Public land: Musa gets ultimatum

City dwellers are concerned about the grand sell-off of public property by the state government under Chief Minister Musa Aman.

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) will use all means to ensure prime public land in the city is not sold off by the Barisan Nasional state government under Chief Minister Musa Aman.

Two opposition state assembly representatives, Liew Teck Chan (Likas) and Melanie Chia (Luyang), will raise issue of the status of the Kota Kinabalu High Court and City Library land at the coming State Legislative Assembly sitting later this month.

They said they would demand a debate on the issue as long as there is no guarantee by the chief minister that these two pieces of land would be reserved for public use. They announced their intention during a news conference held at its Luyang office here.

“We will raise this issue in accordance with the Standing Orders of the assembly. We hope this Cabinet will not be irresponsible and refuse to entertain this issue of public interest by abusing the so-called ‘defeated by time’ tactic like when the BN leaders avoided debate on the Saham Amanah Sabah (SAS) issue two years ago,” said Chia.

The State Legislative Assembly will sit next week for three days on July 16, 17 and 18.

“We will raise this issue because the assemblyman for the Api Api constituency, within which the High Court and Library are situated, has refused to promise that these public lands will be retained for public purpose,” Chia said.

Dr Yee Moh Chai, who is also a Deputy Chief Minister, has remained silent on whether the prime property that also include the KK City Hall building and the Women and Children Clinic next to the Chong Thien Vun Park would be protected.

City dwellers have expressed concern about the loss of urban public lands, citing the cases of the Likas Wetlands and Atkinson Clock Tower, the State Railway reserve and KK Sea Front, among others as examples of a grand sell-off of public property by the state government under Musa.

“We will wait until Monday for the chief minister to promise that these city centre lands will be protected and reserved for public purpose before we take further action on raising this issue at the assembly,” said Chia.