YOURSAY | 'We, the man in the street, had seen the property glut coming.’

Office space glut entirely a gov’t creation

Anonymous 242641505703475: Bank Negara has sounded an alarm bell about the glut of commercial space. Greed to make a fast buck while forgetting the basic economic theory of supply and demand will bring about a crisis worse than the Asian Financial Crisis.

Failure to look at the overall picture will bring us to a great fall, similar to the housing boom and bust of the 1980s when projects were abandoned and developers became bankrupt.

During that era, no one was spared: buyers lost money, banks lost money, developers lost money, depositors lost money. Banks were forced to merge, and if I remember correctly, 40-odd banks were merged into 10. It was a nightmare for the government and the people.

It has rightly been said, "Those who fail to learn history will repeat it." It will be no consolation to be wiser on hindsight.

JusticeNow!: This is the subtle ways in which BN is trying to "make" the economy grow, or looked good on paper. Without these projects, the economy will grow a pittance.

Do they care that it affects the prices of building materials that directly makes affordable housing "unaffordable"? Do they care that the value of the growth is utilising funds that will give diminishing return towards the retirement of the rakyat? Do they care that this "artificial" growth does not help the rakyat in reality?

The people who benefit are the appointed contractors, the foreign workers and their agencies, and the suppliers of imported construction material. This is the real reason for the apparent disconnect between growth figures and reality.

Touche: If the government had not sold the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) land to 1MDB in the first place for a song for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's sake, the land could easily be used for affordable housing, and it would not have led to this impending office glut.

Yes, this glut is caused by none other than this corrupt government.

Cina Sudah Mari: We, the man in the street, had seen this coming. By the time Bank Negara released this warning, we know the situation has gone bottom up.

We have a truly inept government ruling a bunch of cowardly rakyat, who are not brave enough to do anything about it. Malaysia is doomed.

Out of this horror, we may finally realise we have to get rid of the ‘devils’ ruling this country, lest we die along with it.

Anonymous #13114320: The only way to undo this is to change the government of the day. If everyone or at least the majority can see this, then the glut, as well as the country in general, can be saved.

Sadly, most do not as most live outside the urban areas, they won't know what an office glut is, anyway.

'Unrestrained' sale of land in Penang violates sacred teaching, says MCA

Wira: MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun, talking about land being sold - when Gerakan's Penang chief minister was running Penang, the BN government sold 3,661 acres of the state's land for RM1.0586 billion.

In contrast, the Pakatan government has only sold 106.1 acres for RM1.1102 billion.

The land BN sold were: 980 acres in Tanjong Tokong (at RM1 per square foot) for RM42.7 million; 325 acres along Jelutong expressway (RM20psf) for RM325 million; 750 acres in Batu Kawan (RM3.24psf) for RM106 million; and 1,606 acres in Butterworth (RM8.40psf) for RM584.9 million.

Chew must be fantasising that RM37 billion worth of land had already been sold in Penang. No, those have not been sold.

Those lands are part of a proposal, still pending with the federal agreement, to fund the development of a future northern link between the island and the mainland, including the funding for an LRT, which the federal government had promised to build but had reneged.

Senior Citizen: Indeed, the value of the land Pakatan Harapan had sold is high, but the acreage of that land is very low.

Not like during BN's time, where they had sold huge plots of land but the Penang government only got peanuts. It is a clear sign of corruption and cronyism during BN's time, Chew.

Anonymous112233: MCA and Gerakan should fight for at least 50 percent of income tax paid by Penangites and Penang companies be given back to Penang. If they are able to do that, you can have my vote.

Valuer defends A$43m valuation for Mara’s UniLodge

Aries46: Raine & Horne International Zaki + Partners executive director Rosli Atan's contentions don't add up.

If in August 2012, Mara paid A$41.8 million to the BVI (British Virgin Islands) shell company (based on Rosli's valuation of A$43 million), and if barely five months down the line Thrushcross Ltd paid a meagre A$23.5 million to Scarlett Nominees for UniLodge, Rosli’s reasoning such as recession, demand and supply, blah, blah, blah, doesn’t make sense.

His valuation, the possible basis for abuse and a whopping RM60 million in losses to taxpayers, not to mention Mara's integrity, cannot be dismissed with mere conjecture. He must justify his valuation.

It is also preposterous that UniLodge's price could plummet by a massive 40 percent over four years when the Melbourne property market is said to have hit a record high in recent years.

Anyway, the buck starts at Mara Incorporated Sdn Bhd (Mara Inc).

It needs to explain its SOP (standard operating procedure) and how it parted with RM133 million in public funds on this complicated BVI transaction, with questionable manoeuvres based merely on a single valuation, contrary to our established sound financial management practices.

This is rightly a matter for MACC but based on earlier reported scandals, could it be an exercise in futility?

Ipohcrite: By and large, properties in Melbourne have all appreciated in the four years since, except this piece of property, whose valuation was done by a valuer commissioned by Mara Inc. Go figure!

Anonymous 2479661499826205: Is anything being done regarding this alleged fraud?

Have police reports been lodged or are the MACC investigating, or is it all just getting swept under the carpet along with all the rest as Malaysia begins to mirror Zimbabwe more and more with each passing day.

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