‘Tok Sira land still Malay Reserve’

"Go ahead and sue," members of Pedas Leaks tell former menteri besar Hasan Arifin.

PETALING JAYA: The whistleblower group Pedas Leaks today rejected former Pahang deputy menteri besar Hasan Arifin’s demand for an apology, insisting that former state officials abused Malay Reserve land in Kuantan for personal gain.

“I welcome him to sue us,” said Ram Ponnusamy, a member of Pedas Leaks and deputy chief of PKR Pahang. “We have every document with us.”

He said Hasan tried to talk to him on the phone, but he told the former MB: “I have no time to talk you, I will see you in court.”

Ram said he made a another check in Tuesday at the Survey Department and found that the area in question, at Taman Tok Sira, Kuantan, was still designated as Malay Reserve Land (MRL).

Hasan, in his letter of demand to Pedas Leaks, had said the land he bought and sold had no such encumbrance.

“In the plan itself, it still says MRL,” Ram said. “So we are on the right track.”

Hasan has admitted that he bought and sold a piece of the Taman Tok Sira land, but insisted that everything was aboveboard.

Another Pedas Leaks member, Pang Jon Kong, lambasted Hasan for saying that he “did not get an inch of land from the government after 22 years serving as a wakil rakyat”.

“What does he mean? I have also served the people for over 20 years. He was a Yang Berhormat. He was paid a salary. I use my own pocket money. Does that mean I should get two times the land he got?”

Pang is executive secretary of DAP’s Teruntum branch.

MACC investigation

He said BN politicians did not seem to understand that power given to them was to be used for the benefit of the rakyat, not just themselves, their political party or their cronies.

“For example, in 2001, my family and about 30 other families were evicted from our premises in Sungai Jerek and people were forced to buy shoplots owned by BN cronies. We approached Adnan Yaakob for help. He told us off. He said, ‘I’m menteri besar for people who support me, not for bloody DAP members.’”

Pahang Land and Mines Director Azizan Ahmad has declined to comment on the issue, but said his office would give its “full cooperation” to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), which has received a report from Pedas Leaks.

In that report, Pedas Leaks described the land in question as MRL and “prime state land”. It said it was divided up and sold at low prices several years ago when current Malacca Governor Mohd Khalil Yaakob was menteri besar in Pahang.

It said the beneficiaries included Khalil, Hasan and former state executive councillors Omar Othman, Hamdan Jaafar and Halim Ibrahim.

Hasan received 14,000sq feet for RM76,499 on Dec 31, 2001, when the market price was RM213,000. In September 2004, he sold the land to one Ti Lian Yeah for RM397,683.02.