Gerakan secretary-general Liang Teck Meng said the former prime minister’s ill-judged remarks on alleged negative repercussions of China’s investments in Johor could create fear among citizens and investors and kill off potential investments.

“My Tuanku has rightly pointed out what is felt by many Johoreans,” he said in support of Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, who rapped Dr Mahathir for his comments on development projects such as Forest City in Johor.

In an interview with a local English daily, Sultan Ibrahim was quoted as saying that Mahathir had gone too far in twisting the Forest City issue by claiming that some 700,000 mainland Chinese would stay there while huge tracts of land had been sold to the Chinese.

Liang told Bernama, Dr Mahathir’s inconsistent views on many national issues were akin to throwing stones at himself, as many of the policies he criticised were introduced by his administration.

Liang, who is also Simpang Renggam MP, echoed Prime Minister Najib Razak’s statement that getting FDI did not mean that Malaysia had been sold off to foreigners.

“Look at Singapore, they are developing so well and if Johor does not compete with Singapore to attract more FDI, we stand to lose out,” he said.

Prof Dr Ahmad Martadha Mohamed of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) said it would be ill-judged to stop Chinese investors from coming to the country when the economic superpower was investing in many other countries.

“Johor is doing it right in wooing investors. Furthermore, the Iskandar region is still considered under-developed.

“We must be aware that when they (China’s firms) invest in Johor, not only the state prospers as the country’s economy too will benefit from it.”

Urging the people to be wary of Mahathir’s comments, Martadha described him as an opportunist who wanted to gain political mileage by inciting the people to hate the government.

The academician said the country’s laws would make it difficult for citizenships to be awarded and land to be sold to China nationals.