KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wants the practice of soliciting and giving commissions in the implementation of any development projects, including housing, to be stopped immediately.
He said the government has never prevented any company from conducting its operations and earning profits, but the practice of giving commissions to any minister or political party for that purpose should not continue to persist.
“If the company is making profits, no problem, but don’t cut RM10 million or 15 million (of the company’s profit) just for a minister or any political party as practised before. This is what damages (the system). I understand many would be angry with me for addressing this issue, but everyone knows, just ask the developers in the Federal Territories.
“Am I right or am I wrong? Am I exaggerating or am I telling the truth? Without exception, everybody would say yes and that has been the practice and we have done so. I say we have to stop this nonsense,” he said when launching the Residensi Wilayah, Residensi Prihatin MADANI and MADANI Hawkers Centre ground-breaking ceremony at Desa Tasik Sungai Besi here today.
Anwar said that it is better for the “commission allocation” to be returned to the people by implementing more balanced development projects, including housing for low-income groups or more organised markets and hawkers centres.
Referring to the nation’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, which is currently growing rapidly and driven by development, Anwar said the Unity Government set conditions that in the construction of new housing projects, it must be balanced in order to create it as a caring capital, a Madani capital.
He said this was to ensure that the people, especially the low-income group, were not left out of the flow of development, while the government and the private sector played an important role in ensuring that more housing for the low-income group was built.
In order to further increase the livability of the city, Anwar said open spaces and green areas around housing projects need to be created or maintained so that they do not just become urban forests, and developers need to create systematic hawker centers or stalls to facilitate the people.
“I want a big shift that in one- or two-years people know that Kuala Lumpur is famous for good landmarks, big hotels and clean stalls and there is a level of beauty,” he said.
Earlier, Anwar officiated the ground-breaking ceremony in an area of 1.4 hectares which saw a total of 1,010 units of affordable housing, namely the Regional Residence and Prihatin Madani Residence, to be offered to the target group M40 and below who do not yet own a home.
Also present at the ceremony were Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Kamarulzaman Mat Salleh and Chief Secretary Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali.
— Bernama
