SELANGOR Umno has never been truly concerned about the settlers affected by land deals in Ijok as shown by the 18-year wait for promised housing and compensation, said settlers’ representative Omar Ali Bashah.

Now that the majority of settlers have received their dues, he said he was puzzled why Umno has taken issue with the settlement and accused the Pakatan Harapan-led state government of wrongdoing.

“After waiting for 20 years for this matter to be sorted out, why are there Umno leaders who want to question this when the problem occurred during their administration. Their menteri besar also couldn’t resolve this problem.

“If Selangor is being governed by Umno-Barisan Nasional, surely the land would be auctioned by the banks and lending institutions,” said Omar, who has represented the settlers since 2013.

He is also the head of Alam Utama Bukit Cerakah and Alam Mutiara action committee, which was set up to ensure settlers were compensated when their land was acquired by developers Mujur Zaman Sdn Bhd and LBCN Development Sdn Bhd under the Barisan Nasional state government in 1997.

The Ijok land deal came into focus when BN strategic communication director Abdul Rahman Dahlan last week asked Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali to explain why the state government had “hastily” returned disputed land worth RM1.18 billion to two housing developers.

Rahman said the state government’s action was questionable because the High Court and the Court of Appeal had in 2013 and 2014, respectively, ruled that the land belonged to the Selangor government after then menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim moved to seize the land using the Land Acquisition Act. 

On February 18, Selangor BN information chief Mohamed Satim Diman said several settlers would lodge a report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as the compensation they received was not according to the market price. 

These allegations followed a ceremony on February 11 when the Selangor government handed 981 settlers compensation of RM180,000 each as well as their promised homes.

Omar said the settlers’ action committee only managed to meet the state government after the opposition, led by PKR in Selangor, took control of the state in the 2008 general election. 

He said the current administration, led by Azmin, managed to reach a settlement agreement with 453 original settlers and the action committee, something that former former menteri besar Khalid couldn’t do, despite offering settlement agreements in 2010 and 2013 respectively. 

“We had to reach an out of court solution because most of us who are senior citizens, aged 70 and above, may not be able to see the houses,” said Omar. 

On November 17, 2015, the action committee reached a settlement agreement with a new developer in a meeting that was also attended by the state’s legal adviser and Selangor Housing and Property Board. 

The balance of the compensation was paid on June 30, 2016 and participants received their certificate of entitlement (CoE) on September 23, 2016. 

“Participants were given double-storey terrace houses measuring 20x70 feet, or 1,750 sq ft, as promised,” Omar said. 

The handover ceremony was held on February 11, two decades after Mujur Zaman Sdn Bhd and LBCN Development Sdn Bhd took the land from the settlers in 1997. 

“We are grateful that the abandoned project can be resolved and we also receive RM180,000 in compensation as well as a RM250,000 house each. 

“After the completion of the project, the house’s value will be at least RM450,000. It means the total money we get from the compensation and the asset is RM630,000,” he said. 

According to the committee’s records, only 987 of the 1,063 settlers were eligible to receive the houses, while another 76 participants sold their house lots to the old developers. 

However, 358 out of the 987 settlers had passed away before the completion of the project. 

Azmin’s administration has rebutted BN’s suggestions of impropriety in “giving” the land over to new developers and the settlement.

The RM1.18 billion for Alam Mutiara and Alam Utama, two plots which were privately owned and which had never been seized by the Selangor government, was from a private developer with no links to the state, Azmin’s strategic communications director Yin Shao Loong said in press statement today.

“This was an arms length private transaction between one developer and the several companies who owned the land. Selangor state did not transact a single sen or a single lump of soil in this RM1.18 billion deal. There was no bailout by the Selangor government,” he said.

The RM1.18 billion was used to pay the settlers’ compensation, housing, the price of the land itself and to settle the debts of the previous companies that owned Alam Mutiara and Alam Utama.

Yin said BN’s Rahman had confused the Alam Perdana land which the state government under Khalid had seized and which went through the courts, with Alam Mutiara and Alam Utama.

“There is no issue of the state ‘handing back’ the Alam Perdana land that it won to the developers,” he said. – February 23, 2018.