Amanah rep: PAS offers no solutions to urban squalor, only fear-mongering

Summary

• ·Batu Tiga rep Danial Al-Rashid criticises PAS Youth for racial rhetoric over the Urban Renewal Act (URA), calling their objections baseless and fearmongering.

• He says URA protects landowners’ rights and helps youths access affordable, well-managed homes.

• PAS Youth plans to protest the bill on June 14, citing concerns over the lowered consent threshold for redevelopment projects.

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Batu Tiga assemblyperson Danial Al-Rashid criticised PAS Youth for resorting to the race card in opposing the proposed Urban Renewal Act (URA).

Danial (above) said the press conference earlier today, where the party wing announced plans to hold a protest against the URA, was “shallow, not based on facts, and meant to cause fear and confusion amongst the people”.

“The reality is that thousands of youths in major cities like Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, and Penang are struggling with the cost of living, and the lack of safe, well-managed, and affordable housing.

“What is the solution brought by PAS Youth? Nothing. They are more inclined to play up racial sentiments and fear, rather than to offer fresh ideas and concrete solutions,” said the Amanah Youth deputy chief in a statement today.

Danial said Amanah Youth supports URA because it serves as a key mechanism to drive the redevelopment of dilapidated areas, while protecting the rights of landowners, including those of Malay reserve land.

It also gives opportunities for youths to live in a comfortable and dignified home at strategic locations.

READ MORE: KINIGUIDE | Urban Renewal Act - what do we know so far?

The drafting of the proposed law had been in the works since 2012 by engaging various stakeholders, he said, and is not a new legislation that is being bulldozed into the statute books.

“The main goal is to set up a legal framework to enable the systematic, fair, and inclusive re-planning of urban areas,” he said.

Danial also noted that the prime minister himself has assured that URA would not change land status, thus refuting claims that it would lead to the loss of bumiputra land ownership and Malay reserve land.

Rally on June 14

Earlier today, PAS Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden announced that the party wing will hold a protest against the URA in Kuala Lumpur on June 14.

They questioned a provision of the URA that lowers the consent threshold that needs to be met in order for a redevelopment project to proceed.

He also questioned the relevance of a field trip organised by Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming to visit dilapidated flats and successful renewal projects around the capital city, which Perikatan Nasional MPs did not attend.

Nga had also lamented that opposition MPs had skipped briefing sessions about URA on multiple occasions.

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