The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak today promised to scrap the controversial condominium project located next to the Batu Caves temple complex if BN retakes Selangor.
The immediate reaction of fair-minded and reasonable Malaysians is not one of outright welcome but the feeling that something is wrong or just not right with Najib’s promise.
Lets hear your response to Najib’s promise.
I have put up two tweets, viz:
1. What perfidy – after BN approving it in 2007! http://goo.gl/9v1Jg PM: S’gor BN 2scrap Batu Caves condo if we win – Koh Jun Lin (Mkini)
2. No apology 4BN approving it 2007? http://goo.gl/qyt66 Najib promises Indians no Batu Caves condo if BN regains Selangor – by Ida Lim (TMI)
I will issue a statement tomorrow.
Below is The Malaysian Insider report:
Najib promises Indians no Batu Caves condo if BN regains Selangor
BATU CAVES, Nov 12 ― Datuk Seri Najib Razak promised today to cancel a controversial luxury condominium being built near Batu Caves that was approved by a Barisan Nasional (BN) administration in 2007, if the BN coalition wins back Selangor from Pakatan Rakyat (PR), stepping up the game in the battle for votes ahead of the coming general elections.
“I want to give an assurance that if BN is successful in taking over the Selangor state government, the 29-storey project will be cancelled by the new BN government,” Najib, who is also the BN chairman, told the crowd at the MIC’s Deepavali open house here.
Noting that the Batu Caves temple complex is “very close to the hearts of Indians who are Hindus”, Najib said that the complex must be defended from any threats to its position.
Selangor has ordered a temporary halt to the construction of the 29-storey condominium near Batu Caves pending the findings of an independent state-level task force to be set up soon, Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said on Octber 30.
Khalid, however, offered the state’s assurance that the matter would be resolved as soon as possible, admitting that the stop-work order would cost the developers financial losses.
The 29-storey Dolomite Park Avenue condominium project has turned into a political crisis as Batu Caves is the religious focal point of Hindu Indians, who form the majority of the 1.7 million Indians and are a key voting group in many urban seats in Selangor.
About 300 Hindu and non-governmental activists joined a “Save Batu Caves” rally in the Batu Caves temple complex to protest against the condominium construction on October 26, saying it was an environmental risk that would jeopardise the temple grounds but did not furnish proof to substantiate their allegations.
The project was given the nod by state authorities in 2007, but MIC and Barisan Nasional (BN) have in recent weeks pressured the current Pakatan Rakyat (PR) administration into calling a halt to the project amid a battle for Indian votes.
Najib today said the BN government would apply to make Batu Caves a UNESCO World Heritage site, as a second step in defending the complex.
“We decided that through the Culture, Information and Communications Ministry, that this Batu Caves can be considered as a World Heritage site by UNESCO,” Najib said today.
But he said that an application could only be made after Malaysia’s term as a member of the World Heritage Commission ends in 2015, saying that this was to avoid a possible “conflict of interest”.
Najib also announced that Deepavali will now also be a public holiday in Labuan, the federal territory off the coast of Sabah.
#1 by lee wee tak_ on Tuesday, 13 November 2012 - 10:40 pm
There is lot of wrong in it.
If BN is really Rakyat Diutamakan, why don’t BN cancel Lynas and Warisan Merdeka in Pahang & KL which they control? BN will do better with actual action on these 2 low hanging fruits compared to another promise which is not binding….besides, on what basis BN is going to cancel the project it approved before?
Has Najib studied the relevant technical aspects before promising this? For example, if BN Selangor state government lay down 10 or 20 conditions for the developer and the developer fulfilled all those condition, then what happens to the Janji of BN Selangor state government to let them proceed with the construction? Another Janji Ditepati not fulfilled? How does this look to the business community?
By the way, has any of the units been sold yet? Has anyone borrowed $$$ to pay for downpayment and secured their bank loans only to be asked to reversed everything because BN needs to retake the richest state at all cost?
#2 by lee wee tak_ on Tuesday, 13 November 2012 - 10:40 pm
If the poor purchasers incure losses, will Najib compensate them?
#3 by drngsc on Tuesday, 13 November 2012 - 11:46 pm
BN is now becoming a comedy. They have lost their mables / senses. Create the problem, then scraps it, ignoring the cost to the people who bought.This is totally irresponsible. They want to win so badly, by hook or by crook.
Let us all teach them a lesson. Let us each talk to one new person each day on the need for change. Lets call it the one2one campaign.
We need to change the tenant at Putrajaya.First to GE 13, then to Putrajaya. One2one campaign please.
