KUALA LUMPUR – The government must stop abusing the Land Acquisition Act to usurp residents’ rights for the benefit of private developers, said former federal territories minister Khalid Samad of the case of Kg Sg Baru residents who have been offered measly compensation amounts.
The act should be used to build public facilities and not seize residents’ land or homes to be given over to private interests, the Amanah lawmaker said.
He added that the current Perikatan Nasional (PN)-Barisan Nasional (BN) government must be held accountable for the low compensation offered to Kg Sg Baru residents for their land, which he claimed had been taken by “force” using the act.
“The BN-PN government must be fair to the residents by giving them appropriate compensation and respecting them as landowners. They are not squatters!” Khalid said in a statement today.
He said when Pakatan Harapan (PH) was in power, it had offered landowners there RM1,000 per sq ft as compensation. The site is prime Malay reserve land under Kg Baru in the heart of the capital city.
This is higher than the RM500 per sq ft offered presently by the Lands and Mines Department, a far cry from private assessors’ valuations at between RM1,500 to RM2,000 per sq ft, not including the buildings.
Khalid said while PH was in power, BN leaders had called PH’s offer inadequate.
“Datuk Seri Najib Razak at that time also said in a Facebook post that the land price in the area should be RM3,000 per sq ft,” Khalid pointed out.
“Why is it that after Tan Sri Annuar Musa was appointed as the federal territories minister, the BN-PN government now sets such a low compensation for the residents?”
Annuar was the federal territories minister in the PN government led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister from 2020 to 2021.
Khalid also took aim at current Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, from BN, for blaming Kg Sg Baru residents for failing to reach a consensus on the compensation amount.
He named other BN leaders such as Titiwangsa MP Datuk Seri Rina Harun and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob for failing to uphold the rights of the Malay community in the affected area.
On August 29, Kg Sg Baru residents held a press conference to announce plans to file an objection with the Lands and Mines Department over the low compensation offer. – The Vibes, August 30, 2022
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