‘Give me back my land’
By Joseph Tawie, FMT
KUCHING: A housewife here is demanding that the state government return a piece of land which it had clamped in 1999, under Section 47, purportedly for construction of a school.
Shuriyanna Ahmad is not alone. Scores of other natives living a stone’s throw from the present State Legislative Assembly building have also suffered the same fate.
The government had in 1999 issued a Section 47 notification on their lands. At the time they said the land may be acquired for the construction of a secondary school.
“But until now, the government has not decided whether to develop the land or not. It has deprived us of doing something economically to our land.
“We want our land back so that we can do something useful to the land. For me, I want to build a house on that piece of land which is about 0.8 acre,” she said.
Having patiently waited 13 years, Shuriyanna has now decided to take legal action and seek the assistance of Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen.
Chong, who is also state DAP secretary, told reporters today that he had written a letter to the Land and Survey Department, State Planning and Resource Management Minister Awang Tengah Ali Hassan and Chief Minister Taib Mahmud requesting the Section 47 notification to be lifted.
He said if the government decided to acquire the land for development, then the state authorties must pay the landowners the market price of the land at the time the Section 47 notification was imposed on the property. In this case it was in 1999.
“This is highly unfair to her. For the last 13 years, the land prices in Kuching have gone up by leaps and bounds.
“Some prices of land have even doubled.
“And yet because of the (present) law (land code) the government is taking advantage and victimising the landowners,” he said.
Inadequate compensation
Recalling a statement made by Awang in 2007, Chong said Awang Tengah had indicated that the government would review the need to acquire lands that came under Section 47 every two years.
“Until today there is no review, and nothing has been done. Shuriyanna’s land is still subject to Section 47 and so are the lands nearby,” he said, adding that some 60 acres of land are involved.
Chong, who is also the Bandar Kuching MP, said that the problem facing the landowners is that they cannot do anything to the land after the imposition of Section 47.
