“It is the
illegal land clearing that has been giving a big problem to the State”.
NOTA
EDITOR
Berikut
ialah kenyataan media oleh Menteri Besar Dato’ Sri DiRaja Adnan Yaakob, sebagai
reaksi kepada laporan berita oleh New Straits Times (NST) keluaran Jumaat, 14
November, tulisan Encik Haris Hussain di bawah tajuk ‘How the highlands lost to
a letter...’
WHERE HAVE THE FOREIGN ILLEGAL WORKERS GONE?... As raids been mounted by the law enforcers, this machine is left idle so is this piece of land meant to grow vegetables on it.
Alamaya, INDERA
MAHKOTA 5, KUANTAN
– “As in my press conference last week
that sparked off controversy between me and Utusan Melayu, I again welcome any
fair reporting on any subject matter in Pahang as it is the policy of the State
Government to be open and transparent and be receptive to fair criticism.
“I strongly
welcome any constructive criticism that can help the state to improve and
enhance the efficiency of its government machinery.
“With regard to
the development in Cameron Highlands, the State has never experienced any
critical problem relating to planned development.
“Planned
development refers to those schemes or projects – whether government or
private, which are approved by the relevant authorities, the highest being the
State Authority (the State Executive Council) based upon detailed study by the
various technical committees.
“It is the
illegal land clearing that has been giving a big problem to the State. The
illegally land clearing relates to illegal cultivation. The illegal cultivation
has become more rampant due to the availability of cheap foreign labour.
THE STATE
GOVERNMENT LACKS MANPOWER AND FACILITIES
“The State has
no means to curb this widespread illegal cultivation as it lacks manpower and
facilities to do so. Moreover, the operation involves security matters by
nature.
“The root cause
of the destruction of Cameron Highlands is the illegal land cultivation
supported by the easily available foreign workers both legal and illegal. You
cut this cord (that is the influx of foreign workers), you (will get to) solve
much of the problem.
“With the recent
adoption of the concerted effort approach by the Federal Government, this
problem of illegal cultivation can hopefully be effectively addressed and
possibly solved.
“Based on the
Immigration Department records, there are 11,016 legal immigrants in Cameron
Highlands. The operation to nab the illegal immigrants so far has netted only
190 illegal immigrants. The figure of 30,000 illegal immigrants might have been
excessively bloated.
“I need to
clarify on the report saying that the root cause of the so-called problem in
Cameron Highlands is the involvement of ‘yellow letters’ from the Palace
Officials. This is not true and not fair to these officials.
… IN THE END,
THE STATE AUTHORITY DECIDES
“The real
scenario is this. Its only normal for many applicants to get testimonials and
recommendations from whom they think they can lend some form of support to
their applications.
“The Palace
Officials are merely doing their duty just like a State Assemblyman, a Penghulu
or a Village Head. As the Menteri Besar I can assure, all decisions made by the
State Authority are based on merit, justice and fairplay.
“Testimonials
and recommendations from all including Palace Officials, are looked into but in
the end, the State Authority will decide based on merits and reasonableness.
“I welcome NST’s
Haris Hussain suggestion that we need to have an Auditing System whereby we
need to tally the development of land against what are set in the development
plan.
“All this while,
we have the local plans in every District Council in which areas of land uses
by category in every District Council are identified and marked. All
development programs need to tally with the said Local Plans.
THANKING THE
PRESS
“Perhaps, with
the Auditing System as suggested, we can improve further.
“I must thank
the Press for highlighting the problem in Cemeron Highlands. The positive and
constructive ideas expressed by the Press can be inputs for us to improve and
enhance further our service to the people”. – Khabar
