Selangor Harapan called to intervene in village head tussle

Selangor Pakatan Harapan has been called on to intervene in a tussle between Amanah and Bersatu candidates for village head in Kampung Felda Bukit Cerakah, Kuala Selangor.

A grassroots Harapan group, who formed the village’s polling district machinery in the 14th general election, had sent a memorandum to the state coalition leadership in June seeking intervention.

In the 12-page memorandum sighted by Malaysiakini, the group said that the village head post promised to the Amanah candidate was now being given to Bersatu.

The group also alleged that Jeram assemblyperson Mohd Shaid Rosli had told Amanah members to join Bersatu if they wanted the post.

Faizal Rahman, one of the memorandum signees, claimed Shaid had agreed to appoint the village’s election machinery chief – an Amanah member – as the village head.

“However, during a meeting on May 30, the assemblyman told us that the post for village head is in the quota for Bersatu.

"He also told us that if we still want the post, we would have to join Bersatu, when he knew that our machinery was made up of Amanah members. But we told him that we will stay with Amanah.

"This is very appalling, as he had since the beginning been made aware of who we want as the village head, and he himself had expressed his support," he said, adding that the village’s election machinery was made up entirely of Amanah members.

Land issues

As Faizal explained, the individual appointed village head matters because of a long-standing struggle over land plots.

"The issue here is about the giveaway of land plots to villagers, which we had been fighting for since February.

“The village head then, who is from PAS, had a hand in distributing land plots only to PAS and Umno members, and that is why we want a new village head who supports our struggle to have it fairly distributed," he claimed.

When contacted by Malaysiakini, Shaid (photo) said that the Selangor government had reserved the post of Kampung Felda Bukit Cerakah head for Bersatu.

"Under the Jeram constituency, there are eight posts for village heads, five of which had been allocated for Amanah, while two others went to Bersatu and one for PKR.

“Those who demanded for this post in Kampung Felda Bukit Cerakah are Amanah members.

“As an assemblyperson, I can't give more to Amanah. I have given Amanah more village head posts and that should be considered as fair, as they have helped me a lot (during the GE14 campaign) and I do not deny that," he said.

On land issues raised by the group, Shaid said it was beyond his control as it comes under the purview of the Land District Office.

However, he stressed that land plots in the village no longer belonged to Felda, and had been the property of the state government since 1989, meaning that anyone could apply for the plots.

 "We will give priority to the Felda settlers there, but it is not one of the main criteria. If anyone applies for the land and gets approved, it is within their rights to develop or do whatever they want with it.

“And the approval must come from the Land District Office, not my office. What we do is we follow the rules and guidelines set by the state government and the Land District Office," he said.

Shaid said there are enough land plots for the 281 Felda settlers there to apply for, but that as an assemblyperson, he can only endorse and not approve the applications.

Malaysiakini has contacted Selangor Harapan chairperson Mohamed Azmin Ali and Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari for comments. -Mkini