Monday, July 29, 2019

Land Seizures in Perak & Deafening Silence of DAP


From FMT:



Make it official, offer land to Chemor farmers, urges PSM



PSM chairman Dr Michael Jeyakumar says it will be good if the Perak government rents its unused land for agriculture as it will help boost food production.

PETALING JAYA: PSM, which has been fighting for the rights of Chemor farmers whose land has been given to the Perak football team, today denied any knowledge of any offer of alternative plots to those affected.
PSM chairman Dr Michael Jeyakumar also said the party and farmers had no knowledge of any “series of discussions” that the state government had claimed it had held with the farmers who had been tilling the Chemor land for five decades.
However, he said it was still good news if indeed the Perak government was willing to offer alternative land for cultivation to the affected farmers.
“The state government should come out with an actual offer. They should send a letter to all these farmers,” he said today.
Jeyakumar was responding to the statement from the Perak menteri besar’s office yesterday that the state will offer nearby land at Tanah Hitam, Chemor, at “reasonable rental”, to the affected farmers to continue cultivating.
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Kaytee notes:
This pertains to the land seized by Perak MB Azumu from poor farmers who had worked those land for more than 40 years.

Perak MB Ahmad Azumu

he refused to grant freehold status to land farmed by new villagers

On 18 August 2018 FMT
reported (extracts):

Former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has urged the Perak state government under Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu not to give in to demands by DAP to grant freehold status to new villages.

This comes as DAP said Perak should go ahead in granting freehold status to new villages, and disputed a statement by Faizal on the constitutionality of doing so.
New villages are usually identified with the Chinese community. The scheme was started by the British colonialists in their attempt to contain Chinese residents living near the edge of jungles, fearing they would support the communist guerillas.

The following day MM Online reported (extracts):


Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin (Amanah and former Pakatan MB for Perak in 2008) said he was able to issue freehold titles to villages during his abortive stint as Perak mentri besar in 2008, amid controversy over the state government’s refusal to do so again now.

“Anything regarding the current land issues has to be referred to Mentri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu,” he said.

The state Investment and Corridor Development Committee chairman added that he converted 11 leasehold titles to freehold then, in Kampung Baru Kuala Rui, Gerik.

The former MB added that he gave out the titles after consulting legal experts and said plans had been in place to issue the titles to new, planned as well as Orang Asli villages.

He added that most would have been given to planned villages, with around 112,000 freehold titles and half of which would have gone to Malay residents.


The farmers had cultivate small plots of 2-5 acres (0.8ha to 2ha) each in Ulu Chemor, Hulu Kinta, for a long time and it was their only source of income.

MB Azumu (he's from Parti Pribumi) shocked the farmers with an eviction notice from the Kinta Land Office on July 5, ordering them to move out within 14 days or risk a RM500,000 fine or a jail term of up to five years.

What use does MB Azumu (you wouldn't believe it but he's part of the Pakatan coalition - makes one think he's old UMNO) have for the seized land?

On 03 May MB Azumu gifted the land to the 39 Perak footballers and officials.

So this is a Pakatan state government?

Seize land from poor farmers who worked the land for more than 40 years, so as to gift them to footballers?

Lim KS and Nga Kor Ming should be ashamed that the rakyat have been oppressed to such a stage.

And Dr Michael Jeyakumar has done a great service (which the DAP has today forgotten how to) in calling MB Azumu to his Kerbau promise in the Perak state government willing to offer alternative land for cultivation to the affected farmers.


his efforts put Nga Kor Ming and Lim KS to shame 

Or is it just a case of Azumu cakap ta'serupa bikin?
But what worries me besides the poor oppressed and deprived farmers has been the total silence of the DAP, both federally and at state level, considering the DAP members are part of the federal government and Perak government.
You would imagine for all the silence UMNO-BN is still ruling?

5 comments:

  1. As part of the government DAP’s job is to work with their Harapan partners to solve the farmers problem from within the state government.

    If they make loud protest people like PSM will say hey, don’t behave like you are still in opposition, you are now the government, you have the power to just solve the problem. Which is what they are trying to do, quietly.

    ReplyDelete
  2. DAP’s job is to solve the problem. Making noise is the opposition’s job.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DAP is silent, because they know the law is not on the farmer's side.

    There is legally no such "seizing land" when the land did not belong to them, and they did not even have permission to be on the land.

    If they were legal tenants, with due permission, they may have recourse to ask for some compensation, but they are not even that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. During the MB Nizar Jamaluddin's days many Chinese farmers were given ownership of freehold land. That's a precedence which the DAP should raise.

      Delete
    2. How do u know that dap isn't quietly working at the background to resolve this issue?

      For u, everything dap does must be like

      Bertelur Sebiji Riuh Sekampung!!

      Wakakakakaka…

      Delete