MCA scorn MB Perak for giving Land to villagers

Ka Chuan: Perak Govt must sort out land hitches

The Perak Government has to sort out numerous technical and legal aspects before it can issue permanent land titles to all new villages and planned villages. Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Ong Ka Chuan said he would not hesitate to praise the coalition government if it could pull off such a “logistical nightmare.”

“For now however, I would prefer to wait and see if they can overcome the technicalities,” he told reporters after a working visit to the Bidor Station New Village Saturday.

On Wednesday, Mentri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin announced the move as “an immediate offer” for long-time residents to finally have a place to call home.

Ong wondered if this meant that villagers had to surrender their land first before the government could issue the permanent land titles. He said that as far as he knew, the state authority could only alienate land in perpetuity under three conditions under Section 76(a) of the National Land Code.

One of the conditions, said Ong, was that if the state was satisfied that it could alienate the land under “special circumstances”.

“If that is the case, do new villages come under these special circumstances? Who will be doing the interpretation – the state executive council or the Attorney-General?” he said.

Ong wondered whether the state government would follow suit in cases of people living in housing areas and low-cost homes, for instance. “Where would the cut-off point be then?” he asked, adding that he was not condemning the move.

He added that one reason the previous state government had not given out land titles was because it needed the source of revenue to govern the state.

To a question, Ong said it was unfair to accuse the MCA of not helping the new villagers to get land titles as British had relocated many of its residents during the Emergency around 1949. He explained that because of the impromptu resettlement to new areas, many villagers were given short leases of 30 years at first until the alignment of their homes could be sorted out.

“Since most homes in new villages are in good alignment, now is the time to acquire the land in perpetuity,” he said, adding that Malay villagers had also faced problems getting their titles.

The arse MCA ministers had never being able to help villagers to get land but had themselves, together with their Umno cohorts, signed off all the state lands for themselves and their family members. Now they pour scorns on an MB who is trying hard to help the ordinary peasants to get a small piece of land so that they can at last have a home.

Have you not heard of a former UMNO MB who bought TOL land in Kajang for RM2 per sq ft and then sell it to the state corporation at RM22 per sq ft pocketing RM59mil?

A special panel set up by the Penang state government to investigate “land improprieties” has stumbled upon yet another land scam by Umno politicians. This time it involves an RM13mil land deal (source: TheStar Online)

The state government of Penang had also decided to engage an independent audit firm to investigate the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP) whose financial reserves drop from RM229 million in 2000 to RM25.6 million at the end of 2007. MPSP had been in deficit since 1999 and was forced to use its reserves to cover operating costs.