Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin said Mahathir’s claim that 700,000 Chinese would be brought to Forest City and given citizenship status was baseless and was made with malice.

This is because from 2003 to Nov 30 this year, only 29,218 units of land ownership for landed and strata properties were approved for sale to foreigners in the state, he added.

“It is only 2.01% of the total land ownership in Johor which is 1,452,931 units,” he said in a statement today.

Khaled explained that if each unit is occupied by four people, then the total number of foreigners residing in the state would come up to less than 120,000.

“These figures differ greatly from the 700,000 given by Mahathir, proving that he was only trying to confuse the rakyat.”

He also denied that property ownership equates to citizenship, saying the 91-year-old, as a former prime minister, should know about the stringent procedures to become a Malaysian citizen.

“Hundreds of thousands of those born and raised in this country have yet to be given citizenship status.

“And we don’t have a policy allowing anyone who owns a property here to obtain a citizenship.

“Clearly, property ownership does not give anyone such a privilege.”

Mahathir, in a blog post earlier this week, claimed these Chinese nationals would be provided with MyKad to vote in the coming general election.

He said there were already cases where foreigners in Malaysia were found to be MyKad holders.

“Mahathir needs to act objectively and realise that opening up property ownership opportunities is not the same as giving them citizenships.”

Khaled said if Mahathir had proof to back his claim, then he should refer the matter to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president Muhyiddin Yassin.

This is because Muhyiddin, as a member of parliament, can bring an emergency motion to the Dewan Rakyat to discuss the matter, he added.