Illegal settlements: Land owners need to take responsibility

SEREMBAN: Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun today stressed that private land owners need to be responsible and pay attention to what happens in their respective areas.

He said following the case of the Negeri Sembilan Immigration Department (JIMNS) raid on an illegal settlement in Nilai Spring recently, the land owner should not use the excuse of ignorance about what happened.

“We need to be responsible and cannot let property or land to be used by other parties on the grounds that we do not know when the matter should have been given attention.

“I am sure that the land is to be developed and they know what happened in that area, so I hope this does not happen again. The state government takes this matter seriously even though the jurisdiction lies at a higher level,“ he told reporters after chairing the weekly state executive council meeting at Wisma Negeri here.

The media previously had reported Seremban District Officer Mohd Nizam Tajul Arus as saying that the illegal settlement occupied by illegal immigrants raided by JIMNS in Nilai Spring, Nilai was built on privately owned land and that the owner may not be aware of it.

On another development, Aminuddin said the state government was leaving it to the authorities to carry out investigations into allegations of misconduct and corruption in the Negeri Sembilan Islamic Religious Council (MAINS).

He said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the police are still investigating the matter.

“Now it is still under investigation, if it is true, take action, if not ( no misconduct and corruption) inform the public on what actually happened.

“Let’s wait for the outcome…I don’t know what actually happened because I’m no longer in MAINS, so I don’t know much about it,“ he said.

Before this, a message went viral on the Telegram application about a report of breach of trust involving zakat (tithe) collections allegedly committed by certain officials of the department. – Bernama