PUCHONG, Feb 17 ― Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wants Malaysians to foster greater community building, especially in new affordable housing neighbourhoods.
Speaking at the launch of the National Community Policy, he believes that such community building efforts can foster closer ties while also help elevate the social economic status of those living in such affordable homes.
“We hope these communities will have their own clubs and so on. This will allow them to socialise, discuss any problems and even use it as a platform to inform their elected representatives of the problems they face so the government can help them solve the issue.
“We will also have a workshop in each neighbourhood. These workshops will be used to give talks and conduct practical training on multiple sectors including cooking so those from that housing area can expand their businesses,” he said.
“They will be given the knowledge and training they need and this will contribute to more entrepreneurs in the SME sector,” Dr Mahathir added.
He also said that affordable homes are an investment for homeowners' futures.
The prime minister pointed out that in the past affordable homes were priced at RM25,000 which was a very cheap price in today's market and over the years the same house now costs RM150,000.
“It is not impossible for houses priced at RM400,000 now will cost around RM1 million in 10 to 20 years time. I remember when I was a boy, with one sen I could go to the market and buy a few spices.
“Now with one sen you can't buy anything. The same with three sen, which is the price of water being sold to Singapore. In the 1920s, three sen can buy a lot of things. But as time goes by, the price of items continue to increase,” said Dr Mahathir.
