INTERVIEW | Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim should stop commenting on matters beyond his knowledge, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Though he refrained from criticising Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, the prime minister, however, did not mince words when it came to the heir to the throne.

"I don't want to comment on the sultan because if I say anything that is not good, it's not nice because he's the sultan.

"But this TMJ (Tunku Ismail) is a little boy… He is stupid because he doesn't know what is happening.

"So don't talk. When you don’t know anything, don’t talk," he told a special media interview in Putrajaya this afternoon.

Mahathir was asked to comment on Tunku Ismail's statement that his father's good deeds, such as giving lands to the people and government, were not highlighted.

The crown prince's statement came in the wake of a revelation that a plot of federal land earmarked for the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) was transferred to the ruler.

Sultan Ibrahim had since said that he was prepared to surrender the land without cost.

Apart from the 4.5ha Bukit Chagar land, another 2.4ha of undersea land to be used for the RTS project is also under the Johor sultan's ownership.

Collectively, these plots of land would cost the government RM693.7 million to acquire, which amounts to about 13 percent of the overall project cost.

The land referred to by the Johor sultan is the 4.5ha Lot PTB 23354, which would have cost the government RM495.3 million.

No mention was made about the 2.4ha Lot 45419, which will cost the government RM198.4 million.

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