Malaysia's Pulau Melaka - Ghost Town or White Elephant?

This is Riviera Hotel/Suites at the entrance to Pulau Melaka (Malacca Island). Row after row of empty shops and restaurants,  unleased or unopened. We were the only tourists in the area. The place resembles a ghost town.
In the streets around this man-made island it's the same story. The only activity seems to be the 'floating mosque'  (A little over 1 km from the island's bridge) and the construction on the second reclaimed land/island. A promised Ferris wheel was never built. A wildlife-encounter park looks abandoned. Security guards seem to be the only viable enterprise.