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The making of a hero out of our own stupidity

By Mohd Arshad Raji
September 5, 2011

I received this distressing email from a colleague regarding the death of Bernama’s cameraman Noramfaizul Mohd Nor who was shot while on UMNO Putra’s humanitarian mission in famine stricken Somalia. For those Malaysian soldiers that had served Somalia during the troubled period of the early 90’s would know the dangers fronting them, and UMNO Putra’s humanitarian mission in that god forsaken failed state is to my mind a total waste of time and effort. Noramfaizul’s death was in vain and there is no denying this, and to declare Noramfaizul’s a hero now is the making of UMNO Putra’s own stupidity. Continue reading “The making of a hero out of our own stupidity”

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No MRT land return guarantee shows bad faith, says DAP

By Yow Hong Chieh
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 07, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — DAP has accused Putrajaya of bad faith for not guaranteeing the return of land acquired for the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) project even while admitting that the wholesale acquisition was done for the sake of convenience.

DAP publicity chief Tony Pua said expediency was no reason to abuse the law and jeopardise landowners’ rights, particularly since the National Land Code 1965 had been amended in 1990 to allow underground land to be acquired without affecting surface property.

The “convoluted” explanation from the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) yesterday justifying the government’s decision to acquire land in toto in spite of these existing legal provisions showed that acquisition was little more than a land grab, he alleged.

“All the various untenable excuses being raised leads only to a single possible conclusion — the land acquisition exercises proposed in Chinatown, Bukit Bintang and other prime locations are nothing but poorly masked attempts at profiteering and land grab,” Pua said in a statement today.

“They are in breach of the spirit of the Land Acquisition Act 1960 where the government is only to acquire private land, and only that which is necessary for public use and benefit, and not for profit.” Continue reading “No MRT land return guarantee shows bad faith, says DAP”

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Setting the record straight on land acquisition for the MY Rapid Transit project

— Mohd Nur Kamal
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 06, 2011

SEPT 6 — The Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD) would like to refer to the various reports, opinions and views which have been published and aired recently concerning land acquisition for the MY Rapid Transit project. We are concerned that some of these views are being put forth based on inaccurate, incomplete and a lack of understanding of the issues and facts.

Before acting on such views, we would like to encourage the public to examine first the intentions of the parties in making misleading views as they may be designed to confuse and aggravate the situation or incite fear among those whose land are affected by the project.

We hope to set the record straight on matters concerning land acquisition. At the same time, we wish to clarify the many inaccurate interpretations that have emerged concerning the solution for the property owners along Jalan Sultan in Kuala Lumpur. Continue reading “Setting the record straight on land acquisition for the MY Rapid Transit project”