3rd link the real reason for
Pengerang land grab
By Chua Jui Meng
Chua delivering his welcome address at
the Johor Land Issue Forum: Problems And Solutions. The forum at the Li Garden
Hotel ballroom was attended by about 800 Johoreans including 100 Orang Asal Seleta on Feb 12, 2013.
PRIME
Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Johor Mentri Besar Ghani Othman are in the
process of forcibly acquiring 22,500 acres of Pengerang because of a proposed
third bridge link between Johor and Singapore.
It
is a replay of then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s massive 32,000 acres of
acquisition of Nusajaya based on the construction of the second link.
Now
Johoreans can see clearly how the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal and state
governments acquire agriculture land cheaply from the rakyat, then converting the land use to commercial, industrial or
housing developments and alienating the land to cronies for super profits.
When
Najib became prime minister in 2009, he met his Singapore counterpart, Lee
Hsien Loong, and proposed a third link between Singapore and Pengerang.
Shortly
after, he announced the non-sustainable Petronas Refinery and Petrochemical
Integrated Development (Rapid) project, which requires only about 6,000 acres.
Clearly, Rapid was just an excuse to grab the rakyat’s land in Pengerang to cash in on the property development
potential expected from the third link.
Also, the current population of
Singapore is 5.2 million and is projected to grow to seven million by 2030.
This means Singaporeans’ demand for
high-end property would be served in Pengerang. The BN cronies would then be
able to reap huge profits.
We
welcome Singaporeans. But our problem is with the greed of Najib, Ghani and BN
who are using the Land Acquisition Act to “rob” the rakyat of their land for massive profits.
There is no just compensation for
evicting the land owners.
The
cruel and oppressive Act is being exploited to secure agriculture land cheaply
from land owners, the majority of whom are Malay Johoreans.
BN
would then alienate the land, converted to commercial, industrial or housing
use, to their crony property developers to reap excessive profits.
Rapid requires only about 6,000 acres? Why is the BN acquiring
22,500 acres?
In
short, Najib and Ghani are just applying Mahathir’s modus operandi in Nusajaya which
was to enrich cronies with the second bridge link with Singapore.
Tan
Sri Lim Kang Hoo’s Iskandar Waterfront Holdings’ sale of 55 acres of Iskandar’s Danga Bay to China’s Country Garden
(Holdings) Ltd for RM900 million last December is an example of the extensive
profiteering by BN cronies at the expense of land owners.
The majority Malay land owners were
compensated with only about RM1.2 million for the 55 acres.
The land grabs, especially in South
Johor where market demand for high-end property is extremely high due to the
Singaporeans, were all made possible by Mahathir.
It was Mahathir who, in 1991, used BN’s
brute majority in Parliament to pass by 99 to 25 votes the Land Acquisition
Amendment Bill.
The amendments basically gave
incontestable power to state governments to seize private land for development
by private companies and individuals.
Lands originally acquired for public
purposes can also be used for private property development.
Before the amendments, land could
only be acquired for public purposes or for public utilities like building of
roads, schools, hospitals, pipelines, water or power plants, etc.
Part of the 800 forum attendees that
included this group of Orang Asal Seleta
from Nusajaya’s Kampung Simpang Arang. Their mangrove land are being alienated
to crony developers without compensation and their 1,000-year-old ancestral
burial grounds have also been desecrated.
The
amendments triggered the start of land grabs in Johor in 1992, with then Mentri
Besar, now Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, seizing 32 million acres in
Nusajaya at 64 sen psf.
Muhyiddin’s
most widely publicised personal land grab attempt was the acquisition of 6,600 acres in Tebrau through the Johor State Islamic
Economic Development Corporation.
Stamford Holdings Sdn Bhd then sued
Muhyiddin Yassin, businessmen Yahya Talib and Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, for
damages for alleged conspiracy to acquire land with the use of the Act.
The land acquisition civil suit was
settled out of court for a total of RM405 million in 1999. Muhyiddin had to settle
the case to prevent the attempted land grab details from becoming public in
court.
The
Act has thus become a sinful oppressive law used by BN to “rob” the rakyat of their land, displacing
thousands of people.
The
only way to stop BN’s “thieving ways” is to elect a really caring government
that loves the rakyat.
The
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Selangor government led by Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has, after
only within a term, shown how land issues had been resolved.
Even
the 11-month PR Perak government led by Nizar Jamaluddin was able to show how
land could be given to the rakyat and
Orang Asal (Orang Asli) irrespective of race and religion, not to rich cronies.
More
misery and land grabs are expected to be launched by greedy Umno cronies if the
rakyat, especially Johoreans,
continue to give their mandate to BN-Umno to govern.
There
is certainly no chance or hope for the Johor BN government to change its greedy
ways and attitude.
The
political battle ahead is tough but we aim to fight until Johor BN is down and
out.
Selangor Mentri Besar Khalid:
Khalid …no land for state executive councilors
and elected representatives in Selangor.
I
had wondered why I won in Ijok in 2008 when I lost the by-election earlier. I
also asked why PR could defeat the Selangor BN government.
The
answer was our promise to be a truly caring government for the rakyat.
When
I took office, I found that much land had been given to Umnoputra and their cronies.
I
then put a stop to this and imposed a policy that state executive councillors
and wakil rakyat (elected
representatives) should not get land from the state.
So,
in Selangor today, those who have stayed for more 15 years can apply for land
on which their houses are located. They are no longer called squatters as BN-Umno
does, but peneroka (settlers).
Also,
those occupying TOL land are given their right to own the land by paying a
premium which can be quite hefty. This was also a problem because land in some
areas like Shah Alam is expensive, costing up to RM70 psf, therefore fetching
high premiums.
So,
we fixed a standard premium of RM1,000 for the conversion to freehold for the rakyat.
There
were also some who had the cheek to complain that they could not afford to pay
the RM1,000. So I told them that I will buy their land at the premium price.
None
of them wanted to sell and today their property is worth more than RM500,000.
This is what we call gross development value (GDV).
Selangor
now has a policy that land should not be sold at market price but at GDV to
private developers whenever Selangor needed to raise funds for development.
There
is no sale of agriculture land to property developers in Selangor, unlike what
BN-Umno is doing in their states to profit from land grabs.
We
convert the agriculture land to commercial, industrial or residential use so
that the price of the plots are high, benefiting the state and rakyat.
Another section of the forum attendees.
Another
big problem is the “missing files” syndrome in the Land Office which is
inundated by files.
Somehow,
with kopi (coffee) money the files
are found. The rakyat’s land search
woes will be resolved as we are finalising our exercise to digiltalise our
records by scanning all land titles in the state.
We
are now preparing to introduce value of land asset to the rakyat. We only alienate land to the rakyat who need it for residential or agriculture.
If
a Mentri Besar is unable to clarify or resolve land issues afflicting the rakyat, he is not fit to hold office. (Note: Johor Mentri Besar Ghani Othman was
invited to officiate at and open the forum but he did not show up.)
