Land fiasco: ‘BN govt should also be blamed’

The compensation for the Tang Hak Ju land vase is much lower but the previous state govt should not taken any credit for it.

GEORGE TOWN: The Court of Appeal’s decision on theTang Hak Ju land case means that the state government has to pay less compensation, but this does not absolve the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) state government.

The Penang Malays Congress (KMPP), a NGO, said the land issue happened because of the BN government’s wrongdoings and mismanagement.

KMPP president Rahmad Isahak said BN should not twist and turn the land issue to escape accountability and responsibility.

He hit out at the previous government for unashamedly claiming an undeserved credit over the court’s decision to reduce the compensation from RM29.4 million to RM500,000.

Even if it was RM1 compensation, he reminded BN that “it was still taxpayers’ money”.

“BN was solely responsible for it,” he said in a statement here today.

On Jan 11 this year, the appellate court dismissed Tang’s argument that he was entitled to an anticipated future profit that could amount to RM40 million.

Instead, the court only awarded RM500,000 to Tang for cost and damages incurred.

In 2007, the Penang High Court had directed the state government to pay Tang compensation totalling RM29.4 million – the highest in the state’s history.

Following the appellate court’s decision, the state BN last week called on Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s administration to withdraw its White Paper on the land matter.

BN also demanded that Lim’s government publicly apologise for all disparaging verbal attacks made on the previous administration.

However, KMPP blamed the previous government for causing the fiasco due to its own mismanagement.

Rahmad raised questions on why relevant executive councillors from the previous administration failed to attend the inquiry held by the state three-man investigating panel on the case, if they were so clean.

He reminded BN not to over-rejoice over the appellate court’s verdict given that Tang can still appeal to the highest apex court, the Federal Court, and win bigger compensation.