Nizar, who is currently the state investment, industry and regional development committee chairman, said it was done based on advice from legal experts.
“It was part of the Pakatan Rakyat manifesto at that time and I was only able to issue 11 permanent land titles for the village in question and it happened at the end of my tenure.
“But I do not know what the land ownership status of the village is after the new government took over. But that’s what I did 10 years ago,” he said at a programme today.
Yesterday, Perak DAP chairman Nga Kor Ming urged the state government to grant permanent ownership to new villages, saying it was part of Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto.
According to Nga, land matters were under state jurisdiction and not the National Land Council (MTN).
On Monday, Perak Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu said the state government could not grant permanent ownership to new villages because it contradicted the Federal Constitution.
He said the MTN meeting on Apr 25, 1997, stipulated that the lease period for the new villages should be at least 60 years but not exceeding 99 years.
According to Nizar, during his 11-month tenure as menteri besar, the permanent land ownership rights policy was provided to organised villages, new villages and Orang Asli villages.
“Most involved the organised village, namely, 380 villages, involving 112,000 ownerships but I was only in time to give approval to the 11 residents in the new village in Gerik,” he said.
Nizar said the matter involving the land ownership would be better directed to Ahmad Faizal and Nga, who is also the Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker.
“The best thing is to wait for the menteri besar to come back from Shanghai and you can all ask about this,” he said.
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