IPOH, April 12 — The Perak government, through the Lands and Mines Office (PTG), always takes steps to rectify weaknesses and improve on recommendations provided by the National Audit Department regarding the issue of Malay reserve land in the state.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad said the issue received attention as the ownership of some land was found to have changed while the status of Malay reserve land remained unchanged.
“This is a long-standing issue, even in cases that have happened for a reason, for example when a Bumiputera company is sold to a non-Bumiputera (for development), they are entitled to the ownership of the company’s property.
“The Malay reserve land will still retain its status even if it is owned by non-Malays, so there is no issue of PTG needing to return the Malay reserve land because the land has not changed in status at all,” he said after a ceremony to hand over 11,000 state government food packs to the uniformed bodies at the Perak Darul Ridzuan Building, here, today.
Earlier, it was reported that the Malaysian International Humanitarian Organisation (MHO) sent a memorandum urging the National Audit Department to give recommendations to the PTG of Perak to return Malay reserve land.
Elaborating, Saarani said that PTG had continuously taken initiatives to improve the Malay reserve land empowerment policy in the state of Perak and even tried to increase the percentage of Malay reserve land.
“If a Structured Village Planning (RPT) is approved, then we register it as Malay reserve land, if there is a group agricultural plan, we also place it under the Malay reserve land including areas also owned by the Perak Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIPk) which we categorise as Malay reserve land,” he said. — Bernama
