KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 — Deputy Defence Minister Liew Chin Tong said today he welcomed Putrajaya’s move to halt the practice of land sales for development funding.

Liew said he learned that academics have made the land swap deal involving the Tebrau Army Camp as a reference to students for bad negotiations.

He made the assertion after a visit to the Armed Forces camp in Tebrau, Johor, earlier today.

The camp is in poor condition due to lack of funding since the previous administration had yet to determine if it should be vacated to the Skudai camp.

"The purpose of my visit is to understand the conditions of the Tebrau Camp, which lacks funds for maintenance as there is no clear direction whether the camp should be vacated for the proposed Skudai Camp or not,” the DAP senator said in a posting on Facebook.

Work for the Skudai Army Camp started in the 1990s and was scheduled to be completed in the early 2000s.

"In general land swap is very problematic as a way to finance development. The government is often shortchanged by collusion between politicians and parties with vested interest,” he wrote.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said land sales as a means to finance development will be decoupled as part of policies announced under Budget 2019.