PERIKATAN Nasional’s (PN) attempt to use Malay reserve land as a ploy to stir up ill feelings against the unity government has failed, Natural Human Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Ahmad said today. 

He said he was able to answer PN’s questions in parliament to debunk the opposition’s ploy.

“If we look at the parliamentary questions by Ismail Abd Muttalib (Maran) from the beginning, it was asked with the notion that Malay reserve land is decreasing. They had even written in brackets that the area was decreasing. 

“So, they want to play on the sentiment of the reduced Malay reserve land. When I answered that the overall Malay reserve land (in the peninsula) has increased, the Maran MP got up and brought up the issue of endangered Malays and so on.

“So, he had a script and when that script did not fit their narrative, they accuse me (of lying in parliament) but to be honest, they got themselves trapped,” he said. 

Earlier this week, Pendang MP Awang Hashim was ejected from the Dewan Rakyat after he refused to retract a statement he made against Nik Nazmi whom the former had accused of lying and issuing a false statement regarding the size of Malay reserve land in Kedah.

While the minister said the size of Malay reserve land in the state had decreased in 2022, the PAS lawmaker claimed he had evidence that showed otherwise.

Awang said that Nik Nazmi was trying to make the Kedah government look bad. 

However, Nik Nazmi today stood by his parliamentary reply given on March 29, saying that Kedah was the state with a significant loss of Malay reserve land in the period of 2021 and 2022. 

“This answer given in parliament was prepared by the director-general of lands and mines, in which the department had collected the data of Malay reserve land from respective state authorities. 

“The data (given) of Malay reserve land for Kedah was as of November 30, 2022, which is the same as mentioned in my answer in parliament,” the Setiawangsa MP said. 

Nik Nazmi, however, said he has yet to receive data for 2023.  

“The allegation that there is addition to the Malay reserve land in Kedah after (November 2022)... that data did not reach the federal government,” he said.

Last week, Nik Nazmi had said the gazetted size of Malay reserve land across the peninsula has seen a slight increase despite three states showing a reduction in size. 

He said only Kedah, Perak and Kuala Lumpur reported a decrease in Malay reserve land area.  

“If we look at the details between 2021 and 2022, every state recorded an increase in Malay reserve land except Kedah, which decreased from 721,888.93 to 716,537.28ha, Kuala Lumpur decreased from 1,003.56 to 999.48ha, and Perak from 953,042.67 to 953,040.87ha,” he said. – April 5, 2023.