Datuk Mohd Zaim Abu Hasan (BN-Parit) said the amendments were also required to ensure that Malay reserve land would not be acquired without fair compensation.
“The value of the land acquired should be at current market price.
“As an example, Malay reserve land is acquired at a low price by an interested party but when the land is developed, it is sold many times higher,” he said when debating the motion of thanks for the Royal Address by at the Dewan Rakyat.
The Land Acquisition Act (APT) 1960 (Act 34) in force in Peninsular Malaysia since Oct 13 1960 has gone through several amendments. In 1992, the act was reviewed and was known as APT 1960 (Act 486).
The changes were aimed at smoothening acquisition of land and payment of adequate compensation in line with Article 13(2) of the Federal Constitution which states that there can be no laws which can provide for the taking over of properties or usage of properties by force without sufficient compensation.
Mohd Zaim said the review of the act was to to avoid situations such as in Penang from recurring when Malay reserve land was bought cheaply but the Malay community could not afford to buy the houses on their own land as they were sold at a high price.
“In the end, Malays had to move further into the interior and villages to build or rent low-cost houses,” he said.
Mohd Zaim said that the provisions of the amemded were still too lax and it created unhappiness among the people as it only benefited a small group and did not protect the interests of the people in general.
“The issue of a weak system of administration, compensation, unused land or land withdrawal, customs of land acquisition as well as Malay reserve and the issue of fraud in change of ownership are among the people’s unhappiness,” he said.
He also wanted the government to expedite the process of setting up the Land Tribunal to regulate the sale and purchase of land especially those involving Malay reserve land.
“With the creation of the tribunal, it would assist the people to avoid getting cheated in the increasing number of fraud cases in Selangor,” he said.
Source: Bernama
Published on: March 15th, 2016
THE CHAMBERS OF LEE & CHONG 