Settlers in Kampung Serampang Indah - better known as Kampung Gatco - near Jempol, Negeri Sembilan have lodged a police report against the Pakatan Harapan state government, claiming there were conflicting statements on a land offer deal were made by state executive councillor (exco) for Health, Environment, Cooperatives, and Consumerism S Veerapan.
On Oct 14, the Gatco settlers were informed via a post on Veerapan’s Facebook page that all Gatco settlers will be asked to take up an offer guaranteeing 4 acres of land, contrary to what was initially promised - which they are claiming was a form of intimidation.
“This police report was made to ensure our interests and rights to acquire at least 6 to 8 acres were not jeopardised by these statements,” said the group in a statement yesterday.
However, Veerapan told Malaysiakini that the police report was baseless and defamatory, saying that the disputed land was auctioned off and transferred to a third party years before 2018 when Harapan took over the state government.
Statement may jeopardise deal, claim settlers
Gatco Settlers Action committee secretary John Cantius Francis told Malaysiakini that the aim of the police report was to warrant an investigation into whether the Lotus Group (which owns Thamarai Holdings Sdn Bhd) had allocated additional land to the state government.
He claimed that prior to the Rantau election, former menteri besar Mohamad Hasan had called the group on March 7, 2019 to inform them that the state government was in talks with Lotus on acquiring more land for the group’s situation.
John added that at a later date, Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly deputy speaker Ravi Munusamy informed the group that the state government had successfully acquired the aforementioned land.
However, the settlers now fear that Veerapan’s statement on social media may jeopardise the land offer deal.
“They should let us know through (a) notice - not through some political leaders on Facebook. That is not the proper way.
“The government… before this, they called the settlers (to discuss the matter). Why don’t they call us to the office and discuss what the problem is. What is the matter? How (can the issue) be settled? I feel something is going wrong somewhere.
“So, I want the police to at least investigate if Lotus has given extra land to the government. Why is the government not giving (it to) us? What are they going to do with the land? That is my question,” said John.
The police report was lodged by the Gatco settlers at the Seremban police station yesterday, with a fifty-strong crowd showing up in support of the cause.
The group said that they felt cheated by the three elected reps involved - Veerapan, Ravi and Seremban Jaya assemblyperson P Gunasekaran.
He noted that when Lotus had initially bought over the disputed land, Lotus had agreed in a sales and purchase agreement to provide 6 to 8 acres to the original settlers.
“They (the Harapan-led state government) should consider this matter for the good of the settlers,” said John.
Gatco stands for The Great Alonioners Trading Corporation Bhd, a company incorporated in 1977 by the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) to facilitate a land development scheme for its members.
The settlement originally covered 4,700 acres of land and was awarded by the Negeri Sembilan state government after a deal between NUPW general secretary PP Narayanan and Isa Samad, who was chief minister of the state then.
NUPW mobilised its members from all over the country with each settler having to pay RM7,600 to participate in this scheme. Each family was provided with one acre of land for housing, ten acres for planting sugar cane, and was given a 66-year lease.
Out of the total 430 settlers who moved into Kampung Gatco, 280 were Indians, 120 Malays, and 30 Chinese. It is a rural location, just 60km south of the Pahang border. The nearest town is Bahau, which is 40km away.
However, continuous mismanagement plunged Gatco into debt and it was declared bankrupt in 1983. Gatco failed to settle its loans with the Bank of Commerce (now called CIMB) and the land was subsequently surrendered to Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad (Danaharta) before liquidators Singam and Yong took over in 1996.
In 2015, it was reported that 170 villagers had received land titles from Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan after the state government managed to “convince” Thamarai to give 1,186 acres to the Kampung Gatco folk.
Each villager received 4 acres of land, half of what they were initially promised by Gatco.
More than a hundred other villagers had refused to accept the offer.
Veerapan’s rebuttal on Gatco report
When contacted by Malaysiakini, Veerapan said the police report lodged by the settlers was baseless and defamatory, with “bad motives to tarnish the Harapan state government.”
He explained that the disputed land was auctioned off and transferred to a third party years before Harapan took over the state government in 2018 and that settlers had lost previous suits filed on the matter.
Veerapan said the third party - who bought said land lawfully via auction - had donated approximately 1,206 acres to the then-state government with the good intention of having it distributed fairly and equally to those eligible.
“When Harapan came into power in 2018, we called for the Gatco files and did extensive research and fully studied the facts and evaluated the documents and evidence.
“We then came to know that the land has been purchased lawfully via public auction by a third party and the said land was duly transferred to them.
“The third party has also paid the full purchase price to the liquidator concern,” he said, adding that this meant the third party was now the “absolute owner of the land”.
Veerapan remarked that the state government has no power to cancel the said transfer of land, given the third party’s lawful purchase and that no court order to that effect had been served to the state government.
“Let’s say we (do) try to cancel it - what happens then? It then amounts to an abuse of power,” he said.
Additionally, Veerapan disputed alleged promises he had made to the settlers.
“There were also false allegations or statements that have been made by these settlers in their media statement and police report that I have promised to give them 8 acres of land which is not within my knowledge.
“In fact during the exco meeting, we endorsed or approved to alienate 4 acres for original settlers and 2 acres for the buyers with various other terms of offers including replanting.”
The state exco said that out of the 1,206 acres donated to the state government, only 177 original settlers and buyers have accepted the offer of receiving 4 acres and 2 acres respectively.
“According to our PKNS, the remaining acreage that is available as of now is 352 acres only,” he said.
Veerapan added that the group’s allegations that the state exco had threatened them to accept the offer are “totally ridiculous and an unbecoming statement”.
He remarked that it is an offer made with good intentions, whereby they are under no obligation to accept the offer.
“How could one classify (that) as threatening statements?” he said. - Mkini
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