man, Lee Kuan Yew.
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