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Gov’t must stop creating more legacy issues

If we look at the development of housing in Malaysia, the industry is burdened by past givings of land for the establishment of populations by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and this creates legacy issues that is somehow passed on to the developers.

In the case of Kampung Chubadak, it involved settlers of the supposed Malay reserve land in Kuala Lumpur, even though it was sold to a company in 1985 right from under them. And as we saw, the situation exploded just last year and is now in court, after they had been living there for half a century.

In 2012, the same situation was faced by the fishermen of Pengerang who saw themselves needing to move for the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex.

Similarly in Penang, a developer is facing the same issues with a fisherman’s village for a development based in Jelutong approved by the last state government as a trade-off for building an expressway. We can even add in the development of Datum Jelatek to this affair, perhaps.

This situation has been faced time and again due to the careless handling of people by the local governments. How on earth do you sell off land now populated and built on by hundreds if not thousands of Malaysians and leave developers to handle it?

I would not be surprised if such will be the case with other such lands, such as Kampung Sungai Penchala for example. How long will it be till it is swallowed up to become yet another Damansara?

The encroachment of development on lands which were once used as supposedly temporary settlements for the poor will continue to be challenged with the further growth of Kuala Lumpur and the Greater Klang Valley plan. As such, what exactly are the guidelines in resettlement offers, and do they require reform?

It is this lack of action, notification and respectability for everyday Malaysians by local governments that create such an explosive environment that causes reputations of companies simply running a business to be tarnished. And quite frankly, I see a similar issue brewing in Cameron Highlands as well.

Right before the end of last year on Dec 30, Cameron Highlands experienced a landslide that killed two people. It subsequently unfolded that the reason for the landslide was due to illegal farming, land opened up by migrant workers. And thus, the government and its agencies announced that it would investigate these claims and take stern action.

That was it. Two months down the road now, the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) is suddenly asking people to snitch.

Worse, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced on Jan 27 that those who illegally cleared land for farming, the same ones earlier blamed for causing a disaster that killed two people and perhaps even causing the so-called influx of illegal migrant workers, will be granted temporary operating licences (TOLs).

Gov’t finds nobody to blame

As such, not only did the government find nobody to blame for negligently causing the death two people, it is now even rewarding them with the benefit of continuing their businesses on 2,260 hectares of illegally cleared land.

Now, most of us would be asking how could both the federal and state governments of Pahang do such a thing?

Well apparently, these illegal farmers have been operating for the past 40 years. Four decades. Two scores of years, and no action. Honestly, it is not exactly telling the authorities to go and find Jim Thompson.

One would have thought operating for 40 years would have left some clues; perhaps the absence of a licence, missing payments on land taxes, or even the fact that there was enough erosion to cause landslides would have been proof.

But here's a more important question; how do you get the land back after issuing the TOLs? Will we be facing the same situation as we do in Pengerang, Kampung Chubadak and even Jelatek all over again in the Cameron Highlands?

We are quickly creating a culture of whimsical and bad practices in governance, where businesses bear the brunt of tarnished images for wanting access to develop their land. Where at the same time, those who may have triggered a catastrophic natural disaster and may trigger more, get off the hook for triggering natural disasters for meeting what the deputy prime minister qualifies as “based on certain reasons”.

The government must put a stop to planting seeds of legacy issues through transparent and good governance at all levels.

Inquiries, audits and even legislation review need to be done to keep tabs on what is happening and prevent similar issues from coming up once more.

There must be as much transparency as possible, either in the selling of land to private companies or even how illegal farmers who can somehow still be in business for four decades without a single action taken against them until lives are lost or ruined.

Until such is done, we will be stuck in a roundabout of issues that will taint and create resentment for both business and governments on all levels, driving away investors and stymying our prospects for better and uninterrupted economic growth.

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