Signature drive to push for quit rent review
26/05/2007 The Star

ALOR STAR: A special committee is targeting 100,000 signatures for a campaign against allegedly flawed quit rent calculation in Kedah.

Its chairman David Lim said the campaign was to prove that the people were not happy with mistakes made in the new quit rent review imposed last year.

“We have struggled for 18 months trying to highlight to the state government that the criteria used in the latest quit rent review (imposed on Jan 1 last year) contravened Section 101 (4) of the National Land Code,” he told a press conference at the Kedah Chinese Assembly Hall premises on Wednesday night.

Lim said among the factors that contravened the National Land Code was sub-categorising commercial land according to type of activities such as tourism and educational institutions.

“Animal farming, which was formerly under non-agriculture farming is now placed under business category. This certainly contravened the National Land Code.

“It is also not right to differentiate the height of the building when calculating quit rent. It should be based on land area and not on the number of storeys,” he said.

The committee comprises Kedah Chinese Assembly Hall, Kedah Chinese Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Central Kedah Chinese Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Kedah Indian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Kedah and Perlis Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia, Kedah and Perlis Bar Committee, and several other non-government organisations.

“We want the review to be declared null and void,” said Lim.

The committee, which had submitted two memorandums to Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid on March 20 and Aug 3 last year, will resort to a signature campaign with the hope that the authorities can rectify the mistakes.

In an immediate response, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said the authorities were willing to listen to the grouses on case-by-case basis.

“There is no need to be confrontational. We are willing to listen,” he said.