Behind the Pengerang land grab: WHY S'gor PR said NO but Johor BN said YES

Malaysia Chronicle
Written by Victor Lim
Friday, 05 October 2012 08:31

Malaysians are so informed and familiar with the land grabs in Sarawak and its Taib Mahmud.

However, land grabs have also been taking place in Johor for decades and it is ongoing. Only, now it has become more blatant.

The BN government would abuse, exploit and use the Land Acquisition Act 1960 to freeze the prices of parcels of land eyed by its well-connected cronies to facilitate the gazetting of acquisitions. The prices are always very much below market value.

The latest land grab in peninsular Malaysia is in the form of the RM60 billion Petronas Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) mega project.

The approval of Rapid is not only a front to grab land belonging to poor villagers, it is also a dirty political ploy to falsely give the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) a boost.

The BN is using the Land Acquisition Act to force sell 22,500 acres, belonging to thousands of poor villagers, at dirt cheap prices.

Why so massive

In the first place, why does Rapid need such a ridiculously massive 22,500 acres?

Also, in relocating the people of the 17 affected villages, the villagers or land owners were offered an average of RM2.80 per sq foot (psf) for their land.

According to property surveyors, the land is worth between RM12 and RM15 psf! If this is not a land grab, what is?

Why is the BN government so eager and fond of welcoming foreign investors that even their countries of origin have rejected and don’t want to have anything to do with them.

The Australian government don’t want Lynas, and no thanks to BN, it is now in Pahang, the home state of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.


Rolling out the red carpet for ANOTHER 'dirty' industry

The Taiwan government has refused to extend the tenure of its state-owned China Petroleum Company (CPC)’s refinery and petrochemical facilities.

Again, no thanks to the BN, we welcome CPC with open arms in the form of Rapid.

CPC had initially approached the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government for approval to invest and set up a petrochemical complex in Malaysia, specifically in Selangor.

This was initiated by Everwish Sdn Bhd (a subsidiary of Rimbunan Hijau Group Of Companies) with a presentation to the Selangor government.

Everwish submitted that a Joint Venture Company (JVC) would be set up with two other foreign national oil companies for the project and that state/federal government agencies are welcome to participate in the investment.

The estimated cost of the refinery and petrochemical complex is about RM10 billion, and when operational, capable of producing 100,000 barrels a day.

It would require 2,889 acres in Pulau Indah.

The project would have a potential employment opportunity for 2,500 people, stimulating direct and indirect work opportunities for 2,600 and 20,000 people respectively.

Everwish claimed in its presentation that the project had a potential to accumulate foreign exchange reserves of US$4.26 billion (about RM13 billion) a year.

HOWEVER, the Selangor PR government rejected the proposed project on grounds that the project proposal:

> is in conflict with the local government’s approved plan (2002-2015) for Pulau Indah;

> will change the landscape of the approved plan, affecting Pulau Indah’s maritime industry, West Port’s agreed future development, the construction of the proposed SKVE-Pulau Indah Ring Road (PIRR), Pulau Indah’s natural forests thereby posing severe and adverse ecological impact and jeopardising the regulated coastal buffer zone;

> is a high risk industry jeopardising public safety and health; and

> involving the processing of imported crude oil for export will not have high add value to Malaysia’s technology but instead pose high risks to public safety and health. The industry’s extremely high water consumption will also be a serious strain on the water needs of other existing industries and domestic consumers.

But greedy Johor BN said YES

The Selangor government rejected the proposed project in February 2011 and the Taiwanese then sold their proposal to and accepted by the Johor BN government and Petronas.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak then announced Rapid on May 13, 2011, barely three months after Selangor’s rejection! Do you believe all the socio-economic and environmental impact assessments have been conducted before making such an approval for a mega project?

Unlike the caring Selangor government, the Johor BN government approved the project without giving an iota of consideration for the misery of the affected rakyat and the wanton wastage of existing infrastructure and property. Rapid will wipe out:

> six mosques;

> 11 surau;

> Nine non-Muslim religious btructures;

> Five SKs national schools;

> Five Islamic religious schools;

> Three SJKCs (Chinese national type schools);

> Three government quarters;

> Three rural clinics;

> Two police stations;

> 11 Muslim cemeteries;

> Seven non-Muslim cemeteries; and

> Nine community halls.

The BN is also deceiving the rakyat by claiming that Rapid will benefit Pengerang residents when it is only benefiting BN-Umno cronies like:

> Dialog Group Bhd;


> Tebrau Teguh Bhd;

> Johor Mentri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman’s cronies;

> Housing developers who are also BN-Umno cronies;

> Foreign construction workers; and

> Highly-skilled workers outside Pengerang.

Rapid is also expected to release toxic materials to the environment thereby posing a serious public health hazard causing diseases such as:

> Nasal cancer resulting from inhaling toxic gases daily;

> Colon cancer from consumption of food produced from contaminated land;

> Blood cancer due to constant exposure to radiation; and

> Asthma due to fumes from the oil refinery.

Nightmare only starting

All the facts point to greed, and to ensure BN-Umno cronies benefit from Rapid, the Land Acquisition Act 1960 is invoked to ensure the land bank is expanded cheaply. The prices of such land are frozen for two years to facilitate the gazetting of the acquisition.

At this point of time, some affected villagers have been told to evict without any alternative housing while waiting for their compensation and new houses.

This is only the beginning of a nightmare for those to be uprooted by Rapid.

Under Phase 1, 292 land owners and their families, and 500 other displaced families are to be evicted. The Johor government must come clean with their compensation plans for those affected and the number of phases to displace human settlements.

Wiping out human settlements, uprooting people’s livihood and destroying the eco-socio environment of Pengerang is surely not caring.

Is it worth the development and investments?

MAILBAG