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Friday, February 23, 2018

NO MATTER WHAT NAJIB & THEIR SULTAN SAY, JOHOR FOLK DON’T LIKE CHINA: ‘WE STILL PREFER SINGAPORE, WE TRUST THEM MORE’

WHEN it comes to foreign investment, not all currency is created equal in the eyes of Johoreans.
Despite having invested hundreds of billions of ringgit into property development in Johor, China’s growing presence in the state are viewed with mild disdain by locals, who instead favour investments from their southern neighbours in Singapore.
The main reason for this is the apparent disconnect between China’s multi-billion-ringgit property developments and the average Johorean.
Zayani Ismail said while Johoreans generally welcomed foreign investment, the rollover effects in Johor from Chinese investments in the local property market were unlike those felt Malacca, Penang and Selangor.
“We don’t feel the positive effects,” said the 32-year-old executive.
“The only thing they have done is drive up the local property prices and make it harder for people like me to buy a home in Johor Baru.”
Zayani’s views reflect the findings of a survey conducted last month by the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research. The poll showed that only 56% of 1,007 respondents in Johor favoured investments from China, compared with 69% for investments from Singapore.
The survey also showed that dissatisfaction with Chinese investments was higher at 29% compared with 18% with Singaporean investments.
The animosity towards Chinese investors currently contrasts sharply with local feelings for the Singaporean firms and Singapore-based multinationals involved in the development of Pasir Gudang back in the 1980s, said ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute senior fellow Dr Francis E Hutchinson.
The investments in Pasir Gudang were well-received by locals who saw them as having a direct benefit to Johoreans, he said.
“Beyond the jobs created, an important new township was developed in a sparsely-populated part of the state.”
He said the historical relationship between Singapore and Malaysia also played a part in Johoreans having a more favourable impression of their neighbours.
In contrast, many locals viewed Chinese investments with a mixture of disinterest and suspicion, mainly because the bulk of these investments were in high-end real estate, he said.
“The perception is that this drives up housing prices and many of those buying the newly-completed units will not be local.”
Singaporean investments in the state are also viewed as more relevant to Johoreans. Nine in 10 locals polled said there should be a high-speed railroad between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur; 81% said there should be a third link between the two countries; 88% said Johor and Singapore should be linked by an MRT service.
Singapore and Johor are currently linked by two bridges in Woodlands and Tuas.
Higher property prices aside, there was also the belief that Chinese projects did not provide enough job opportunities as the investors did not explicitly commit to a certain percentage of the work to be apportioned to locals, said Hutchinson.
Last year, in response to criticism that the Forest City development was not benefiting locals, Chinese developer Country Garden Pacific View (CGPV) said more than 40% of its capital expenditure went to pay local firms.
CGPV said it spent RM4.7 billion on the services of local consultancy, law and architecture firms and on construction materials.
CGPV’s investment in Forest City is valued at RM444 billion. CGPV’s other investments in Johor are in Danga Bay and Central Park.
Goh Wee Keat, 26, said with the skyrocketing prices of homes in the Johor Baru city centre, where he worked, he could only afford to buy a flat.
“If there are landed properties near the city, there are too few units,” he said.
While he would not leave JB to work elsewhere, he said he would gladly work in Singapore if there was an MRT service linking Johor Baru with the republic.
“At the moment, unless I live in Singapore, it’s too time consuming to spend two hours a day trying to get to work there while living in Skudai.”
– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com

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