Nazri to look into ammo depot grouse

The minister agrees to meet complainant M Annamalai to see if an answer can be found for the 15-year-old problem.

PETALING JAYA: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz has agreed to personally look into the ammunitions depot issue in Sungai Petani, Kedah.

The minister said he would meet with complainant M Annamalai, who wanted the government to acquire a plot of his family’s land that was deemed too close to the depot, this Wednesday.

“We’ll see what we can do from there,” Nazri told FMT.

Meanwhile, Annamalai said he was glad that Nazri, one of the many ministers he had written letters to regarding his problem, had agreed to meet him.

“This is good news. I am optimistic because he (Nazri) was the person who was brave enough to say that he is ‘Malaysian first’. He might very well be the dream prime minister that everyone is hoping for,” he added.

On the same note, Annamalai, who would be driving from Penang to Kuala Lumpur for the meeting, said he was not certain if this would resolve his 15-year problem.

“I’ve met all of them before, I am not sure any minister in Malaysia will be able to help us. Their reactions have become quite predictable.

“Even in Parliament, leaders both from Barisan Nasional and the opposition are not assisting the people,” he said.

On Jan 4, FMT reported that residents living close to the ammunitions depot located within the Sungai Layar army camp in Kedah’s Kuala Muda district could be in danger of a possible explosion.

Annamalai, 37, warned that a disaster was waiting to happen based on government documents he obtained when he tried in vain to both develop and sell a plot of land, located some 300m from the depot, since 1995.

There are also several residential areas and two schools near the depot.

For years documents and letters from government departments stated that the risk of “loss of life and damage to property” in the area were extremely high.

However, after Annamalai’s plight was reported in the media, the government last year told him that the land was “safe”.

Annamalai’s late grandfather originally owned some 136 acres of agriculture land in the area. The government then acquired 92 acres of it in the 1950s to build the Sungai Layar army camp, which opened in 1973.

His land, some 44 acres, is now estimated to be worth RM11 million. - FMT