YOURSAY | ‘Will there then be socio-political pressure not to foreclose when homeowners fail to pay?’

Kadir: Gov't exposed to cronyism claims with P2P housing scheme rollout

Quigonbond: I agree with prime minister’s media advisor A Kadir Jasin. There was no need to rush with budget speech announcement about homeownership P2P (peer-to-peer) lending scheme. No one expected a miracle from the Pakatan Harapan government to solve the issue of affordable housing just six months into power.

In fact, one would expect them to look at all avenues including investigating whether developers and valuers collude to keep valuation and prices high, whether disrupting supply chain monopolies can bring raw material prices down, whether states can carve out lands for affordable housing schemes, whether construction processes can be changed to reduce cost further, etc.

There are so many questions. What kind of investor would invest in something unless there is reasonable return? Even if one can expect property price to go up, how will that be monetised?

Everything seems to depend on the homeowner being able to pay instalments. If they fail, can the platform foreclose? Or will the risk pass to investors? Then we need to ask, who are the investors?

EdgeProp chairperson Tong Kooi Ong mentioned institutions. Banks won't lend. In fact, they have rejected these loan applicants. Why subject themselves to heightened credit risk? If not banks, then who? GLCs (government-linked companies)? Statutory funds?

Will there then be socio-political pressure not to foreclose when homeowners fail to pay? Is this national service? Will contributors be the ultimate victims? Or will they be government guaranteed which then pushes the risk to taxpayers?

And why must it be only the EdgeProp? How much management fee will they charge for running this project? What kind of credit checks will they perform on the homeowners?

The government had better come up with clear and unequivocal answers to all these questions as soon as possible.

Cogito Ergo Sum: The haste with which the scheme was rolled out so soon after the budget tabling gives room for allegations of cronyism. Kadir is spot on.

Let other players into the game and provide a better picture of how it works. A superficial reading of the scheme gives the impression that it is more a speculative programme rather than an ownership plan. Tell us more.

Demi Rakyat: I surely should hope that the offering by EdgeProp is not the only one. If it is, then the Harapan government has indeed engaged in cronyism.

Hopefully, more others will come up with perhaps better offers and systems. I’m looking forward to more players in such schemes.

The Wakandan: Yes, honesty is the best policy. Nothing can beat it and it will not go wrong.

Harapan can have advisors, but when these advisors become participants in the policy even before it is implemented or have a head start over other competitors, it just does not seem right. It is against the very principle of fairness and smack of cronyism.

SoFunny: This is the first time I disagree with you, Kadir. Firstly, this idea is so innovative that credit and recognition should be given.

If it is proven to be successful, imagine how many young people and first-time buyers can immediately own a house.

Anyway, Tong has not been given the sole right to operate this programme. He has not been given a monopoly or will charge a certain percentage for people who are interested in participating.

Looking at it, there's no substantial advantage or advantages at all in this endeavour for Tong. How can he be called a crony?

Malaysian: Kadir - a few pointers: Yes, this crowdfunding initiative is EdgeProp's idea. But it is not exclusive to them. Other developers can come in on the same concept and the government will consider everyone else.

We could try solving the matter of low wages and income and, till kingdom come, we would not be able to solve this if we do not solve the manipulation of the market by developers and the exorbitant land prices that keep skyrocketing.

Control these and we can have affordable housing.

Anonymous_1371547149: It's just another option to help the rakyat to own a home. Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng is not ramming it down the rakyat's throats.

Why was it given to Tong to facilitate this option? Because he had the brains to come up with it in the first place, and also a plan on how to carry it out.

Sinco: If FundMyHome is designed to 'help' solely the house buyer, may I know which party will earn the most from this scheme - the buyer, developer or investor?

Zaid: I meant Daim and his billionaire friends are running gov't, not Dr M

1Citizen: Now that PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim is officially an MP and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin is not, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad should be consulting with the heads of his coalition component parties and fellow MPs rather than outsiders.

Daim was appointed before there was a cabinet. Do the prime minister and his cabinet still need him now? We can accept the exceptional nonagenarian but no one is indispensable.

Kim Quek: Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim made a pertinent point that a one-man rule advised by an influential confidante outside the government may cause the coalition government to end up in a wrong destination.

The Mahathir-Daim combo that created the corrupt Umno crony capitalism that flourished and crashed in the 90s planted the seeds of elitist corruption that finally brought Umno to its knee on May 9. 

With this in mind, Zaid’s comment is of course timely, and the Harapan coalition should be grateful for Zaid pressing the alarm bell now.

Zaid’s description of Daim is of course not off the mark, for the latter has long been perceived to be one of the richest Malaysians, much of whose wealth was amassed while he held sway over the Malaysian economy under Mahathir’s premiership.

As for Mahathir, instead of asking Zaid to show the former’s billions, perhaps he would command more respect from Malaysians by declaring his and his children’s assets, which is long overdue as a pre-election pledge.

Headhunter: I must say, many of us would agree with Zaid. Daim looks like the number two man running the country. We have a deputy prime minister who seems to take the back seat. Apart from the occasional minor statements, she seems almost invisible.

There are quite a few talented leaders in the government but most are relegated to "backroom" boys and girls instead of being positioned at the forefront of the new government.

I do think Mahathir is wielding too much power as everything seems to rest on him while the others do not seem to make decisions without his approval. Empowerment is in very short supply.

BuatApa?: Anyone who knows anything about the political economy of Malaysia will not so easily, foolishly and ignorantly dismiss these claims by Zaid as beyond the realms of possibility.

Malaysia has had a long history of this kind of "system" running close to 60 years. What makes anybody think just because there is a new regime in town that the old cobwebs and filth have been swept away?

Money, especially big money, always has a way, and a need to "influence" policy-making and state economic/business decisions. The question is, how deeply does this structure still exist? My guess is that it's as deeply embedded as ever before.

Why should it change? Because Mahathir heads the new regime? Because Daim, Mahathir's old crony, is given a lead role in the regime's economic/business decision-making and policy-settings?

Think.

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