KUALA LUMPUR— Umno MP Khairy Jamaluddin chided Pakatan Harapan (PH) on Monday (Oct 14) for not addressing climate change in Malaysia's budget for 2020, despite dedicating a ministry to the global emergency.

In his speech debating next year’s national budget in Parliament, the shadow finance minister called the decision an “abject silence” over the worrying problem, even as the world is rallying to raise awareness of it.

“In September, the entire world was shaken over climate strike. There was not even a word from the Pakatan Harapan government on climate change,” he said.

Mr Khairy said even the mention of electric buses in the budget seemed to be an afterthought, considering there was no mention of any other measures such as cleaning up the ocean or conserving coral reefs.

“So I am worried, when we see teenagers worldwide protesting in September, raising the climate change issue at the United Nations and others.

“However, in the speech from the government that is apparently future-proof, and with what’s now being referred to as the climate change ministry — there was no ‘climate change’ word previously, not even one word was mentioned about climate change,” Mr Khairy added.

He was referring to the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change headed by Ms Yeo Bee Yin.

In his speech, Mr Khairy also criticised the lowering of the threshold on high rise property prices in urban areas for foreign ownership from RM1 million (S$326,900) to RM600,000 next year. This was done in a bid to address the supply overhang of condominiums and apartments, amounting to RM3.8 billion.

He expressed worry over the decision, labelling the move a “moral hazard” and one which benefits developers only.

“Moral hazard is when the developer is being told; it’s alright. If there is an overhang again, the government will step in and we will provide exemptions to foreigners to buy condominium units up to RM600,000.

“RM600,000 is reasonable value. Which can be afforded by Malaysians. However, because there is an overhang, we don’t want to force the developer to lower the price, but we step in, and we allow it, so that they can sell to foreigners.

“This is a property developer policy,” he said.

He also claimed that investors are spooked by the pending transition from Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, leading to a fall in private investments by 1.9 per cent in the first half of this year alone.

“When [private investments] drop, it means businesses are not investing to buy new machineries, and I hope that perhaps from this budget, there will be some recovery,” he said. MALAY MAIL