Media Statement by Yeo Bee Yin, State Assemblywoman of Damansara Utama
on Saturday 17 September 2016 in Petaling Jaya.
Noh Omar should now eat
humble pie and ditch his developers-moneylenders plan.
On 8 September, we were shocked by the announcement made by Tan Sri Noh
Omar on his ministry’s plan to allow property developers to give out loans
to homebuyers at interest rate as high as 12 to 18%[i]. Since the announcement, except for the former
Menteri Besar of Selangor Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, [ii]
his idea doesn’t seem to get support from the people. Not only did he draw flak
from the opposition parties, he also doesn’t seem to have received support from
his UMNO colleagues and many others.
The second finance minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani said that Noh
Omar’s plan is unsustainable and illogical[iii]
while CIMB chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak in his instagram has described
this plan as “dangerous”. The National House Buyers Association of
Malaysia (HBA) Secretary General Chang Kim Loong also weighed in to say that
the proposal is “ridiculous”[iv]. Even
the deputy prime minister Zahid Hamidi and Treasury Sectretary-General Mohd Irwan
Serigar Abdullah were very reserved in their responses to this proposal.
Yesterday, rating agency Fitch Ratings has also stated that the scheme,
if implemented, will add to the risks associated with rising household debt and
many households could struggle to service the loan at such high interest rates.
It is about three months since Noh Omar is back to the cabinet. We understand
his eagerness to perform but it should not come with such ill-conceived policy.
We would like to suggest Noh Omar to focus on the following aspects instead.
Firstly, the 11th Malaysia Plan has a target of providing
653,000 units of affordable housing during the period of 2016-2020, which is an
average of about 130,000 affordable houses per year[vi]. We would like to know how is his ministry is going
to deliver that.
Secondly, Khazanah in its report “Making Housing Affordable” stated that
housing unaffordability problem is mainly due to structural problem caused by
unresponsive housing sector to the market demand. It has recommended Putrajaya
to do National Housing Survey that will be able to provide an integrated
database on housing to ensure housing supply matches the demand according to
the location, price and target group as well as to develop measures to improve
the efficacy of the construction industry’s delivery system, which is currently
highly fragmented. We would like to know what is his ministry plan on these policy
recommendations.
Noh Omar must know that housing policies must be
studied comprehensively and should not be determined according to his whims and
fancies because an ill-conceived housing policy will not only affect housing
market hence the shelters of the people but also the financial strength of the
country.