Change we must. Change we can. Change we will.
#4 by sheriff singh on Tuesday, 13 November 2012 - 11:50 pm
Check how many MIC leaders and the Batu Caves Temple Committee members purchased apartments in the Condominium project.
You will be very, very surprised.
#5 by sheriff singh on Tuesday, 13 November 2012 - 11:56 pm
‘Najib also announced that Deepavali will now also be a public holiday in Labuan, the federal territory off the coast of Sabah.’
What took him so long?
How many Hindus are there in Putrajaya yet this FT has Deepavali holidays for so long, but not in Labuan?
Are there no Hindus in Labuan FT? I know for sure there is a Sikh temple in Labuan.
Does Najib know where Labuan is in the first place? No, Najib, it is not in Bangsamoro.
#6 by boh-liao on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 - 12:30 am
Another instance of peeEm talked cock, wayang, n shiok sendiri
#7 by boh-liao on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 - 12:34 am
Next thing he will promise NO MORE AES if UmnoB/BN take back Pg, Kedah, n Kelantan
#8 by Jeffrey on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 - 12:51 am
Right now whatever he promises – whether to proceed or reverse- apart from whether or not subsequent deed will honour the promise – is not dictated by right or wrong having regard to balancing all competing considerations but by whether or not the promises will secure more votes that they alienate. Electoral victory and preservation of his position that he cannot afford to lose are the imperatives in his mind, and hence this purely populist approach to issues. Nothing else.
#9 by yhsiew on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 - 1:04 am
What Najib’s doing is like “election arm-twisting”. It is like confiscating somebody’s money and promise to return it if that person agrees to vote him (Najib) back to power.
#10 by Noble House on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 - 3:31 am
Is Najib of Nottingham trying to do an oxymoron on the Indians? As with his ETP programme, it’s always a problem when it comes to “implementation”. Those MIC clowns, as usual, will blow his horn and carry the sound twice as far. They will say ‘Things can’t go on like this’, and they didn’t, they got worse!
#11 by Sallang on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 - 8:42 am
If Selangor did not fall into Pakatan’s hands in 2008, there would have been a condominium now, and most of the home owners could have been MIC leaders, whom are holier than all other Indians, led by the Same Vollu.
Former BN state government approved this project, so Indians must go for their heads, not the present state government.
Some people always shake their heads when in agreement, but NOT this time.Stand up and be a Malaysian. Shake your heads to Najib’s promise, because he can turn around and say, the project have been approved, and he cannot do anything about it.
Remember TBH. He also promised to leave NO STONES UNTURNED. TBH is still turning in his grave.
RIP dear comrade. Your political revenge will materialized in 6 months time.
#12 by Godfather on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 - 11:00 am
This has to be a wake-up call to all Indians. Najib is trying to take you for a ride. First, BN steals the rakyat’s money, and when exposed, they promise to pay back the money provided they win Selangor. We all know that Najib has zero leadership qualities, but to make a pledge like that during Diwali ?
#13 by dagen wanna "ABU" on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 - 11:40 am
FIRST, umno whacked you black and blue.
NEXT, umno promised to let you hv some medication.
AND FOR THAT, you are supposed to feel mighty grateful; and give umno all your nambekei and more importantly, your vote too.
Tu dia logik umno yg twisted.
#14 by sheriff singh on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 - 2:03 pm
Najib now ‘talks like an Indian’, a Deepavali Open House attendee on my table said to me yesterday. How observant. No offence to anyone. Just repeating.
#15 by boh-liao on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 - 6:23 pm
What Sallang #11 wrote was absolutely correct!
Had UmnoB/BN WON Selangor in 2008, d condo near Batu Caves, approved by d UmnoB/BN administration in 2007, might hv been completed by now
Y UmnoB/BN, MIC DID NOT protest n reject d project in 2007?
#16 by Bigjoe on Thursday, 15 November 2012 - 4:57 pm
What is REALLY WRONG is NAJIB IS FOOLISH to follow up the embarassing fiasco of MIC’s very public political masturbation ACT with HIS OWN’s.
Honestly the whole thing is such a mess, the smart thing for Najib would have been to distanced himself from it and let the MIC people just drown in it.
BUT he had invested in the Indian votes directly himself and wanted to hold on to it. BUT HE FOOLISHLY UNDERESTIMATING the seriousness of the problem. Najib cannot lose the Indian votes – it will hurt him with UMNO especially Perkasa and Mahathir very very badly after investing so heavily in it. Yet, his answer is an equally pathetic act of public political masturbation?
Really what it wrong is just Najib and UMNO/BN very BEING…