Patriarch on Buddha Hill, tiger in Forest City

Cumulatively, Country Garden group has invested RM20bil in Malaysia so far, making it one of the largest foreign investors in the country.

ONE can only imagine what must have gone through the mind of Yang Guoqiang, the chairman of China’s largest developer by sales, Country Garden, on the fateful day in late August when Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad reportedly declared that his government would not allow the Chinese company to sell its properties in Forest City to foreigners.

Prior to that bombshell, Yang had flown to Putrajaya to meet Dr Mahathir in order to seek assurance on his flagship Forest City project in Johor, a massive luxury housing development worth more than RM400bil over 20 years, which the premier had criticised prior to Pakatan Harapan’s shock election victory on May 9.