Not all ex-servicemen will get lot in resettlement village — SRVA sec-gen

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KUCHING: It will not be right to assume that all ex-servicemen will certainly get a lot in the proposed Rangers Village in Sempadi.

Sarawak Rangers Veterans Association (SRVA) secretary general Capt Mohd Johari Ibrahim revealed this to The Borneo Post here yesterday to quell claims by some individuals, for whatever reasons, that every ex-soldier would get a piece of land there.

He said as far as the association was concerned they had never given and would not give such promise.

“What I can say is that anyone can apply but whether they are successful or otherwise it is for the panel members to determine later on and that of course will be based on certain criteria which are now still being worked out.

“Naturally, in the distribution of the land lots, priority will be given to those who are landless, less fortunate and economically unsound. This is our main idea when requesting the land from the government in the first place,” he stated.

However, he said, it would not be practical to move veterans all the way from the interior areas in the other divisions to Sempadi because doing so would put them in a tight spot instead of improving their livelihood.

As such, he said, the piece of land would be suitable and practical only for those residing in Kuching and Samarahan divisions.

Contrary to what some believed, Johari said not all the 3,000 acres of land would be divided among the eligible veterans except for the resettlement site.

“What we are having in mind is to the develop part of the land for agriculture on a joint venture basis with the private sector and the revenue from there later on will go back to the association.

“This way the association will be able to generate some income so as to be in better position in looking after the welfare of its members. At the same time we will also help create job opportunities to address unemployment among our veterans,” said Johari.

He said with the land promised by the state government, SRVA hoped to address the three major predicaments afflicting ex-soldiers – landlessness, homelessness and economic uncertainties.

“That is why we want to be very careful when receiving the land from the state government. We don’t want it to be a failure because if we fail we will disappoint the government,” he emphasised.

Earlier, he said SRVA would make sure that the selection of applicants for the resettlement scheme is conducted in a transparent manner and that only those meeting the criteria will be selected.

“As much as we can, we will make the selection a fair process without looking at the ranks, religious and racial backgrounds of the applicants. We want to treat everyone the same without any discrimination.”