Why China Built a City in Malaysia 

This guy... he really doesn’t get enough recognition, which is sad because his content is comparable to Vox

As an Malaysian viewer myself, Forest City started around 10 years ago. They said it would have been the future. But, construction was slow. They said there would be 4 islands, but now the project keeps shrinking and shrinking. And then this is the fact, most of the property there are legit owned by Chinese investors. Because our people can't afford. The government took our taxpayers money to find projects like this,but we cannot afford it. Another example is the ECRL project. Which now is a standstill. The johore state has been looking forward to sell Legoland to foreign investors also. This few months my country has been in a political mess, so let's see where the development goes I guess. Edit: thanks for the likes, most I've gotten so far. I see my alot of Malaysians replying to this. I just wanna say please please don't use the racial stereotypes. We are Malaysian, we shouldn't identify as Malay chinese Indian. Only if we work together, then we will achieve greatness. Thanks. Much love from Malaysia. Edit 2: as what mahathir said to the Philippines president. Don't fall into China's debt trap (*cough the BRI) as we already seen what has happen to Sri Lanka and Jamaica. Edit 3: thanks for 1k, and I really appreciate your views and your opinions.

My family travelled from Singapore to see the Forest City and were surprised to see most people there weren't Malaysians but rather Singaporeans or Mainland Chinese ._.

When Mahathir criticized Forest City, guess who defended it? The Johore Sultan

Actually visited the place, more like a tourist destination or a theme park since the housing is so expensive and they literally have malls

I think you forgot to say, that this is built at sea level. Sea levels are ever changing and right now they are on the rise. The pace of this rise is only picking up, because climate change is a process that accelerates itself. You should mention that in respect with new development on shorelines. Great video, keep up the good work!

Building an eco city in an artificial island that destroys a sea meadow. How ironic!

I love your intro, it's really good.

Wait, the Chinese are funding it, building it, and even reclaiming the frickin land for it. All Malaysia did was give permission. This is what's called a free lunch.

This is my home state and eco city is an eye sore. They destroyed the beautiful mangrooves that used to grow there for this sinking mini city. Plus it stinks in there. Smells like a sewage at low tide. the way they built the boxy towering apartments so close together didnt account airflow movment in an already hot and humid climate. We used to have picnics along tht strip of land tht they have now privatised for this ugly monstrosity. Edit: To some of the people in the comment section. Pls dont rip into each other. The Chinese people are an industrial people as a race but China Chinese didnt achieve this project on the own. And it had nothing to do with the local Chinese or Malay communities. They are jst as unhappy and excluded from this project as the majority of Johorian's are. Keep the peace among us, the real problem-makers are in plain sight. Thanks for the likes.

I saw job advertisement for Forest City, its said only for Mandarin speakers. This project is with collaboration with Johor's Sultan company. I don't think local Malays will be benefited from this project.

It's like the island cove in the Philippines where once it was a wildlife sanctuary, now it's a big offshore online gambling site full of chinese workers

The intro on this channel is just 👌🏼

As a Malaysian, i had no idea this was going on. thank you, you covered alot of bases in this clip.

"Eco cities" are not eco friendly.

Malaysian here, not proud of this project at all.

I'm living near there, and sadly yes this is the so-called future city .. of Chinese China. House there are expensive, and their discriminate of "Mandarin first" instead of English or Malay language is really pissed off local people who come and work there. This project destroyed so much mangroves tree and sea life around it. Most Chinese Malaysian don't like them. I remembered when I go there in 2015, a lot of chinese people from china coming with buses to survey their new home, at the same time, local guests coming in, bet you they even not entertain the locals, such discrimination. sorry for bad grammar edit 11/2021: wow 1.2k! thanks guys! also thanks to neo and top luxury channel exposed this bs mega project

Ah just like the past, king sell country for enrich himself

They used to have a banner written " the reserved mangrove forest in Malaysia" while their reclamation project is just right aside, it really disgusted me.

Such an underrated channel. Deserves wayy more recognition!

I've seen it. Most people there speak chinese, and developed "thin" rift with locals that speak Malay

When I was in Dataran Pahlawan (Shopping Mall) years ago, I saw some Forest City agents on a booth and they were advertising Forest City, all of them spoke Chinese.

It's funny how the sultan allows all of this to happen as long as it brings him money.

Dude, thank you for covering my country. I don't even know this place exist. You deserve more recognition!

I’m a Malaysian that lived in an international boarding school in Iskandar and I always wondered why I felt like a foreigner in my own country. Now I know why. Literally explains so much. Thank you for the video:)) I learnt so much about my own country.

I feel upset to government which sold their country in the name of investment. Sadly this is also happening in my country Indonesia.

I was born and raised in Johor Bahru, I still come back to my hometown once or twice every month. Trust me, not a single person from Johor actually supported this project. Not one person I met can afford a house here. So if it is not for the people, who is it for?

At least it's not like those sand islands in Dubai... Which is really sad...

