Stop your cheap shots on affordable housing, Rahman Dahlan told

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Two DAP lawmakers have urged Urban Well-Being, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan to stop being an “empty vessel” by politicising issues of low, medium and affordable housing in Malaysia.

The duo – Kashturi Patto (Batu Kawan) and Jeff Ooi (Jelutong) – said it was Abdul Rahman who had misled the house yesterday and lied about the RM400,000 cap on affordable housing imposed by his very own ministry.

They cited an example in media reports in April 2015, where PR1MA Corporation Malaysia (PR1MA) said that the ceiling price of its homes remained at RM400,000, despite its joint ventures with private developers to build affordable homes for Malaysians.

“Who is the liar now?” the duo asked in a joint statement today.

“Abdul Rahman should not resort to cheap shots because it reflects on himself and his ministerial portfolio,” Kasthuri said.

“He is seen as being malicious, manipulative and politicising an important responsibility of providing affordable housing to Malaysians from all walks of life,” she added.

“He must remember that it is in fact PR1MA that has set the range of affordable housing to RM400,000 and not the Penang government in its own right,” she said.

Kasthuri said the Housing Ministry should look at its own RM400,000 ceiling price of its PR1MA affordable homes despite joint ventures with private developers to build affordable homes in Malaysia before demonising the leadership of the Penang government.

She urged him to apologise for calling Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng a liar.

“If Abdul Rahman is so cocksure of his fabricated lies against the Penang state government, we challenge him to make the same allegations and call Penang chief minister a liar outside the Parliament,” she said.

She was referring to Abdul Rahman’s reply in Parliament yesterday where he accused Lim of shifting the blame on the federal government for capping the price of affordable housing at RM400,000.

He said that PR1MA homes were sold at RM400,000 with an area space of 1,200 sq ft and that RM400,000 homes with only 900 sq ft were sold in Penang.

“Where in Penang was the application for PR1MA homes at RM400,000 for 1,200 sq ft?” Kasthuri asked.

“Either Abdul Rahman has not done enough research on this matter or is grossly ignorant. Applications submitted to the Penang state government by PR1MA is at RM400,000 for 900 sq ft! The very thing that the minister is accusing Penang of.”

Related story:

Guan Eng 'lied' on affordable housing, charges minister



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