Azmin Ali has a land scandal that affected nearly 1,000 people? What is it?

So for the past dunno how long, a CILISOS reader has been bugging us to cover a particular scandal involving Selangor Chief Minister Azmin Ali. Nah, check out his comments:

So what is this Ijok scandal thing? We decided to take a crack at it. Ijok is a constituency in Selangor, btw. The case is super complicated though we’ve tried to SOS-ify it as best we can, so get some coffee or whatever and we’ll probably need to take some breaks in between.

It goes 20 years back to 1998, when shopping malls still gave plastic bags and Selangor was under the BN government…

P/S: CILISOS reader, you owe us treatment expenses

WAY BACK in 1998, the BN Selangor Govt gave settlers some land in Ijok

First, you need to know the chronology of Chief Ministers of Selangor from 1998 before we get into the case:

It all began during Abu Hassan’s time when the BN State Govt gave land to 981 settlers for free. Eh, how nice of them! The following year, the settlers, upon suggestion by the Govt, sold their land to a private developer – Mujur Zaman Sdn. Bhd. and LBCN Development Sdn. Bhd. In return, they were promised a compensation of RM180k in cash and a house each.

At the time, Khairuddin Abu Hassan was Executive Director of the 2 companies. Does the name ring a bell? This guy happens to be a staunch supporter of Mahathir, so throughout those years, they kinda had a reputation as ‘BN cronies’. But today, you might know him as the guy who made police reports against 1MDB around the world. (Later on in 2014, Khairuddin was declared bankrupt and no longer acted as Exec Directors for both companies).

Unfortunately, the development didn’t go well, even after Khir Toyo replaced Abu Hassan as Chief Minister (CM), and in 2008, after Selangor was won by Pakatan Rakyat. Mujur Zaman and LBCN had breached their agreement in several ways: they didn’t build the houses as promised and didn’t give the settlers their compensation either. Oh.gosh.why. Ok time for a coffee break:

Then Pakatan took over Selangor and Khalid tried to get the land back for the settlers

So on 13 Mar 2008, Khalid Ibrahim under PKR took over Selangor as the new Chief Minister. Furious and disappointed over the breach, he acquired the land under the National Land Code in 2009.

BUUUUT, HE DIDN’T GET ALL OF IT.

Think of the Ijok land as divided into 3 portions – Alam Perdana, Alam Mutiara, and Alam Utama. Khalid only managed to wrest Alam Perdana.

After he won the Alam Perdana case in court, Khalid tried to go for the other two – Alam Mutiara and Alam Utama. But the developers would sooner wear tutus in public (we think) before letting the CM grab any more land. So they filed a court injunction against that, so legally he couldn’t touch Alam Mutiara and Alam Utama. Aaaand it’s time for another coffee break.

Since Khalid had acquired Alam Perdana however, the stakeholders sued the State, saying, if you acquire it, you must pay the debts that come with it. The stakeholders won that case, and therefore the State had to pay hundreds of millions of ringgit in compensation to them (one of whom is Maybank Islamic). In fact, there were several banks involved as stakeholders because they lent money out.

“We paid more than RM160 million. The takeover of land was only implemented after the compensation was paid out.” – Khalid in an interview with NST

His action sparked 30 court cases between the State, banks, developers (Mujur Zaman & LBCN) and the settlers – Everyone involved, all the stakeholders were suing left, right, centre. This whole saga put Selangor at risk of having to pay hundreds of millions.

In 2013, the developer sued the Selangor Govt, but lost the case at the High Court. They tried again at the Court of Appeal in 2014, but lost once more. Despite losing in both courts, the companies attempted one last hurrah in the Federal Court… however, before the trial began, Khalid was overthrown in the Kajang move, where Azmin Ali was elected as new CM!

By this time, the settlers were getting desperate. With Khalid no longer CM, they had to approach new powers. Subang MP R. Sivarasa was one of the people they approached, former Kuala Selangor MP Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad of PAS was another, and then they went to Amanah’s Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad.

“When Dr. Dzulkefly lost in Kuala Selangor in 2013, the settlers came to me, as the Shah Alam MP. From there, I became involved, together with Dr. Dzul, and later brought up this case with the new Menteri Besar Azmin Ali. From there, we reached a resolution that was agreeable for all parties, especially the almost 1,000 settlers involved.” – Khalid Samad, Shah Alam MP, quoted on The Malaysian Insight

Hang on to your seats coz here comes the plot twist…

Azmin Ali gave the land back to the companies?! Conspiracy!!!

Before the case went to trial in the Federal Court, Azmin Ali was alleged to have given the land back to the two companies in 2016!! 

(P/S: Curiously, we noticed that this was roughly around the same time Mahathir formed an alliance with the Opposition. As far as we know, conspiracy theorists haven’t made any link, seeing as Khairuddin (ex-Exec Director) is his best buddy.) Kenot. Cofefe plis

Recently over the CNY period, Rahman Dahlan, BN Strategic Communications (BNSC) Director brought the issue up, alleging that Azmin gave the land back to the Mujur Zaman and LBCN, and insinuating or rather questioning whether there’s kickbacks for Azmin and the Selangor Govt.

“So, if both Shao Loong [Strategic Comms Director of Selangor CM’s Office] and Suhaimi [Azmin’s political secretary] said they are BN cronies dating to the Tun Mahathir-era of the years 1998-2000, why did the Selangor government bail out the ‘BN crony’ that had failed and now allow them to win – and in fact, ‘win’ much more than the settlers?” – Eric See-To, BNSC Deputy Director, FMT

You see…

By this time, the developer came under new ownership. The original so-called crony owner (Datuk Seri Chin Chan Leong) had gone to jail for stock market fraud. And along the way, the companies had already mortgaged some of the land to cover their own debts. They sold it to another private company, Eco World Development Bhd. for RM1.18 billion in 2015. The new owners wanted to settle the case with the State.

But remember those 30 court cases that involved ALL the stakeholders (the State, banks, developers and settlers)? They were still pending, right? SOOOOO, Azmin got everyone to agree to drop all lawsuits over Alam Perdana, Alam Mutiara and Alam Utama. In exchange, the State also dropped its lawsuits against them. Everyone put their guns down. And finally, Eco World would compensate the settlers.

Finally, they settled the settlers!

Unfortunately, many of them have passed away from old age

As of 2018, Eco World has paid the settlers RM180k in cash and a house each.

As for the settlers, well, there are two sides to the coin. Some are unhappy because they feel like they’ve been shortchanged. One, Mohd Fadzil Ibrahim, explained the houses they were given now are worth RM200k, and they were originally promised 4-bedroom semi-detached houses. In the end, the settlers were given double-storey terrace houses.

However, Omar Ali Bashah, Head of the Alam Utama Bukit Cerakah and Alam Mutiara Action Committee, who had been representing the settlers since 2013, said they were happy to achieve an out-of-court solution because most of them are seniors, aged 70 and above, and may not be able to see the houses.

“After the completion of the project, the house’s value will be at least RM450,000. It means the total money we get from the compensation and the asset is RM630,000.” – Omar Ali Bashah, quoted from The Malaysian Insight

It has been 20 years since the Ijok saga began in 1998. Out of the 981 settlers, 358 had passed away before being able to see the houses they were promised. For the most part, a lot of them are just grateful that the wait is over. But we can’t help sympathising with the lives of these settlers, who were caught up in a web of other people’s politics. Hopefully with the turn of events, the settlers will be able to find closure in the homes that are finally and truly theirs.