‘No’ to townships only for foreigners

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will not allow property developers to build houses or township exclusively for foreigners.

“Foreigners buying homes in Malaysia are not the issue here, but townships built exclusively for foreigners,” Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said in his keynote speech at the Rehda Institute CEO Series 2018 here.

He said homes must be built for Malaysians, too, and not reserved for foreigners.

“When a township is built exclusively for foreigners, how does that benefit Malaysia and Malaysians? Don’t build townships just for foreigners. The government won’t accept.”

Lim said he wanted high-quality foreign direct investments flowing into the country, creating high-quality jobs for people, in line with its objective of creating high-quality growth shared among Malaysians.

“We do not need growth just for good gross domestic product numbers, which have no relevance to people and where people do not reap any benefits,” he said.

Lim said Malaysia had drawn interest from companies in China and the United States to make Malaysia an investment destination amid the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

“Over the short term, the trade war may offer Malaysia some unique opportunities.

“We have received inquiries from Chinese and US companies in making Malaysia a safe harbour amid the trade war,” he said.

Lim said the likelihood of the trade war continuing after the US mid-term election in November was real as it had the support of both US parties.

Lim said Malaysia had a resilient economy and the performance of the ringgit backed this assertion.

“There is no denying that the ringgit had depreciated, but it has weakened by only 1.7 per cent year-to-date to Sept 20 this year.

“The Australian dollar, renminbi, rupiah, Philippine peso and the Singaporean dollar have dropped more than the ringgit,” he said.

This meant that the ringgit had been one of the best performing currencies in the region so far this year, he added.

The trade war may offer Malaysia some unique opportunities. LIM GUAN ENG Finance minister