See-To's case on Ijok land based on false assumption - MB's office

The Selangor Menteri Besar’s Office has slammed BN strategic communications deputy director Eric See-To for his “false” case in the Ijok land issue.

“Eric's entire case rests on a false, if not malicious, assumption. I'm sure Eric will have trouble understanding this,” Selangor Menteri Besar's Office strategic communications director Yin Shao Loong told Malaysiakini.

He was responding to See-To who today said that no one had ever accused the Selangor state government of selling landin Ijok. See-To said the question is why the land was returned to developers. 

Citing his statement made on Wednesday, Yin pointed out how the state has not surrendered its ownership of any land in Ijok area that it won through court.

“In case Eric has trouble understanding this, it means that no land has been 'returned' by the state.

“To continue his distortion of my example using the analogy of a shopping mall, 'Pavilion' (Alam Perdana) was acquired by the state (and) was never returned by the state to anyone because it is still owned by the state,” added Yin.

Yin (photo) had previously clarified that the land in Ijok was separated into two parcels of land, that are Alam Perdana, which was reacquired by the Selangor government in 2010, and Alam Mutiara and Alam Utama, which remained private land.

He had said this private land is the subject of the RM1.18 billion deal, and not Alam Perdana.

“Not all land in Ijok is in the same location. It is like if I own Pavilion (shopping centre), but people start screaming at me when KL Plaza and Sungei Wang (shopping centres) get sold,” Yin had said.

See-To, however, had questioned Yin's logic in the matter.

"Let us paraphrase him to tell you of the true situation. It's like you got Pavilion (shopping centre) from two cronies who owed the state government money and people start to scream why you returned Pavilion to the two cronies even though you had legally won it twice.

"Now, people are also screaming why your written condition of returning it is that the two cronies can only sell it to one particular buyer and that another condition is that a large part of the sales money has to be paid to certain third parties, many of whom have now been arrested by MACC."

See-To said the scandal had always been about the state government returning the Ijok land to "two crony companies" before the federal court case had even started, despite the Selangor government winning the first two cases over the ownership of the land.

"The menteri besar office's answer in saying that they did not sell any land in Ijok makes a mockery of the Harapan leaders and the menteri besar office's multiple past statements to defend the return of the Ijok land."

See-To (photo) had previously claimed that third parties received RM262.7 million from the RM1.18 billion Ijok land deal in Selangor, almost as much as settlers, who were given RM300 million. 

Yin, however, had insisted that the state government did not surrender any land in the Ijok area. 

Speaking on the matter further today, Yin believes that BN simply has “no case in Ijok”.

“They are merely desperate to drag the Pakatan government of Selangor down to their tarnished level.

“It is deeply embarrassing for Umno that settlers they had neglected for nearly 20 years had their problems resolved within two years under the Pakatan state.

“They are clearly worried that if Pakatan wins Putrajaya then Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) settlers could expect a similarly swift resolution to their problems under BN,” said Yin. - Mkini