Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has refused to entertain the opposition’s call for an explanation over Putrajaya’s purported move to cede 5,207ha of land to Indonesia as compensation for three villages in the Nunukan area.
Asserting that there is “no need” for the matter to be clarified in Parliament, Anwar instead lambasted the opposition for supposedly issuing “lies” when commenting on the issue.
“This is the problem with the opposition - they use (the principle of) freedom of speech to talk nonsense…(and) use Islam’s name to lie with wrong facts,” Anwar told reporters when met after performing Friday prayers in Taman Greenwood, Gombak today.
“If they had asked for the prime minister to explain, that’s fine, (but instead, they pass judgment… I cannot accept this sort of excuse. This is not justified behaviour for the opposition in our country.”
When asked if the government would be willing to clarify the claims surrounding the alleged land handover in the Dewan Rakyat, Anwar answered in the negative, saying: “They (the opposition) must bear responsibility (for) making false accusations.
“We cannot accept this kind of rotten and bad political methods,” he added.
Yesterday, in pressing Putrajaya to address concerns over the issue, opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin urged Putrajaya to uphold the principle of transparency in matters involving national sovereignty.
The Bersatu deputy president stressed that any such agreements should be discussed in Parliament first before final decisions are made.
‘Inaccurate report’
Last week, Indonesian media reported that Malaysia had ceded over thousands of hectares of its land as compensation for “gaining” three villages - Kampung Kabulangalor, Kampung Lepaga, and Kampung Tetagas - in Pulau Sebatik, along the Sabah-Kalimantan border.
For comparison, the land area granted is much larger than Putrajaya, which has an area of 4,931ha.
According to the republic’s investigative news organisation Tempo, Indonesian National Border Management Agency secretary Makhruzi Rahman said this followed a territorial settlement agreement in which the border line was shifted.
Following the cabinet’s instruction for the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry to issue a comprehensive statement on the matter, minister Arthur Joseph Kurup disputed reports claiming that Malaysia’s move to hand over its land was a form of “compensation” for the three villages.
While he also labelled reports suggesting Malaysia ceded 5,207ha of territory as “inaccurate”, the minister’s statement, however, did not address the extent of the territorial changes following the border settlement.
When questioned by reporters previously, Anwar similarly said that media reports on the matter are “not true”, briefly adding that Malaysia will engage in amicable negotiations on the issue soon. - Mkini
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