They got a shock of their lives - the quit rent of the Chinese Sports Community in Kedah has been increased from RM252 to RM25,142, while a Chinese elementary school used to pay RM300, now it is RM9,000.

Not surprisingly, residents in Kedah are crying foul.

A signature campaign is being organised by several associations in Kedah to protest the quit rent hike imposed by the state government last year.

Led by the Kedah Chinese Assembly Hall (KCAH), the results of the signature campaign will be submitted to the prime minister, after local associations complained that the state authorities failed to heed their complaints.

Quit rent, a form of land tax, is imposed on owners of all alienated land. An across the board revision in quit rent was announced by the state government last January.

Following this, KCAH petitioned Kedah Menteri Besar Mahdzir Khalid to amend the revision. The state authority has yet to react to the petition.

KCAH committee for quit rent review chairperson David Lim told a press conference on Wednesday that he was "disappointed with the indifference."

"At the initial stage, the members attempted to discuss with people's representatives of the state via various means. Yet these people (state authorities) seem to be indifferent to the concern of the multitude," said Lim.

"The feedback received by the committee was either 'the memorandum has been presented; we do not know whether it will be approved' or 'the increment in the quit rent rate is final and irrevocable," he said.

The committee has launched the signature campaign with Kedah Chinese Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Central Kedah Chinese Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Southern Kedah Chinese Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Kedah State Indian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Kedah and Perlis Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia and the Bar Committee of Kedah and Perlis.

Lim said the rates were not among the lowest in the country, as announced by Mahdzir early last year.

"The increments in Kedah all fall within the range from hundreds to several thousand percent," he said.

For example, the quit rent rate at one sen per square metre was increased to one ringgit.

Lim added that the quit rent revision contravenes Section 101(4) of the National Land Code.

Multi-ethnic effort

Commercial land was sub-categorized into tourism industry, commercial buildings and private educational institutions, which were then levied different quit rents rates, he said.

Animal farming that was under the non-agriculture farming was placed under the business category.

The rate for buildings of three storeys or less increased from RM150 to RM400 whereas that for buildings of more than three storeys increased from RM150 to RM800, he said.

"Therefore, whether the quit rent revision is being implemented, the contravention has rendered it null and void. If the state government insists to collect the quit rent based on the new rates, it is then violating the law knowingly," said Lim.

Lim said the committee has requested help from all levels of community, and expects it to be a "multi-ethnic effort."

The National Land Code makes it an obligation of the landowners to pay the quit rents by a certain date without being informed to do so.

Landowners who do not pay their quit rent by the deadline are also liable to lose their properties as the state can begin proceedings to forfeit the properties.