DAP proposes the establishment of a parliamentary committee headed by former deputy Prime Minister Ghafar Baba to scrutinize all government land acquisitions to ensure that there are no abuses of power and malpractices

Press Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang on Wednesday, November 23, 1994 in Petaling Jaya

When the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill was presented to the Parliament in July 1991, there were widespread fears, objections and protest because the new powers would allow the government to acquire private land not just for public purpose but for any development including for the benefit of private companies and individuals.

To allay these widespread objections and fears, the then deputy Prime Minister Ghafar Baba promised that a new guideline had been formulated for all land acquisitions to ensure that there would be no abuses of power and that the legitimate rights of the people would be fully safeguarded.

This solemn parliamentary promise of a deputy Prime Minister had been violated to the extent that there are more and more cases of arbitrary, oppressive and inequitable land acquisitions in the various states in the country.

What is even more shocking is that last week in parliament, the Parliamentary Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Department Othan Abdul openly denied Ghafar Baba’s claim at the time that a special guideline had been drawn up for all state government to ensure that there will be no abuses of power over land acquisitions.

What worries me is that such violations to the constitutional right to property of Malaysians, through increasingly widespread, would be mere child’s play when compared to the scale and magnitude of arbitrary land acquisitions after the next general elections.

Two blatant cases of such misuse of land acquisition powers to the detriment of ordinary citizens are the proposed acquisition of 2,234 acres of land in negeri Sembilan for the Seremban II project and the acquisition of all pig rearing land in Paya Mengkuang, Malacca.

In April this year, the Negeri Sembilan state government gazetted its intention to acquire 2234 acres of land in the Mukim of Rasah, Seremban for a proposed new satellite township of Seremban affecting some 600 land owners.

Injuly, the first batch of 44 landowners were summoned to the land office and told of the offer of compensation which averaged from RM27,000 to RM30,000 per acre although the highest offer was for RM50,000 per acre for one particular case.

The affected landowners were told orally that if they did not object to the land acquisition compensation, the government would increase the quantum of compensation to the range between RM43,000 to RM60,000 per acre.

However, all the affected stallholders whose land were being acquired objected, as the state s=government had never made any prior announcement about such a massive project as the new Seremban Town II project, and from all indications it was clear that it would be a favoured private developer who would reap huge profits from the project.

According to one calculation, the developer stands to net profits to the tune of billions of ringgit from the Seremban II project.

The Seremban II land acquisitions are a violation of the promise by Ghafar Baba in parliament that there would be no abuses of power or disregard of the legitimate rights or ordinary Malaysians in the use of land acquisition powers

The affected landowners sought the help of the MCA and met the MCA deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s department Datuk Wong See Wah four times. Instead of getting more help, all that Wong See Wah could offer the affected landowners was the return to the original compensation quantum averaging RM27,000 to RM30,000 for most landowners together with a ten percent increase. This is very much less then the oral offer to increase the quantum of compensation to $43,000 to RM60,000 if the affected landowners relinquish all rights to objection.

This is a classic example where instead of getting help from the MCA, the deal offered by the MCA deputy minister was even worse than that proposed by the Land Office and the landowners might as well have accepted the oral offer in July in the first place.

The affected smallholders objects to the quantum of compensation as the market price for their land is easily three to four times the government offer.

It is most unfair that a private developer could reap billions of ringgit of profits from the Seremban II project at the expense of the 600s smallholders whose land would be acquired at dirt-cheap prices. It violated all principles of accountability and transparency as the affected landowners and the public knew nothing about the Seremban Ii project which was not even mentioned in the Seremban Structure master Plan.

The acquisition of 2,234 acres for Seremban II project to benefit a private developer, without giving the affected landowners prior information, the option of a fair quantum of compensation or the chance to participate in the development of Seremban II project is a violation of the promise that there would be no abuses of power and disregard of the legitimate rights of ordinary Malaysians in the use of land acquisition powers.

Until a fair settlement has been reached, no work on the Seremban II project should be allowed and the affected landowners should not be treated as illegal squatters, losing all their rights to their rubber, durian and fruit cultivations.

As it is in Parliament that the assurance that thore would be no abuses of power and disregard of the legitimate rights of the people was given, Parliamant must set up a standing committee to scrutinize all land acquisitions to ensure that Ghafar Baba’s promise is honoured.

There is no better person than for Ghafar Baba himself to head this parliamentary committee to ensure that the promise that he gave as deputy Prime Minister in parliament in 1991 that there will be no abuses of power in government land acquisition is honoured by all state governments concerned.

This Parliamentary Standing Committee to check land acquisition abuses should also scrutinize cases where the Land Acquisition Act had been used for an improper motive.

A good example is the land acquisition of over 220 hectares of land in Paya Mengkuang in Malacca currently used for pig rearing. Paya Mengkuang is one of the largest pig rearing areas in Malaysia, involving a RM100 million industry, responsible for the entire Malacca market as well as exporting to Singapore. Nearly 3000 people are directly dependent on this industry while the livelihood of 10,000 people would be adversely affected of a total ban of pig rearing is imposed.

Three years ago, the Malacca state government announced its intention to ban pig rearing in the state. After strong objections from the DAP, this government plan was quietly shelved.

However, the Malacca state government is now using the Land Acquisition Act to resurrect its plan to ban pig rearing in Paya Mengkuang by proposing to acquire all Paya Mengkuang land for industrial purpose.

This is a gross misuse of the Land Acquisition Act which is another example of the breach of promise given by Ghafar Baba in parliament over the issue.

I was in Paya Mengkuang twelve days ago and I was shocked that no MCA Minister, especially the MCA President Datuk Seri Dr. ling Liong Sik had visited Paya Mengkuang in the last three years to help resolve the problems of the pig rearers although Paya Mengkuang has the most number of MCA life-members in the country.

Unless Ling Sik shows more responsibility as a Minister and MCA President to take time off from his karaokes and immediately visit Paya Mengkuang to resolve the problems of the pig-rearers, the MCA life-members in Paya Mengkuang as well as ordinary MCA members would make a bonfire of their MCA membership cards as a supreme protest.