Report alleged use of gangsters by PL holders — Naroden

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THE state government has called for police reports to be filed against registered owners of provisional lease (PL) land alleged to have hired gangsters.

Assistant Minister for Resource Planning Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais said the state took seriously allegations that companies were hiring such characters to do ‘dirty’ work.

“An official report should be made to the relevant authorities for further action,” he said in reply to Ba Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian during the question and answer session of the State Legislative Assembly sitting yesterday.

He pointed out that the government could only withdraw the PL under Section 33 of the Sarawak Land Code if a company was found guilty of breaching the ‘special land use condition’.

Naroden said otherwise, the government would be bound under Section 115 of the Sarawak Land Code and had no right to withdraw or revoke the PL.

In reply to a supplementary question from Baru with regard to the financial implications if all PLs are revoked, Naroden said the government would need to pay at least RM2 billion in compensation.

He explained that the issuing of PLs generally involved land premium and land rent, with one hectare of land premium valued at RM741.

At present, PLs issued involved a total of 2.7 million hectares.

If PLs were to revoked, Naroden said it would result in unemployment among Sarawakians as well as loss of confidence among investors.

“For two million hectares, we are seeing at least 100,000 people who will be unemployed,” he said, explaining that the estimation is based on the 1:20 ratio where one worker overlooks 20 hectares of land.