Perak Pakatan Rakyat today called on Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir to clean up the BN's own backyard of croynism and corruption before tarring others with the same brush.

nizar appeal to federal court 190609 02 An angry ousted Pakatan Menteri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin ( right ) said that it was just a poor excuse of a ploy by Zambry to divert public attention from the issue of Umno cronies being allocated state land meant for the poor and landless.

He was responding to Zambry's allegations that PR had also misused its power in land matters during its 10-month rule.

Zambry said this at a press conference yesterday after chairing the first state executive council meeting of the year.

"Prove that we had misused our positions during our term in office in the allocation of state land? It is easy to make accusations. We want proof to back your wild allegations," said Nizar, who is also Pasir Panjang assemblyperson.

He took a sharp dig at Zambry by pointing out that he could not justify the BN power grab of the state to Perakians and wondered how he would be able to justify his wild allegations to the public.

He had also alleged that during Pakatan's rule, names of those who were eligible to receive land allocations had been wrongly removed from lists.

BN's passing the buck game

zambry abdul kadir interview 200409 05 Zambry ( left) said had tasked senior state executive councillor Hamidah Osman to collect evidence of such discrepancies on which he would make a public anouncement later.

He was responding to allegations by PKR state vice chairman Chang Lih Kan that part of the state land meant for the poor and landless in Sungai Itek, Gopeng had been set aside for 10 committee members of the Umno Gopeng division.

On Dec 16, Chang lodged a report of abuse of power with the state Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission against Umno Gopeng division chairman Hamzah Mohd Kassim and Zambry.

However, both Hamidah and Hamzah were quick to put the blame on Kampar district officer Ahmad Kamarulzaman Hamzah for the 'land allocation mess-up'.

Zambry, yesterday, denied that it was a BN practice to allocate state land to its cronies.

He had also directed state secretary Abdul Rahman Hashim to look into the alleged discrepancies in the Gopeng land matter.

Joining in the fray, DAP state chairman Ngeh Koo Ham demanded proof to back the allegations, posing several more questions to Zambry:

  •  Why did Zambry allocate about 14,000 ha of land for prospecting tin to one company?
  • Why was RM2 million allocated for non-Muslim affairs by Pakatan not given to the concerned parties after the BN took control of the state? and,
  • A recent state-linked agency's contract with an international company states that any disputes or arbitraration arising from the contract must be only settled by Singapore's judiciary under British laws. Does not this company have confidence in the Malaysian judicial system to solve partnership problems?

Ngeh said foreign investors are shying away from Perak contrary to Zambry claims because investors are nervous about the state's ucertain political climate.

According to Ngeh, under BN there is now no open tender for timber logging as practised by Pakatan during their rule.

He also claimed that as a result, the state's income from timber has dropped drastically from RM40million to RM13 million.