Perak cancels land approval given to BN component party

(The Malaysian Insider) IPOH, April 17 ─ The Perak government yesterday cancelled a land application approval given by the previous administration to a Barisan Nasional component party.
Menteri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin said the decision was made as the state government felt there were elements of abuse in the approval of the prime land.
According to him, a soy factory operator, who had been occupying the 0.92ha plot in Pasir Pinji, Ipoh, since 1953, had applied for the land a long time ago.
"The operator has been occupying the land since before independence. But a political party, which applied for the land only recently, was given the approval," he told a news conference after chairing the weekly Executive Council meeting yesterday.
He said the state government would ask the factory operator to re-submit a fresh application to the Land and Mines Department.
Nizar said the meeting also approved a land tax of RM1 a year to be imposed on about 100 private schools, religious schools, national-type primary and secondary schools in the state.
Nizar also said the state government would submit an official application to the RTM requesting an hour of airtime on Perak FM radio.
"We humbly request to be given an hour for us to convey the state government's plans for the people," he said.
He said the state government would also request that the federal government continue with the mega projects planned for implementation in Perak as stopping them would scare away investors.
Nizar said he would meet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Putrajaya tomorrow to convey the state government's assurance that it would implement federal government policies which are beneficial to the people. ─ Bernama