The Terengganu government awarded Yayasan Terengganu 2,600ha land in Setiu to help relieve the state foundation's financial difficulties, said economic, petroleum, industrial and human resources committee chairperson Mustafa Ali today.

The PAS vice-president said there were no timber concessions awarded to any company in that disputed land.

He was commenting on the allegations that the state awarded a multi-million ringgit timber concession in the area to a company owned by a 26-year-old factory worker.

"The land was given to Yayasan Terengganu to be developed into a oil palm plantation... I think early this year. The foundation then engaged a company to clear the trees in the land to make way for the plantation. That is the whole story," he explained when contacted.

In the Terengganu state assembly yesterday, Umno's Ajil assemblyperson Rosol Wahid accused the PAS government of awarding a timber concession to a four-month-old company owned by the unidentified young woman for RM1.5 million, a price far below the real value of the timber in the area.

The allegation was reported in the front page of Malay daily Utusan Malaysia today.

Education matters

However, Mustafa said he did not know if the company appointed by the foundation (to clear the land) belonged to the woman mentioned by Rosol.

"Anyway it's a non issue. We gave the land to the foundation to be developed into a oil palm plantation. It is independent in making decisions on how to go about it," he added.

Elaborating, Mustafa said the move was made to help the foundation - established in 1972 - finance its operations and education programmes which include providing scholarships and education loans to Terengganu-born students.

He added that this was also the reason why the state did not remove the trees in the land itself before awarding it to the foundation which needs from RM10-20million a year to operate.

"It's a way to help them gain more income. They had no problems before this because the state used to allocate quite a substantial amount to them but because of the loss of oil royalty, we are unable to do that.

"So we make it up to them by awarding the land. Not only do they get income from the felled timber but the oil palm plantation will also give them a long term income," he said.

He stressed that the decision was made because the foundation was responsible for education development adding that no such award has been given to other state foundations.

Baseless allegations

Mustafa also criticised Rosol for making the allegation without checking the facts first.

"The (state) opposition is notorious in making baseless allegations against us. In the past, we have always proven them to be false. Timber concessions are always awarded after an open tender and we have never strayed from that procedure.

"We do not check the owners of the company making the bids. As long as we are satisfied with the offered price and confident that the company makes the payment, it's all systems go..it does not matter if the company belongs to an anak dara (young girl) or janda (widow). In this case there was no timber concession to begin with."

In the past, Umno has made various allegations of mismanagement regarding timber concessions against the state.

On Aug 5, former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad took a swipe at PAS for its logging practices in Kelantan and Terengganu, as he fielded questions on whether he would order an investigation into a logging scandal involving Umno Pahang.

Terengganu government denied all allegations and maintained that all logging activities in the state are perfectly legal .