The National Land Council will be holding a special meeting with the Perak government soon to discuss the latter's decision to award freehold land titles to residents.

najib tun razak 040808 Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said that the meeting was important as the Perak government must have the approval of the council before awarding freehold land titles to residents of new and planned villages in the state.

Najib said that the National Land Policy (NLP) stated freehold titles can only be given if these lands are to be used by the federal government for public purposes or because of special circumstances.

"In terms of policy and the constitution, it cannot be done unilaterally; it must go through the NLC.

"As such, the Perak government cannot implement the move until a decision is taken by the NLC," he was reported as saying by Bernama today.

State has its reasons

mohammad nizar jamaluddin Perak Menteri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin had recently announced that the state - ruled by the Pakatan Rakyat after the last general election - did not foresee any problems in awarding freehold land titles to some 110,000 residents of new villages and planned villages in the state, which would be done in stages.

He had said that it would only involve about 6,000 hectares which amounted to just 0.01 per cent of the land size of Perak.

Najib said the Perak government had its own reasons to award the titles but it should not contravene the NLP as determined by the NLC.

He said the NLC was formed under the constitution with the objective of streamlining land matters so that there was uniformity among the states.