Minister rues past Mindef land swaps to ‘ensure GE wins’
Four such deals were specifically made to help politicians win elections.
(Mkini) – Following his revelation that his ministry had lost some half a billion ringgit from “land swap deals” over the years, Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu now says four such deals were specifically made to help politicians win elections.
Speaking to The Star, Mohamad, popularly referred to as Mat Sabu, said the four deals involved land being swapped to build army bases in Hutang Melintang (Perak), Segamat (Johor), Paloh (Johor) and Bera (Pahang).
These projects went ahead despite opposition from the Armed Forces, he claimed.
“The army bases were set up to move army personnel voters.
“The Armed Forces had said there was no need for army bases in those four places, but Mindef ignored these protests and went ahead, essentially to ensure a vote bank so that certain politicians could continue to win their parliamentary constituencies in the past general elections,” Mohamad was reported as saying.
“We are not against land swaps in Mindef as sometimes that is a wise decision because prime land can be exchanged for better housing land elsewhere, on which we can build better facilities for our army personnel.
“However, these land swaps that we complained about are the ones politicians profited from by moving army personnel for their own gain, despite opposition from the army itself,” Mohamad added.
