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‘Time to build more affordable housing, not luxury condos’
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YOURSAY | ‘Brewing property crisis signals hard times ahead for housing developers.’

Bank Negara's dire warning for the property market

Anonymous 242641505703475: Where affordable houses and flats are concerned, the federal and state governments should take the initiative.

Just look at Singapore's Housing Development Board flats (HDBs). Singaporean politician Lim Kim San started HDB flats on a large scale; and today 80 percent of Singaporeans live in HDB flats. Flats could be one, two or three rooms, depending on individual needs.

Governments have control of land and land offices. Conversion of land into housing from agriculture could be done easily. Approval of projects could also be done easily.

The irony is that governments are not doing enough, if at all. Why? It is a mystery which I cannot understand.

Now, prices of houses have shot up; and houses are no more affordable to the ordinary person. Now, the oversupply of highly-priced houses poses a grave danger to developers and banks going bankrupt.

Anonymous 242641505703475: The property balloon is going to burst, or has already burst. The oversupply of houses, shophouses, condominiums, flats and apartments is happening now as it happened in the 1980s when several projects were abandoned.

In those days, developers thought the opportunities were too good to be missed. Sad to say, several developers, buyers and even banks lost heavily.

Developers ran away; bankers chased buyers for payment; and buyers were in despair. Some banks were in dire straits. Eventually, banks were forced to merge.

If I am not mistaken, more than 30 banks were reduced to 10. Now it looks like history is repeating itself. Greedy developers thought they could cash in on the high-end houses - they were mistaken.

The biggest pools of buyers are in the middle and lower-income groups. Logically, developers should build affordable houses and flats, not high-priced condominiums. There is a price to pay for greed. Wealth is not built in a day, as Rome was not built in a day.

Anonymous 242641505703475: The booming days are over for housing developers. Hard times are ahead.

With an oversupply of units, it is not wine and roses for them. A reality check will apply the brakes to rampant development.

In any business, volume of sales is of utmost importance. Sell at least 80 percent of units to keep your nose above water; otherwise, prepare to sink. Also, build affordable houses for the majority of people who need shelter.

Doc: Frankly, I am not sure which of the following factors will do Malaysia in first:

1.The brewing property crisis, with debt that local banks are holding from property developers who are unable to sell their units.

2. Credit card debt is on the rise and there is a significant amount of debt that the local banks are carrying with regards to non-settled credit card payments.

3. An incompetent government unable to manage the economy.

4. Corruption.

5. Increasing national debt which is being piled on by our prime minister who goes on borrowing and borrowing from China in particular.

6. Flat international oil prices.

7. More and more Malaysians defaulting on their loans.

I am convinced that this nation is on the verge of bankruptcy and the time is ticking as to which of the above factors will blow up first.

Don't 'rename God', Christian group tells Mais over BM Bible

Cornholio: So now the Selangor Islamic Religious Council's (Mais) lawyer thinks we should have the Bible translated by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) over the word “Allah”. What next in this country?

Who is Mais to tell Christians how to translate their own holy book?

This is unacceptable, because mistakes can easily occur if translations are not done by experts. Mais should just leave this translation work to the Christians.

Another Day Another Case: What does DBP know of the Christian faith and Bible?

Do they have Hebrew and Greek linguists, who would also have to be deeply learned men of the Christian faith? Will they pour over ancient manuscripts in these languages?

Do they understand Christian theology, philosophy, eschatology et cetera? Or do they think it’s just a matter of feeding it through Google Translate, and doing a search and replace for the 'A-word'? This is outrageous.

Tommy: Imagine that if you are not of the faith that you try to translate the said faith scripture, what would be the result?

Can you get a Buddhist to translate the Bible? Or for that matter, any religious scripture by a non-believer?

These quick solutions proposed to cover inadequacy are becoming too frequent.

Kawak: Some of the words spoken by Christ and other verses in the New Testament are of a spiritual and mystical nature.

A literal translation may not convey the true spiritual meaning, even when done by Christian scholars, what more by those who are unfamiliar with the religion.

Gaji Buta: Why do we need to translate the whole scripture all over again, when only one word is in dispute?

FellowMalaysian: There is already a Bahasa Indonesia version of the Bible and Christians certainly do not need the DBP to translate the holy book.

In fact, I believe that the Al-kitab is relevant in its original form.


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