ALOR STAR: Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor is attempting to "poison" the minds of Malaysians by implying an agenda behind the Housing and Local Government Ministry's plan to adopt Singapore's housing development concept here, said Datuk Dr Ismail Salleh.
The Kedah Amanah chairman, however, said Sanusi's attempt to taint the ministry and minister Nga Kor Ming's image would not be well received by Malaysians.
Dr Ismail was referring to a video circulated on social media where, Sanusi, during a rally in Sik recently, had accused the ministry of having an agenda.
Ismail claimed Sanusi was trying to poison the minds of Malays by suggesting that the ministry was attempting to carry out the Silk Road agenda from China.
"There are some issues that I do not find pleasing and I believe that Malaysians are unhappy with this racial card played by Pas.
"Firstly, imitating Singapore's successful Housing Development Programme (HDB) would greatly improve Malaysia's housing quality. Everyone knows that the quality of housing provided by the Singaporean government through HDB is superior.
"What is wrong with us learning from the good things made by Singaporeans? This is the narrow-minded and malicious thinking of Sanusi who deliberately wants to perpetuate negative racial narratives to maintain the political interests of Pas," he said in a statement today.
Last weekend, Sanusi alleged that DAP's primary objective through the ministry was to conduct local government elections, which would result in the monopolisation of participation and representation by a single ethnic group, specifically in major cities.
Sanusi claimed strategic locations within the country and in neighbouring countries, starting from Johor Baru, Seremban, Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Penang, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Taiwan had been set up and named as the 'New Silk Road'.
However, he also claimed that the New Silk Road agenda had been halted in Kedah and Perlis which were ruled by Pas.
Commenting further, Dr Ismail said he found that Sanusi's claims were ironic given that the state government has recently inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Chinese company for rare earth element (REE) exploration in Sik.
"What about that project? We want good housing for the people and we can't do that, he's claiming that we want to support China's 'Silk Road' project, but when they give all sorts of things to companies from China, apparently it's okay.
"The latest is when he signed an MoU with a company from China, Xiamen Tungsten Co Ltd, for REE mining projects in Sik.
"This is what I am saying, Sanusi and Pas can't move on," he added.