Massive reclamation projects cause friction
between Singapore and Malaysia
Tunku
Ismail Idris, the Sultan of Johor, who was batted back a few weeks ago in his
bid to gain control of the regulation of land development in his home state, is
now precipitating a diplomatic crisis via massive land reclamations that
subvert Malaysian laws and pose an environmental dilemma for Singapore.
Tunku
Ismail is said to be a substantial shareholder in several real estate and other
ventures within the massive Iskandar Malaysia Development Region, covering
2,200 sq. km and including the city of Johor Bahru and three surrounding towns.
The project, started in 2006, is named for the current sultan’s late father,
Almarhum Sultant Iskandar.
The
Iskandar project is three times the land area of Singapore itself, population
5.3 million, and is designed to take advantage of the state’s strategic
location just across the now- narrowing strait. Government planners hope
Iskandar can take advantage of Singapore’s commercial and economic success in a
way that Batam, Indonesia’s closest island, has never been able to do,
providing advanced residential, business, education and tourism opportunities.
The
projects stirring concerns in Singapore are the Forest Hills residential
development, a joint venture between Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor, the
government’s development arm, and Country Garden Holdings, mainland China’s
biggest property developer, and a second, also by a Chinese property company,
F&F Princess Cove being developed by Guangzhou R&F Properties Ltd. The
Sultan is said to have sold six plots of land worth RM4.5 billion (US$1.4
billion) to Guangzhou R&F Properties.
According
to a Malaysian businessman with knowledge of the situation, the Chinese
property companies bought the land at over-inflated prices with the proviso
that they would get the development order. The proceeds from the “over-inflated
prices” were said to have gone into the Sultan’s coffers.
The
projects are being built on 2,023 hectares of land being reclaimed in the
Strait of Johor, with fill stretching all the way from Malaysia’s former
shoreline to Singapore’s marine boundary in the middle of the strait,
drastically narrowing the strait and setting the stage for serious land
erosion. Nineteen creeks, waterways and rivulets empty into the strait, which
forms the boundary between Singapore and Johor. With the same volume of water
pushing through a narrowed channel, engineers fear the banks will erode badly.
The
projects have raised a blizzard of objections from the Singapore government,
which says it was given no prior information about them. Singapore Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong has spoken personally to his counterpart, Prime
Minister Najib Tun Razak, at least twice. The Ministry of National Development
has raised concerns, as has the National Environmental Agency. Several
third-party notes have been sent, formal diplomatic notes between governments.
So far,
however, sources say, Najib has not responded. He has been described as frozen
to the controls, unable to bring himself to confront the sultan, according to
several well-wired Malaysian sources. He was said to be in Johor today (July
16) to meet with United Malays National Organization cadres to break his fast
this evening for Ramadan, but is not scheduled to meet with the Sultan.
There
are a variety of environmental and economic considerations that could be used
to limit the size of the projects, a source in Kuala Lumpur said. The
relatively new Tanjong Pelapas port on the Johor side of the strait was designed
to be positioned by Malaysia as an alternative to Singapore’s more expensive
terminals. Maersk Sealand, the world’s largest container ship operator, holds
30 percent of the port operator, but is said to be concerned at the effect the
reclaimed land will have on the channel.
There
are also endangered species that could be affected and environmental laws could
be used to slow the projects, according to the sources. In addition, while
Malaysian environmental law mandates that no more than 50 acres (20.23
hectares) can be approved for reclamation at one time, the huge Country Garden
joint venture gets around the environmental restriction by dividing the project
into 50-acre segments divided by small watercourses.
But the
Malaysian government, unlike the Singapore government, has not sought to use
environmental laws to stop or slow the projects. Part of the reason is that
Najib and UMNO are afraid to cross the Sultan for political reasons. In the
2013 general election, the party, which considered Johor a stronghold, lost 18
seats to the opposition although it maintains a healthy majority of 56 of the
74 seats in the state assembly. The composition of the state is changing
rapidly from rural to urban as Johor in effect becomes a Singapore suburb,
diminishing UMNO’s power base. The Sultan remains the figurehead of the
religion and the state to rural Malays. Upsetting a man with a volatile temper,
who has had several scrapes with the law for violent behaviour before he became
Sultan, is considered unwise.
In the
meantime, according to accounts in local media, the Sultan’s business dealings
have stirred public outcry because of a growing portfolio of projects he
controls throughout the Iskandar development including not just real estate but
telecommunications, private security and others.
According
to sources in Kuala Lumpur, it is the sultan and his family, despite the fact
that the sultan’s office theoretically has been reduced to a figurehead who
performs only ceremonial and other socio-cultural functions, who has become the
real power in the state. Tunku Ismail, according to those sources, has turned
his status on its head, making a play to take power.
The
Sultan is said to be close to the state’s chief minister, Mohamed Khaled Nordin
and in fact attended English College with him. Mohamed sought to table a
measure in the Johor legislature that would have given the Sultan control over
vast amounts of lucrative state land through the Johor Property and Housing
Commission. The measure would have given the sultan the power to appoint board
members and investigate the commission‘s books, among other functions.
The
Sultan has been accused privately of sanctioning kickbacks, money laundering
and a variety of backroom deals. But in the growing atmosphere of political
repression of comments about the sultans, his misdeeds have remained unreported
and the power play was largely hidden in shadowy language in Malaysia’s
mainstream press, along with his behavioral antics.
“A
bigger question lingering in the minds of the people is: can the menteri besar
(chjief minister) say ‘no’ to the Johor royal family?”
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