Media Statement by Yeo Bee Yin, ADUN for Damansara Utama on
Friday 29 September 2017 in Petaling Jaya.
MCA Land Grab in
Petaling Jaya (PJ) and Its Perverted Definition on “Public Service”
Since our exposé on MCA land grab in Petaling Jaya on 14
September, three MCA leaders - MCA Selangor vice-chairperson Tang Chong Sang,
former Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara (PJU) Chew Mei Fun and the
now MCA PJU division chief Tan Gim Tuan, has come forward to justify the 1 acre
land grab in PJ at RM1 per sq ft on the ground that MCA will use it for “public
service”.
The question is, if MCA really intended the land for
"public service", there's absolutely no need for MCA to
"own" the land. If fact, if it is for public service, the land should
be owned by the state government.
The question Malaysians would like to ask MCA is, what
guarantee can they provide that the piece of land will be used for public
service?
In fact, why is it that MCA is now in applying for the land
to be rezoned and converted from “water body” to “commercial" land?
Unfortunately, MCA's promises have little credibility based
on its track record. As DAP exposed in 2012, just like the piece of land in
Petaling Jaya, MCA also acquired another piece of 641 square metres piece of
land, also by the river, in Kajang for RM1psf, purportedly to build a hall for
public use. However, instead of a public hall, they built a 4-storey building
to house the MCA Hulu Langat Division offices[1].
Hence, if MCA is indeed sincere about "public
service", they should return the
land to the state government. Or if they still want to keep the land, then they
should pay market rates for the land. With that only MCA can truly claim that
they are sincere in offering " public services". Otherwise MCA is just abusing state assets
and pretend that they are offering whatever public services they want to offer.
When Tony Pua and I first exposed the land grab story, I
thought MCA would find ways to deny it or express regret and remorse. However
,we are appalled to see MCA leaders, especially Chew Mei Fun, unashamedly
justifiying it on the ground of “public service”.
As the then MP for PJU, did Chew Mei Fun really think it was
not wrong for MCA to grab the land that was supposed to belong to people in her
own constituency? We want to ask the current MCA Vice-President, is it ethical
for any political party to do so?
Chew Mei Fun has threatened me with a defamation suit with a
letter from her lawyer. I'm fully prepared to face her suit in court to hear
how she could justify to both the judge and the Malaysian public that such a
land grab exercise by MCA isn't a betrayal to her voters.
We continue to maintain the view that any elected
representative, no matter which party they are from, should not cohort with its
own party to grab land from the people. This is a serious breach of trust of
people who have voted for them.
If Chew Mei Fun and other MCA leaders really think such land
grabs are not wrong, then we would like to challenge them to put such view on
their manifesto if they are contesting in the coming general election.
We shall let the voters in those constituencies, who they
seek to represent, to decide if such perverted ethics are acceptable.
