Protecting landowners
The Star 18/8/2005 By EMBUN MAJID

ANY land acquisition by the Kedah Government for development must be conducted according to the Land Act to ensure that the state government will not become a land broker.

Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) investigation and complaints committee chairman Prof Datuk Mohd Hamdan Adnan (pic) said the landowners' rights must be protected in any land acquisition plan.

“The landowners, who are mostly medium and low income earners, should be treated fairly.

“They should get suitable payment for their land,” he said.

He said the state government should not buy individually owned land at a low price and sell it to developers at high price for a profit.

Mohd Hamdan said the state government was empowered un-der the Land Act to sell public land to developers for development but the process must be conducted according to the law.

“More than 60% of land cases reported to Suhakam involved land encroachment,” he said after meeting Acting Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Mahdzir Khalid recently.

At the meeting, Mohd Hamdan forwarded complaints by Kam-pung Tok Bidan and Kampung Datuk Murad villagers who claimed that they had been mistreated in a land acquisition case.

He said the villagers had claimed that the matter was not properly conducted and that no meeting was held with them.

Mohd Hamdan said under the Land Act, the state must conduct a meeting with landowners when planning to make an acquisition.

He said Mahdzir had given his assurance that the state go-vernment would investigate the claims.

”We will monitor the case until it is solved,” he said.