Hi! I'm from Malaysia. have been subscriber for a while. I did a fieldwork there on the seagrass ecosystem. yeah, it is impacted the wildlife there. used to have the endangered dugong there but the strait of johor and singapore is so developed, I don't think they can survive there. This project is so controversial.

I personally to look into this project, looking to invest in a condo. Once I arrived, the salespeople were really only looking to have Chinese investors only. I am Asian, once they understood I was an American their attitudes changed. They were selling condos not even built yet and the whole thing looked as though it could fail. I wanna thank the rude salespeople for changing my mind.

I am Chinese, I think the government is going too far, this is a city for the rich

I love the high quality content. Keep up the good work! Greetings from Germany.

China city actually, local don't have enough money to buy property there

This city will EAT UP a lot of Water.

Well, we need to ask The Sultan of Johore on the behalf of the subject. Those living in Forest City should be Johorean and Malaysian not foreigners.

Relax walaupun bandar ini diwujudkan di Malaysia oleh warga China tapi mereka masih memerlukan permit juga Dan masih dikira warga asing Tanpa boleh menyentuh isu dalam Malaysia kerana itu salah satu syaratnya...lepas tu projek ini jugak secara lansung akan menyumbang Dana yang besar untuk ekonomi Malaysia terutamanya Johor dalam dan selain itu juga akan memberi peluang pekerjaan yang banyak khususnya pada warga Malaysia... ~Sultan Johor pernah bertitah projek mega itu akan membangunkan ekonomi Johor seperti dikenakan cukai yang tinggi Dan mereka juga (warga China) masih dikira orang asing Tanpa diberi IC kepada mereka

This is the perfect example for a quality channel.. highly underrated. I'm gonna spread the word..

This channel is so underrated! Your content is amazing and you put so much time to make them even better! Thank you so much for all your work. Its paying off!

It looks cool, but I don’t know if I’d want to invest in a property on a man made island given that sea levels are projected to rise.

Although I'm a Chinese national, you can't do that. In Malaysia there are many people of all races in Malaysia can live there. Please respect the son of another nation. I'm a Malaysian. Saya Anak Malaysia

Its cool how you've basically made your own Vox spinoff!

I remembered seeing this project being promoted on Chinese television through countless advertisements through the early 2010's. Never knew the dark reality of this project

I don’t get why they keep building islands. They’re not gonna be worth much in 100 years when the sea level rises

there's also a controversial reclamation project in jakarta bay, that are quite simillar to the forest city. you should look that up

as a Malaysian. This hurts my eyes, the environment that they destroyed and how the housing in forest city is obviously targeting the Chinese China. The land itself is profitable towards China. I really do hope that our local Malaysian wouldn’t support this project until the chinese investors hear our voices.

Im a Malaysian and watching this really hurts me at every level. Feels like my country is slowly tearing down. Please someone help us create a reformation.

This is definitely part of the 'belt and road' initiative

Its a dangerous move to let them build it for their own. They will expand it and fully controll the land. This what happens in the dispute island in the philippines. It became a military base now and they control the area.

Love the intro. Surprised that this is happening in Malaysia because here in the Philippines, China's presence is also becoming stronger. With the rise of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) with their online casinos filling up buildings and Chinese development of condominiums and buildings to house POGO workers, our sovereignty is also questioned. The government turns a blind eye on these Chinese developments.

Reclaiming land in a country full of unused lands by itself is questionable. It literally screaming Dubai's islands projects which much of it failed.

I love how every project is "One of the most ambitious projects"...

I really need a video about how all these new cities built in the sea are going to survive climate change, like aren't they all going to fall to the rising sea first

Somewhere in future: an entire continent build from scratch.

Before i watch this video, I though China made a city on reclaimed Island in South China sea.

Key character in this project is the Sultan of Johor. As owner of the state, he decides on which developer to be approved for projects like this. Johor people are mostly proud and loyal to their Sultan. He is also the next in line on the rotation to become Malaysia's Agong (King of Kings).

as a malaysian indigenous... I'm afraid Chinese will overwhelms my country

This is a good quality video where the producer tries to be fair and impartial regarding this controversial project. So unlike most others that merely criticise without considering all of the relevant angles. The narrator had also made the effort to properly pronounce the names of the people and places. Again, so unlike other lazy narrators. Despite the easy availability of various resources to refer to.

forest city had never proved it help to build good ecosystem , u still depends on the real forests .

This intro is super unique, it’s very very good.

On the East coast of Malaysia, there is a huge oil storage terminal project called Pengerang covering 80 square km which is joint venture with an European company owning 44%. The project had to move out several old settlements and cemeteries. Another highly controversial project which is a key political issue is an Australian rare earth processing facilities, Lynas which produces radioactive waste near populated area. No international medias harp on these controversial projects from Australia and Europe.

Hey! I've been following you for a long time. I love your content and your work inspired me to start my own channel

Same here, Jakarta Indonesia

This is also the current situation here in the Philippines. Almost all of the infrastructure projects by the president are being funded by China. It resulted into a record-breaking foreign debt the Philippines ever had. With this, I do not know what would this country will look like in the future if we were not able to pay the loans our country made with China. I hope that our country will reevaluate all the Chinese funded projects and make sure that it not result into debt-trap.

