MP SPEAKS If Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan believes he is right, then there is no reason for him to chicken out of a meeting with the Penang chief minister

Rahman claimed that despite the federal government’s best efforts to build affordable housing in Penang, its agencies were not able to proceed with the plans because Lim Guan Eng practises “revenge politics”.

However, Penangites and Malaysians are shocked that Rahman doesn’t dare to meet with the Penang chief minister, allegedly because Lim is “fierce and angry” .

We are in a state of disbelief that a minister, who boasted so much about the federal government promising to build so many affordable houses for Malaysians, would not meet with the Penang government.

This is despite his very serious accusations that the state authorities are “sabotaging” the federal government’s altruistic plans.

How could the federal minister be so irresponsible as to sacrifice the importance and needs of ordinary Penangites by abdicating his responsibilities? Or is there something more than what meets the eye?

Is it because the housing minister is probably too afraid to meet because he actually knows the real truth of the matter, and he doesn’t want to end up like a miserable loser after meeting Lim?

Rahman knows why projects were rejected

Rahman knows for a fact that the initial applications made by the federal agencies, JKP Sdn Bhd and Penang Regional Housing Development Authority (Perda), were rejected because they included development of properties costing up to RM1.8 million on Penang Island and RM800,000 on the mainland. 

The selling prices of these properties are well above the “affordable housing” guide of the state, at less than RM400,000 on the island and RM250,000 on the mainland.

Based on the plans submitted by JKP and Perda, they estimate they will make a profit of RM149 million from their projects in Penang. 

Why should these federal government agencies be making such huge profits at the expense of the rakyat?  Instead of the federal government fulfilling its promises and obligations to help fund the construction of affordable housing for Penangites, these people are instead forced to fund the coffers of the federal government.

Therefore, Rahman should explain why the state government should allow these federal government agencies to exploit the interest of the people of Penang?

Land acquired for ‘public interest’ purposes

On top of that, 11 out of 15 pieces of development land owned by JKP and Perda were acquired by the federal government for “public interest” purposes.

If these plots of land were truly meant for “public interest”, then surely building multi-million ringgit properties for profit would run afoul of the Land Acquisition Act?

The federal government promised an allocation of RM1.3 billion to build 80,000 affordable PR1MA houses throughout the country.  Unfortunately, Penang has received not a single sen from this allocation.

Hence, instead of knowingly making unfounded accusations against the Penang government, the housing minister should instead reprimand his federal agencies for attempting to profiteer from ordinary Malaysians.

If Rahman Dahlan is sincere about building affordable housing, he should take a lesson from the Penang government, which has allocated a record RM500 million to build 22,512 affordable housing units in the state, with no intention of profiting from the projects.

Otherwise, Rahman will only prove himself to be a cowardly chicken for not even daring to meet with the Penang chief minister to ensure that the federal government can contribute towards building more affordable houses in Penang.

TONY PUA  is DAP national publicity secretary and Petaling Jaya Utara MP.