1. Mahahtir responds to royal jab, he was merely aping a Bloomberg report of last Nov 22 - Malaysiakini, 17 Jan
2. Sultan of Johor to Mahathir: "I have said what needs to be said ... based on facts and figures, not a Western news report." - The Star, 18 Jan
3. Seeing the future from the Forest by Salahuddin Hisham, The Mole Jan 19
Puchong, Jan 20: So while the former Prime Minister is hoping to trade barbs with the Sultan of Johor, who in response says he is not interested ("I shall not lower myself"), The Mole columnist Salahuddin Hisham dives into the Malaysian FDI dilemma and resurfaces with the words of wisdom that "FDI cannot be on our terms only".
Now that the concerns (including Dr M's) have been highlighted, Salahuddin says the necessary measures need to be put in place. But this, he stresses, should be kept professional and not politicised.
Instead of politicising the generous FDIs from China, Malaysia should be preparing itself and readying the nation to piggy back on this new wave of investments.
To claim that Chinese nationals, equivalent to the estimated number of people who benefitted from the Project IC in Sabah, will be flown in to live in Forest City and acquire citizenship is shocking – propaganda as old as Goebbels.
Salahuddin says the scaremongering that China's Chinese will invade and dominate southern Johor reflects ignorance of what the world is today. This alarmist misrepresentation of the past and present makes us lose sight of the future.
Peninsular Malaysia has a long history of labour shortage and dependence on foreign labour. Since the days of the Malacca Empire it has been attracting economic migrants. Colonial Malaya brought Indians and Chinese to attend to work in the plantation and tin mines.
It is openness to migrants that allowed a Kerala descendent to be the longest serving prime minister till now.
The columnist is known to have disagreed with certain positions the Sultan of Johor took in the past. But where the verbal war between the Tuanku Ibrahim and Dr Mahathir is concerned, he says we should look at the bigger picture ...