We refer to the Minister of Housing’s written reply to the MP for Ampang’s question during the recent Parliament sitting on the question related to the use of the power of the minister under Act 118 which was addressed to the Minister of Housing.

In his answer, the minister acknowledged that since the enactment of Act, the minister has exercised his power only once when the minister signed the voluntary handing and taking over of a project in Precinct 11, Putrajaya between two developers. The purchasers finally got their homes in September 2009 i.e. 4 years after the initial scheduled delivery.

The National Association of Abandoned Property Owners (Victims) would like express our disappointment over the minister’s reply. Firstly, it does not augur well for house purchasers in Malaysia when out of thousands of abandoned projects since the enactment of Act 118, there has only one case where the minister claims he has used his powers.

Clearly, thousands of house buyers are at the mercy of developers in view of the lopsided Act 118 which does not provide fair protection to house buyers.

If one analyses Government Gazette Jil 53 No 2 dated Jan 23, 2009 in detail, it clearly shows that the power was exercised in the best interest of the developers and not the purchasers. It was exercised to protect the take over company from having to pay late payment charges to the developer and therefore maximising their profit.

What the minister failed to highlight is that this is a private commercial arrangement which was initiated by two private parties and he had only came into the picture at the end stage to endorse it.

The 259 house buyers in the take-over project were entitled to LAD (liquidated damages or commonly known as late delivery charges). As a result of the minister’s action, the original developers and the takeover entity are protected and need not pay any late payment charges to the purchasers.

It is disappointing to note that the minister, despite having the right powers with absolute authority which cannot be challenged in court, has not used his powers on a pre-emptive basis despite having the necessary monitoring system in place.

What is the point of monitoring housing development projects if the minister do not take appropriate action to ensure the purchasers’ interest? It raises serious questions on the purpose of licensing and surveillance systems that were put in place under the Act.

Victims question the minister on his keenness and seriousness to protect house buyers’ interest. Hundreds of thousands people are burdened by the lack of the minister’s action. Victims believes that the government is legally responsible for any project delayed.

House purchasers are burdened in view of his refusal to use his wide and absolute powers in a timely matter. Victims is now seeking legal opinion on the government’s liability for any housing debelopment project that is not completed on time as per the SPA.

The writer is president National Abandoned Property Owners Association (Victims).