(Petaling Jaya, Monday): Lim Ba Lee of Ulu Yam new village (near Kuala Kubu Bahru, in the district of Ulu Selangor) was shocked to learn that the man who offered assistance to obtain a title for her plot of land given to her by the Selangor state government many years ago turns out to be the new owner of the plot.

This man is none other than the former village head, Tan Kim Peng. Tan happens to be a special aide to Selangor State Exco member Ch'ng Toh Eng. He is also a district councilor representing MCA in Ulu Selangor.

Tan's unethical act was confirmed by Tukiman Bin Nail, the acting land administrator of KKB Land Office, in a letter sent to the Menteri Besar office dated 11 July 2005. I received a copy of the letter as a complainant.

In May this year, I made a complaint on behalf of 14 families in Ulu Yam. Some of them were told that their plots were no longer in their names when they conducted a search at the KKB Land Office. But they were not told who the culprits were and how such things could happen under the nose of the officials working in the land office.

Eight plots of land were now changed hands "mysteriously". Tukiman however did not disclose in the letter under what circumstances that the land grabbers were given titles or ownerships. All of them have made police reports and some of them will be taking the matter to ACA with the help of DAP. Legal actions may also be taken against the culprits.

On the other hand, I have reasons to believe that more than 200 plots of land were robbed from the original owners in Ulu Selangor district. And most of these land grabbers were either present or former MCA local leaders such as former village heads.

We have urged Ch'ng Toh Eng and other senior MCA leaders to look into the land scam but to no avail. They must not condone such ugly, unethical and unlawful acts of their party leaders. We are wondering why Ch'ng has chosen to keep mum over the wrongful act of his special aide.

We have also alerted the Menteri Besar of Selangor Dr Mohd Khir Toyo on the matter. As the top man in the State Government as well as Barisan Nasional, he should get to the bottom of the matter and help clearing the mess created by the land office officials and his friends in the MCA.

Things may turn very ugly once the victimized original landowners start fighting physically with the land grabbers (they were all from the same village).

The Ulu Yam land scam must be viewed seriously by the State Government. I believe Khir certainly do not wish to see his rakyat fighting with each other over the same piece of land given to them by the same land office/ state government at different time. 

This is not the first case of land scams connected to MCA local politicians in Selangor. Last year, a  former village head in Kalumpang (also in Ulu Selangor) was found transferring 4 acres of rubber estate to his son. Instead of helping the villager to obtain a title, he had made use of the documents passed to him to complete the transferThe land was returned to the owner after a police report was made with the help of DAP Kerling branch leaders and DAP Selangor.

Some time in April this year, a Datuk linked was found grabbing several plots of land belong to some Indian families in Kapar. The plots were returned to the original owners thanks to the Malay Mail highlights and the intervention of the State Government. / Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew