Never in their wildest dreams would Perak squatters have thought politicians would fight over who best serves them.

Why the state's Menteri Besar (aka Ghandi / Nelson Mandela) is even prepared to trash it out with the best in the Opposition over the issue.

zambry abdul kadir interview 200409 01 Zambry Abdul Kadir 's (left) threat came as the war of words continued between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat over who should rightfully be credited with helping squatters get land titles.

This time Zambry accused the Opposition of disrupting his government's efforts in serving the people's needs.

Both are caught in this juvenile-like tussel to chalk up credit in getting '5A' forms which enable squatters in the state to apply for land titles.

'Don't disturb us'

Zambry said "They (Pakatan) are disturbing me (in carrying out my duties to the people) but not my commitment to (serve) the people."

NONE"If they (Pakatan politicians) love the people do not disturb us (from serving their needs). If they want to act like gangsters then I shall also act like one," an angry Zambry lashed out.

He was commenting on the commotion, on Monday in the Taiping Municipal Hall, caused by Pakatan politicians including DAP Taiping MP Nga Kor Meng when BN was distributing the forms to squatters around Taiping.

A '5A' form is issued by the land office to squatters living on government land to allow them to apply for land titles once they have paid up the necessary premium and other dues.

The premium varies from RM1,000 to a few thousands more depending on the size of the land and its location.

In the Monday incident Nga had claimed that they had done all the spade work for the Aulong Baru Tambahan new village residents who had been denied land titles for the past 30 years during BN's 52-year rule of the state.

Credit hijacked accusation

He had also claimed that DAP politicians had worked hard in the past year to get them their 5A forms but BN had hijacked the credit by issuing them to the Aulong Baru Tambahan villagers and other villagers in the vicinity of Taiping town.

NONEThen, BN executive councillor Mohammad Zahir Abdul Khalid representing Zambry at the function had claimed that credit should go to BN as they had started the process of giving land titles even before the March 8 general election and are still continuing with the process.

Zambry sang the same old song that credit lies with BN and not Pakatan at a press conference held in Ipoh yesterday.

Earlier in the afternoon he had officiated a function to distribute the forms to some 840 squatters in the Kinta Valley.

In his speech, Zambry stated that there are 14,182 squatters in the state out of which 2,881 are residing in the Kinta Valley.

"We do not differentiate (in giving land titles to) the race of the applicant when giving approval. We will still approve the application whether they are Malay, Indian, Chinese or Sikh or they can be even members from the Pakatan and we will still give (the land titles)."

He said the land titles issued will be for the standard 99- year lease.

"We do not want to confuse the residents with a 99 years stretching up to 999 or even 9999 like what Pakatan proposed," he said sarcastically.

He added that land titles will be distributed district by district and, hopefully, the state will be squatter free by 2010.

When asked about the possibiliy of new squatters cropping up in the vacated land, he replied that they will not be recognised however the 14,182 squatters identified by the BN government will be recognised.

He said the government will find ways to reduce the current high land premium rates to ease the squatters' financial burden.