I was amazed and amused to read that, in an address on Nov 4 at an event to crow about plans for the grandiose new South Johor Economic Region (SJER), Sultan Iskandar remarked that the Causeway linking his state with Singapore was built by colonialists who used dirty tactics to deceive his ancestors.

He then expanded on the 'dirty' theme, declaring that he wouldn't give face to Mat Sallehs , urging the people not to hold them in high regard, and warning locals and their children to be wary of them as they were "vultures".

Though a Mat Salleh myself, I find I can hardly cavil or take offence at this flight of rhetoric against my race.

For centuries, Orang Putih from Portugal, Holland and Britain shamelessly swooped down to prey on what's now Malaysia, generally ruling the roost (with, it must be said, the co-operation if not collusion of the Sultans then), and strutting around like peacocks while feathering their nests at the expense of the unfortunate local inhabitants.

So did the Arabs and Chinese before them, of course, and much more recently the conquering Japanese, but the depredations of predators of other plumage don't excuse the fowl deeds of the Mat Salleh .

Though scavengers they undoubtedly were, when the Orang Putih colonialists finally flew the coop back in 1957, they hadn't succeeded in picking Malaysia completely clean.

They left the fledgling nation the makings of a flying start, in the form of items too bulky and heavy to carry away, like rubber plantations, railways, ports and other infrastructure, plus a civil administration, democratic institutions, and even a few scraps of their culture, including what is by all accounts one of Sultan Iskandar's favourite sports, golf. So at least he has the vultures to thank for the opportunity to score some birdies and eagles.

But the departing Orang Putih overlords also, unfortunately, left some of their kind behind them. And others of their ilk, including birds of passage like myself, have been since permitted to alight here, at least temporarily. An indulgence for which I should be properly grateful, considering I'm not only a Mat Salleh , but just a Mat Salleh galah from Australia, a nation whose first Orang Putih inhabitants included not only vultures but jailbirds to boot.

And though I personally haven't managed to get my talons on any valuables to speak of, I do confess that I've taken advantage of Malaysia's hospitality by getting lovey-dovey with one of the local chicks and carrying her off in marriage.

Another 'shining city'

As if to add insult to this injury, I also rudely presume, per medium of malaysiakini , to stick my beak into Malaysian political and other current affairs.

Among the most fascinating of these right now, as it happens, is the commencement of work on the SJER, at the launch of which the Sultan departed from his prepared speech to wing it with some impromptu remarks characterising Mat Sallehs as "dirty" and "vultures". It is his royal prerogative, of course, especially as the SJER is in his own backyard and is officially named the Iskandar Development Region in his honour.

Billed as being 2.5 times the size of Singapore, projected to cost the by-no-means paltry sum of some RM300 billion and to generate 800,000 jobs over the next decade, this super-city (and Free Access Zone) is supposed to rise phoenix-like from the ashes - or at least hashes - of previous attempts to elevate the image and economy of Johor.

These include the Waterfront City, a RM6.3 billion scheme to build 41 retail, commercial and residential blocks on a 47.2 acre site, commenced in 1996, abandoned in 1998, and today as dead as the dodo.

With so much egg on their faces from this and many other previous attempts to dispel Johor's seedy image, you'd imagine the politicians and planners would be more cautious about hatching an even more improbable project.

But apparently not, as they're proposing to shell out 50 times as many billions of ringgit on this one, which looks to me like some fantasy Icarus might have dreamed-up before his fatal flight too close to the sun: a hub for logistics, medical facilities and international finance, just down the road (or across that accursed Causeway) from the hub of all these services that Singapore has been for years; a creative industries park, whatever that may be; a bio-fuel centre and centre for halal manufacturing, both of which sound more like sops to a dubious electorate than hard-headed commercial ventures.

And perhaps the most fanciful feature of all, considering Malaysia's mediocre performance in achieving tertiary-education excellence and stemming its massive brain-drain, is an education park boasting two universities and 'world-class' R&D facilities.

There are also to be all the usual features of such a massive scheme, like housing, schools, hospitals, transportation links, recreational facilities and also, no doubt, lots of shopping malls.

And all this under the auspices of a prime minister who just months ago declared that, unlike his free-spending, not to say profligate, predecessor, he had no interest in building "shining cities".

But never mind. The first funds are about to flow: RM4.3 billion of government (read taxpayers') money, and another RM3.4 billion from government-linked entities like Khazanah Nasional and the EPF (the good old taxpayers again), and "as much as RM10 billion "expected to be invested" by the private sector in the project's early stages.

I make that a mere RM17.7 billion to be shelled out for now. Just a drop in the ocean compared with the total projected expenditure, but nevertheless not chicken-feed.

Just as long as those dirty Mat Salleh vultures don't come flocking around for their share of the spoils, so there's plenty to glut the ravenous appetites of the local ones.