Is Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB)'s business arm, Railway Assets Corporation (RAC), a government linked or a private company?

Parti Sosialis Malaysia's (PSM) Sungai Siput MP Dr Jeyakumar will file a case in the Ipoh High Court next week to clear up the grey area.

PSM has accused KTMB, RAC, the land office and MMC-Gamuda Bhd of abusing their powers to evict squatters on railway land for a double-tracking project.

"The land office is attempting to evict the squatters under Section 425 of the National Land Code, instead of letting the courts decide on the status of squatters," Jeyakumar told Malaysiakini.

Land office abusing its power

Section 425 (1) (a) states that any person who without lawful authority occupies, or erects any building on, any state land, reserved land or mining land shall be guilty of an offence, and liable on conviction, to a fine not exceeding RM10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.

nep race relations forum 270107 dr jeyakumar Section 425 (2) states that state land shall include all land held by or on behalf of federal or state government, a local authority or a statutory authority exercising powers vested in it by federal or state law.

What interests Jeyakumar (right) is whether RAC, which manages all of KTMB's assets, falls under Section 425 (2) as a statutory authority or as a private company.

"I will file a case next week in the Ipoh High Court to stop the abuse of power by the land office to evict landless people ignorant of the National Land Code."

Jeyakumar says if the RAC is a private company, the land office cannot intrude into its private land and use Section 425 of the National Land Code to evict squatters.

Land officer not legal authority

A case in point is when the land office issued a two-week notice to a 64-year-old joss-stick seller to vacate his premises which has been on railway land since the 60s.

liew chin nam yew kheong joss stick manufacturer ktm land perak 240609 04 Liew Chin Nam (left) has been paying RM125 in monthly rental to the RAC but the land office declared him an illegal tenant under Section 425 of the National Land Code.

Liew from Kantan, Chemor, in Perak was asked to the vacate the land by July 17 to make way for a double-tracking project.

He filed for an injunction in the High Court last week to stop the land office from evicting him.

"The land officer is not the legal authority on the National Land Code. The legal ruling must come from the High Court," said Jeyakumar.

'There will be no evictions'

Jeyakumar is also supporting the cause of 43 squatter families in Kampung KTM in Sungai Siput who were asked move out by July 17, under the same section as Liew.

He said that no railway land squatter in his parliamentary constituency will be evicted under Section 425.

zambry abdul kadir interview 200409 09 "There will be no evictions on July 17. If the land office tries to bulldoze its way with the help of the police, then they will have to arrest all the 200 displaced urban pioneers and about 2,000 PSM members," said Jeyakumar.

He also said that 500 people will meet in Ipoh next week to seek Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir's (right) help to revoke the eviction order and help settle the squatters' problem.