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| Government may seize ‘idle land’ [ 02/10/2002 ] |
KUALA LUMPUR: The Government can seize plots of idle land rented to illegal immigrants, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The Deputy Prime Minister said it was illegal if landowners allowed illegal immigrants to build settlements on their land.
“If it was agriculture land, it should not be allowed to become a settlement. Landowners should not allow illegal immigrants to come in and rent it.
“If they do, action can be taken (against them). The land office can seize it because the property is left unused and there is misuse of the land,” he said after opening the National Land Convention yesterday.
However,. he noted that the Government understood how much the people valued their land and officers would have to be careful in their actions, adding that landowners should co-operate on the matter.
“Leaving land idle is a waste. Land should be fully utilised,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, he said houses and buildings put up by illegal immigrants on Government land had been demolished but such actions cost too much because the area they inhabited was rather large.
“So it is very important to take preventive action early to prevent them (illegal settlements) from becoming widespread and posing a problem to national security, including having an impact on economic growth and the society,” he said.
Abdullah pointed out that as of this year, 12,180ha of agriculture land were left idle in Peninsula Malaysia.
He said it was such a shame to leave land idle because if the unused land were developed, it could help the country reduce its hefty food import bill which was RM13bil last year.
Due to advances in science and technology, land size was no longer the main factor in production, he said.
In the past, he said, a 1ha plot could only produce five tons of rice but now the same area could produce twice that amount.
Abdullah stressed that public complaints against land offices were now on the rise where until June this year, there were 454 complaints compared with 553 in 2000.
Generally, the complaints were about delays in the processing, he said.
He pointed out that some of the projects under the Seventh Malaysia Plan could not be carried out as planned because of delays in approving land acquisition.
“Such a shortfall plagues the Government. So we have had to bring those projects forward to the Eighth Malaysia Plan instead. This is really odd,” he said.
He called on land office staff to speed up approvals so that people would not have a negative perception that the officers were waiting for pelicin (bribes).
The National Land Convention would look into the formulation of a National Land Policy, which is meant to standardise land use and development in the states.
It is expected to be ready within a year.
Source : The Star 2/10/2002 |
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