SHAH ALAM, 17 Sept: Since 2008, the Selangor Government has been closely monitoring Malay reserve land that not only involves land area, but also location, type of land use and value of the land in accordance with the current market price.

The Press Secretary’s Office of the Chief Minister, in a statement, said that Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, after becoming the Chief Minister in March 2008, set a policy that all Malay reserve land taken for development needs to be replaced according to the area of the land taken and the value of the land at the current market rate.

He said that the Selangor Land and Mines Office also audited Malay reserve land according to district to identify the actual area because some land are of unknown status.

According to the latest statistics released by the Selangor Land and Mines Officer, the total area of Malay reserve land in the state is 426,334.501 acres or 170,533 hectares.

According to district, Sabak Bernam has 13 Malay reserve land with an area of 191,419.004 acres; Kuala Selangor 57,779.831 acres (66 Malay reserve land); Klang 19,913.801 acres (14); Gombak 11,543.458 acres (19); Petaling 2,776.141 acres (7); Hulu Langat 33,473.474 acres (15); Kuala Langat 45,272.742 acres (14); Sepang 24,802.360 acres (16) and Hulu Selangor 39,353.690 acres (29).

Based on a Special Report by Utusan Malaysia today on Malay reserve land, it can be deduced that the area of Malay reserve land in Selangor has increased to twice from 51,083.50 hectares in 2009 to 170,533 hectares in 2014.

The increase proves that the Selangor Government, since 2008 has taken proactive measures to increase the size of Malay reserve land.

By making it compulsory for Malay reserve land taken for development to be replaced according to area and current prices, and also for it to be compulsory to identify the actual area.

It is also by preventing efforts by any party, including politicians, to sell Malay reserve land in addition to preventing trespassing through enforcement by the relevant authorities.

Commenting on this, Abdul Khalid said that prior to 2008, the State Government did not know the location and actual area of the reserve land, but now, the State Government has complete information.

“We also have a special team to monitor reserve land and will continue efforts to care for this land well,” said Abdul Khalid.

NS