Khaled: Hypocritical of Dr Mahathir to cite Western media

Khaled Nordin questions former prime minister for ignoring reports by Western media during his tenure but referring to them now to attack government.

(FMT) – Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin has questioned Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s hypocrisy in citing foreign reports about Malaysia.

“In the past, the Western media were consistent and systematic in their attacks and condescending reports over any development project in Malaysia, including those initiated by the former prime minister,” Khaled said in a statement released today.

He pointed out that various media outlets had also derided the development of Cyberjaya and Putrajaya, the country’s administrative capital, calling the two projects under the Mahathir administration a waste of taxpayers’ money.

“Mahathir was also attacked by the Western media over his refusal to agree to a bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the country’s 1997 financial crisis as well as over his decision to sack his then deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

“Yet, now he praises such reports and chooses to believe them without investigating the matter himself. He should have sought an explanation from the Johor government instead,” Khalid said.

The Johor MB was responding to a post by the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairman published on his blog on Tuesday, where the latter referred to a Bloomberg report that said about 1.5 million foreigners could reside in 60 property projects around Johor Baru.

Mahathir had cited the report when defending his claim that over 700,000 Chinese nationals will be given identity cards to enable them to vote in the coming general election.

Khaled went on to criticise Mahathir’s assumption that 1.5 million foreigners would reside in such properties arguing that it did not make any sense as there were around one million Johoreans.

“Based on Mahathir’s calculation, this meant that 25,000 residents would occupy each of the 60 projects,” Khalid said, explaining the properties being developed can only house between 2,000 and 2,500 residents each.

“The truth is, the foreign media will remain skeptical with developments in Johor and Malaysia. For them success in Malaysia is a rare thing.”