Mohd Nordin Bakri's hope of seeing the prime minister's intervention to resolve his land woes turned tragic when he collapsed and died in front of the PM's office.
PUTRAJAYA: A settler’s hope of seeing a land issue, which has been dragging on for more than three decades, resolved turned tragic when the father of five collapsed and died outside the Prime Minister’s Office here.
What irked his fellow settlers was that the police personnel present did not offer to help while the ambulance only arrived some 20 minutes later.
The deceased Mohd Nordin Bakri, 54, was among 200 settlers from Kampung Serampang Indah (formely known as GATCO) near Jempol, Negeri Sembilan, who chartered four buses and travelled 150km in the hope of meeting Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak yesterday.
They wanted to hand over a memorandum and call for the premier’s intervention into the land matter.
However, they could not meet Najib as he was attending to official matters but managed to hand over the memorandum to the premier’s private secretary Mohammed Amir Haron.
As a six-member delegation met Amir near the security post, Nordin suddenly collapsed and those present rushed to his aid. They carried him to the security post and asked for an ambulance.
“I was very disappointed that medical help came late. After I informed the security personnel and Amir, the ambulance only came more than 20 minutes later,” said Paroi state assemblyman Mohd Taufek Abdul Ghani, who was also present.
“I also regret that despite the presence of a large number of police personnel, none of them offered to give Nordin first aid,” added the PAS leader.
Meanwhile, Kampung Serampang Indah (GATCO) action committee secretary C John told FMT that Amir promised to raise the matter with Najib and issue a reply within two weeks.
On March 28, FMT reported that the settlers held a peaceful demonstration in front of the Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar’s office urging the state leader to intervene and help them.
A total of 400 settlers bought a 10 acre agricultural land from GATCO in 1977. The bumiputera settlers paid RM4,000 and the non-bumiputera settlers forked out RM7,600 for the land.
However in 1983, GATCO declared bankruptcy and the size of the land was reduced to eight acres per settler. In 2004, the land was auctioned. The settlers paid RM320,000 (earnest deposit) to Singam and Young Associates who was the auctioneer.
‘Where is justice for us?’
“When we wanted to pay the second installment, the auctioneer refused to receive the second payment. Later the land was auctioned to Thamarai Holdings Sdn Bhd for RM16 million.
“The basis of our argument is that the government, especially the Negeri Sembilan state government and Menteri Besar Mohd Hasan should take responsibility on the basis that the land originally belonged to the state government,” said committee chairman Abdul Rahman Ali Mohamad.
Under the previous menteri besar, he said, the state government leased the land for 99 years to Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri, Negeri Sembilan (PKNNS).
“Later PKNNS leased the land for 66 years to GATCO. It’s clearly stated in the terms and conditions that GATCO should develop the land for the settlers,” he added.
Rahman said when GATCO went bankrupt, the state government and Dana Harta should have given the settlers the first choice with regard to owning the land.
“We paid the money for the land 35 years ago and now we are willing to pay RM18 million to get back our land. Why did the government allow this to happen? Where is justice for us?” he asked.
PUTRAJAYA: A settler’s hope of seeing a land issue, which has been dragging on for more than three decades, resolved turned tragic when the father of five collapsed and died outside the Prime Minister’s Office here.What irked his fellow settlers was that the police personnel present did not offer to help while the ambulance only arrived some 20 minutes later.
The deceased Mohd Nordin Bakri, 54, was among 200 settlers from Kampung Serampang Indah (formely known as GATCO) near Jempol, Negeri Sembilan, who chartered four buses and travelled 150km in the hope of meeting Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak yesterday.
They wanted to hand over a memorandum and call for the premier’s intervention into the land matter.
However, they could not meet Najib as he was attending to official matters but managed to hand over the memorandum to the premier’s private secretary Mohammed Amir Haron.
As a six-member delegation met Amir near the security post, Nordin suddenly collapsed and those present rushed to his aid. They carried him to the security post and asked for an ambulance.
“I was very disappointed that medical help came late. After I informed the security personnel and Amir, the ambulance only came more than 20 minutes later,” said Paroi state assemblyman Mohd Taufek Abdul Ghani, who was also present.
“I also regret that despite the presence of a large number of police personnel, none of them offered to give Nordin first aid,” added the PAS leader.
Meanwhile, Kampung Serampang Indah (GATCO) action committee secretary C John told FMT that Amir promised to raise the matter with Najib and issue a reply within two weeks.
On March 28, FMT reported that the settlers held a peaceful demonstration in front of the Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar’s office urging the state leader to intervene and help them.
A total of 400 settlers bought a 10 acre agricultural land from GATCO in 1977. The bumiputera settlers paid RM4,000 and the non-bumiputera settlers forked out RM7,600 for the land.
However in 1983, GATCO declared bankruptcy and the size of the land was reduced to eight acres per settler. In 2004, the land was auctioned. The settlers paid RM320,000 (earnest deposit) to Singam and Young Associates who was the auctioneer.
‘Where is justice for us?’
“When we wanted to pay the second installment, the auctioneer refused to receive the second payment. Later the land was auctioned to Thamarai Holdings Sdn Bhd for RM16 million.
“The basis of our argument is that the government, especially the Negeri Sembilan state government and Menteri Besar Mohd Hasan should take responsibility on the basis that the land originally belonged to the state government,” said committee chairman Abdul Rahman Ali Mohamad.Under the previous menteri besar, he said, the state government leased the land for 99 years to Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri, Negeri Sembilan (PKNNS).
“Later PKNNS leased the land for 66 years to GATCO. It’s clearly stated in the terms and conditions that GATCO should develop the land for the settlers,” he added.
Rahman said when GATCO went bankrupt, the state government and Dana Harta should have given the settlers the first choice with regard to owning the land.
“We paid the money for the land 35 years ago and now we are willing to pay RM18 million to get back our land. Why did the government allow this to happen? Where is justice for us?” he asked.
No comments:
Post a Comment