Take back the prime Borneo Development Corporation (BDC) housing estate land in Kuching from the children of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and Deputy Chief Minister George Chan.

This is what the Sarawak DAP want the state government to do, and to use the land to build a Chinese independent school.

The 269-acre plot, next to the Kuching International Airport, was last year alienated to Monarda Sdn Bhd.

The shareholders of Monarda are Taib's eldest son Mahmud Abu Bekir (52 shares), daughters Jamilah Hamidah (12 shares), Hanifah Hajar (12 shares) and daughter-in-law Anisa Hamidah Abdullah (12 shares).

Anisa, formerly known as Elisa Chan Wai Kuen, is George Chan's daughter and is married to another son of Taib, Sulaiman Abdul Rahman.

Chong Chieng Jen speaking to reporters in Kuching The land was practically handed over to Taib's and Chan's children at a price of only RM78 million last year, despite its market value being about RM500 million.

Valued at between RM2 million and RM2.5 million an acre, it was alienated to Monarda at RM291,000 an acre or RM78,647,112 for the 269 acres.

Speaking to reporters today, Sarawak DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen ( above ) said the 269 acres may be small to construct a Chinese independent school, but it has a high value.

"The land should not have been given to the children of these two BN leaders in the first place," the MP for Bandar Kuching added.

"Why alienate the land to the families of Taib Mahmud and George Chan, but not to the Chinese school?"

No land for Chinese school despite promise

On the 2,000ha Taib promised last year for the construction of the Chinese independent school, Chong said no specific site had been identified by the government until today.

"As far as I know, no lot has been handed over or title issued for the proposed school," he said, and expressed fears that the school could be allocated native customary rights (NCR) land.

"In Sarawak, there are more than 200 cases of natives claiming that their NCR lands have been illegally taken by the state government and given to crony companies, without any compensation paid.

"The government must give an assurance that the site for the school must be free from any claims by the natives," he added.

On the RM73.7 million allocation for Chinese and Mission schools in Sarawak that Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced yesterday, Chong it was another example of "election goodies" handed out by the BN.

"What we have been asking for is systematic allocation of funds for Chinese and Mission schools annually, to be included in the federal budget and not the sporadic allocation of funds before or during an election.

"This clearly shows that the BN intends to buy votes," he added.

PKR: Vote-buying has started at longhouses

Chong did not want to say whether the allocation of RM73.7 million was enough, but considers the manner in which it was given objectionable and he expects the BN to hand out more of such goodies before the April 16 polling day.

"They will also come in the form of 1Malaysia goodies," he said in jest.

Meanwhile, Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian said the BN has started giving out money to longhouse residents.

NONE "Based on the information that we have received, a sum of RM500 is being distributed to each family in the Layar constituency, whose incumbent state assemblyperson is Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu. We have witnesses to this," Baru ( left ) said.

"We are very concerned about this form of vote buying so early in the Sarawak election," he said, adding that the handing out of cash at this stage showed that Jabu was scared of the Pakatan Rakyat.

In the nearby Krian constituency, Baru said, the people have been threatened that government projects there would be withdrawn if they supported the Opposition.

"We have received reports from our people on the ground that the incumbent state assemblyperson for Krian, Peter Nyarok, was the one who threatened the longhouse people," he said.