He was referring to statements by two ministers yesterday that appeared to contradict the government’s earlier stand on the matter.
Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Noh Omar had announced a four-minister committee to review project applications for luxury residential properties.
The committee, comprising Noh, Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani, Works Minister Fadillah Yusof and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan, will subject approvals to criteria such as the existing housing condition, the number of houses in the given location, those priced above RM1 million and the number of unsold houses.
Johari meanwhile said that developers of office spaces and shopping malls could appeal to the relevant ministers if they found locations that lacked those properties and could justify their developments.
“Anyone can build an office provided you know how to market it,” he was reported as saying.
Pua said the ministers’ statements suggested that the government would now allow developers to appeal the property freeze on a case-by-case basis.
The Petaling Jaya Utara MP asked how this would address the lack of affordable housing and the reported oversupply of residential properties in the RM500,000 to RM1 million segment.
He added that the ministers had granted themselves “full discretionary powers to grant approval to any developers who can sweet-talk their way to winning the hearts of the ministers”.
“Have we now become a communist regime where the government dictates how many left shoes to manufacture? Two big mistakes here certainly don’t make a right.”
The government’s decision to freeze luxury property developments valued at over RM1 million followed a report by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), warning that unsold residential properties were at a decade-high level.
BNM added that the glut could worsen if the current supply-demand conditions persisted.
The directive, which came into effect on Nov 1, covers high-rise condominiums, shopping malls and commercial units.
However, Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said on Nov 24 that the Bandar Malaysia and Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) projects would not be affected by the freeze.
Pua said then that the government was only protecting the interests of 1MDB as both projects were linked to the fund and needed to be developed if it wanted any chance of staying afloat.
“The worst type of government for any investor, foreign or domestic, is (the kind that) lacks predictability and consistency in its policies,” he said today.
“The current fiasco will certainly have major short to long term negative implications for Malaysia’s economy.
“The cabinet must remedy its knee-jerk policy-making mechanism and instead conduct a thorough study with all stakeholders, Bank Negara and think tanks to design a consistent, constructive and incentivised policy to ensure continued growth and sustainability for the property sector and our economy.”