SPECIAL REPORT The idea of foreigners flooding the country at the expense of Malays has often been a bogeyman played up by Umno, and this has helped the party maintain its firm grip on power in the country.

However, with this bogeyman becoming a reality in Umno's home state of Johor, the party now appears conspicuously silent.

This comes despite a declaration by the Johor ruler, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail Sultan Iskandar, that Singaporeans living in Johor will mark the way forward for the state.