The real reason Malaysia’s Mahathir is taking on the Sultan of Johor

JUDGING BY THE number of headlines it generated, the spat that erupted this week between Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and an influential sultan over a surge in Chinese investment into the country has seized Malaysians’ imagination.

And no wonder. The story seems to have it all: a strongman leader, back from the political afterlife and ready to defy a revered monarch; a looming racially charged election; sums of money on a scale few normal people can comprehend; and even a Chinese villain (the antagonist of choice in some parts of the country).

The war of words began on Tuesday when, in rare public defiance of Malaysia’s constitutional monarchs, Mahathir said he was willing to stand trial for lèse-majesté for criticising the increase in Chinese building projects in the southern Johor state. The projects are backed by Johor’s ruler, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail.

In particular, Mahathir criticised the planned US$42 billion Forest City project – a joint venture between a company controlled by the sultan and the Chinese corporation, Country Garden.

While the development is eye-catching – it’s slated to house 700,000 people on four artificial islands occupying an area four times the size of New York’s Central Park – why make such a fuss?

The first point to note is that this flashy development (the plans include international schools, shopping malls and hotels draped in greenery) is the latest example of large-scale Chinese investment into the country.