Your intros are so good...

As malaysian we must thank for 🇨🇳 make our country more modern

Great video Thx for updating me on the world

Poitics aside, forest city looks wonderfull. It looks exactly how I'd imagine an ideal future city.

I remember when I was in china, forest city used to run Ads on cctv all the time. It advertised itself as NEXT TO singapore.

Hello ! Love your content, keep up the good work !

I still remember seeing forest city from Tuas border (in the Singapore side). It looked magnificent!

this channel needs more views, PLEASE OH GREAT RU-vid ALGORITHM GRANT THIS CHANNEL MORE VIEWS!!!

Land reclamation has been going around for tens of years in Singapore and Dubai. Hope neo give attention too to these environmental damaging projects.

These people should learn from Pantai Indah Kapuk in Jakarta. Its thriving

The intro song you guys are searching for. Continent by adrian berenguer

Im a simple man, I see Malaysia I click

in Jakarta there was a similar project, then the governor was overthrown and the project was explicitly closed by the new governor.

The quality of this guy’s content is amazing. I can’t imagine how much work has gone into this.

Hey man, really nice and interesting video! I have soms feedback for you: there is some static/background/noise on your voice audio track. This is a shame as the quality of the rest of your video is so high!

@neo You should do Meikarta- Indonesia.. this forest city's ambition is nothing compared to Meikarta ambition

Why do even government allow such projects to build that is the question. All this luxury is of no use as theses houses not affordable. Only thing they managed to do is the destruction of natural and marine habitat.

The concept is beautiful, it would be an amazing breath of fresh air (excuse the pun) if all urban cities became intertwined with nature.

Sounds (and looks) a lot like the project that flopped in Modderfontein, South Africa about a decade ago.

the intro is perfect!

Sounds like ocp the mega-compaction from the robocop movies trying to build delta city from Detroit. Or other words a company trying to build their utopia.

British here but spent a week in Johor Baru edu city as my uni has a campus abroad there in 2019. Deffo a cool upcoming area, pleasently surprised, some hotshot property devolper dude took us near forest city & it looked ok. Having said that always clear it's not for local malays, even the area' we stayed in are just weekend spots for folks from Singapore to visit due to their crazy house prices which makes malay property cheap af. Bigger impact of Chinese tourists was in kuala lumpur which had loads (pre covid), looks like most airbnbs owned by Chinese who rent them to Chinese tourists even in my 2 weeks there was clear anger/frustration at being priced out the market from locals. Having said that UK has been same for rich people all over world who buy it properties as mere investments which forces locals out the market, used to be just london issue but sadly spread throughout the country. Canada is worst for this. Governments should intervene before markets fail. Although I must say this isn't really a traditional chines road belt initiative project or debt trap, it's more just corporate greed for profits as Chinese loves real estate seculation, which is even worse as debt trap fears are mostly just political & not as bad people make out. Defaulting to a private company is much worse than a Chinese govt who negotiates in good faith for political will.

The trap beat at the end is LIIIIIIT

Klang Valley, The Great Penang, and Iskandar Johor; Top 3 Malaysian conurbation areas.

As a Singaporean, the developer uses misleading advertisements to entice the Mainlander Chinese to purchase properties over there. In its TV commercials, it said '新加坡旁' which literally translates to "besides Singapore" which really pisses us off. It also misleads them into thinking that they can obtain a Singapore PR.

It is plain silly when M'sia has lots of land and yet it reclaims one to build a city...

No wonder why people say : "more chinese give more troble than benefit"

Its hard finding channels like these

Neo, you have an incredibly adorable speaking style and voice. I feel like a knowledgeable friend is narrating the video as I watch it.

For those who are comparing the Philippines with this info, allow me to explain further... Here in the Philippines, we also have this "futuristic city" called New Clark City. The project was funded thru PPP and the developer of the city is BCDA and no, this city is VERY Filipino based in terms of design and infrastructure. We have a huge external debt right now but the debt isn't coming from China only. We have a debt from other countries as well since our president is busy negotiating with Russia, Japan, China at SoKor to boost our economy by attracting foreign investors thru speeding up our infrastructure projects that is vital for logistics and public commuters. That's why we have this debt, because our president is investing for a better future of the Philippines.

These videos are amazing. To the point and very well explained and interesting to watch. Keep up the great pictures and video and descriptions . I know nothing about most topics but with your way of explaining its easy to understand and comprehend.

You didn't mention the "string of pearls" strategy.

Here in the philippines, the entire luzon is the new china's urban city. 😂😂

It's funny how we kicked out Singapore because of their Chinese population but allowed Chinese contractors to build here to attract Chinese immigrants.

Malasia and China are well member countries in Asia. I hope their cooperation will flourish more. good luck from Mongolia

Terima kasih sultan johor sebab bakal wujudkan "mini china" di tanah malaysia.

Thanks for making a video about Malaysia. My suggestion will probably be speed up for video pace, but overall good job mate.