Land deals...

Land is scarce on Penang Island, and it's a finite resource in Seberang Prai.

Land is also the source of improprieties and bad governance in the state.

The two-week old new state government has just uncovered severe land improprieties that happened during the previous state administration.under Koh Tsu Koon.

The dubious land deals will pose a huge contingent liability for the state. In layman's terms, the land frauds will cost tens of millions of ringgit in losses for Penang through defeats in the high courts.

Sorry, we can't give further details due to legal restrictions, but what we have discovered may only be the tip of the iceberg.

In the interim, we have formed a three-member panel headed by deputy chief minister I Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, deputy CM II Dr P. Ramasamy and exco member Phee Boon Poh to investigate the cases. The panel will start investigations this Monday-week.

The Yang di-Pertua Negri, Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas, was informed of preliminary findings last week.

No land deals for DAP reps

Meanwhile, it was decided at a meeting of all DAP elected state representatives yesterday that all DAP MPs and state assemblymen are banned from applying for land in Penang.

With that decision, any DAP MP or assemblymen who applies for state land will be breeching party discipline and action will be taken against him or her.

We are hopeful that PKR and PAS elected representatives in Penang would also adopt similar practice.

Previously, the Land Committee (LandCom) of the state government was chaired by Umno though it had a Gerakan-nominated Chief Minister.

Under the current DAP-PKR coalition state government, land matters and land development are now placed under the portfolio of the new Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng.

As for the current-term Barisan Nasional representatives -- all of them from Umno -- they could apply for land but the final approval rested with the state government.

It must be made known that we are proposing to place all future alienation of land under public auction and not through closed door deals.

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