DAP MP Tony Pua has questioned how the government has approved the development of Bandar Malaysia even before its master developer has been selected.

In a statement today, Pua accused the government of having circumvented the cabinet's blanket ban on luxury property development just to protect the interests of 1MDB.

He said this based on Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor's remark that approval "in principle" had been given to both Bandar Malaysia and Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) projects.

"It is quite clear here that the government’s only principle is to protect the interests of 1MDB.

"TRX and Bandar Malaysia are two of 1MDB’s largest assets that need to be developed if the fund wants any chance of staying afloat. They are also two of the biggest slated development projects in Kuala Lumpur," he said.

"The amazing thing is, the Finance Ministry has not even declared a winner to the tender for the master developer of Bandar Malaysia.

"The latest response from the Finance Ministry last week is that there are eight companies that have ‘expressed interest’ in developing the massive 486-acre project," he said.

Tengku Adnan had demonstrated the spirit of "Malaysia Boleh", he said in jest.

Kuala Lumpur mayor Mohd Amin had himself told Malaysiakini that they had yet to receive an application from Bandar Malaysia, noted the Petaling Jaya Utara MP.

"If exemptions from the freeze can be given just because approvals had been given ‘in principle’, what worth is the freeze at all?

"Does this mean that other ‘planned’ high-end developments, which have yet to submit their planning applications, will also get exemptions?" he asked.

"These exemptions raise two worrying questions about the government’s planned freeze on high-end developments.

"Firstly, it would mean that the effectiveness of the supposed ban on high-end projects would be severely diluted.

"Bank Negara’s report showed just how grave the supply and demand imbalance was, projecting one-in-three office spaces being vacant in the Klang Valley by 2021, if measures aren’t taken to control it.

"If this freeze on high-end developments is to be taken seriously at all, the government has to make sure it is fairly enforced across the board," he said.

And secondly, he said, 1MDB gets the special treatment which discriminates against all private businesses.