DAP's national publicity secretary Tony Pua has trashed the public land transport commission (Spad) for what he describes as its "incongruous, unbelievable and contradictory" reply to claims it is hypocritical and practises double standards.

In a statement, the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said Spad should stop giving "unacceptable" and "flimsy" excuses for its decisions that trample on the "ordinary" and "honest man" trying to make a living while according "special privileges... only to the privileged few".

"Spad should stop giving incongruous, unbelievable and contradictory excuses in the entire land acquisition exercise," said Pua.

NONE He was responding to Spad chief executive officer Mohd Nur Kamal's denial last Thursday that the realignment of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) track at Jalan Damansara, off Jalan Duta, was to save a bungalow belonging to a VIP, as claimed by opposition MPs.

Mohd Nur ( right ) said the original MRT track would have burdened the government with a huge compensation. He denied the said building would have been affected, saying the track alignment was finalised only after feedback from the public.

The original claims that the realignment was to accommodate the bungalow of a ‘VIP' were made a day earlier by Pua and PKR's Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.

Responding to Spad today, Pua said it was "beyond the doubt of anyone with reasonable eyesight" to deny that Spad's original plan for the MRT track would have passed underneath the swimming pool and an ancillary building of the bungalow in question.

Trying to wriggle out of the issue?

"Is the Spad CEO trying to wriggle out of the issue by claiming that the swimming pool is not, strictly speaking, part of the bungalow?" asked Pua.

He also described Spad's claim that it had closely consulted with parties affected by the MRT project as "completely untrue" - citing the case of the Bukit Bintang and Jalan Sultan shop-owners who he said were caught with "complete surprise" by the notices for land acquisition.

Pua also highlighted the contradiction between Mohd Nur's assertion, on the one hand, that the realignment saved the government from having to compensate landowners for the acquisition of their land, with Spad's earlier admission that underground stratum could be acquired without affecting the land use and ownership of the surface land, on the other.

NONE This was because the National Land Code 1965 had been specifically amended in 1990 to allow for the acquisition of underground land without affecting surface property by inserting Part Five (A) (section 92A to 92G) under Clause 3, Pua noted.

It has been pointed out that the amendment enables the disposal of underground land , which can then be either alienated or leased to construct tunnels, car parks and to lay pipes.

"Hence, even the rationale for realignment of the tunnel below the (VIP's) bungalow is based on a false premise, that the government will "save" from the acquisition of 1,000 square metres of land as the acquisition of surface land is completely unnecessary," said Pua.

"The flimsy reply provided by Spad is completely unacceptable and only serves to confirm the fears of ordinary Malaysians that special privileges are accorded only to the very privileged few, while the rights of the honest man trying to make a living on the street are trampled upon indiscriminately."