Khalid Samad: No violation on my part in supporting affordable homes
Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad has clarified that he was not in violation of any policy over support letters when he suggested that a mixed development project that included affordable housing units be approved for a developer, because the Kuala Lumpur land exco was not under his authority.
Khalid, who then was the federal territories minister, told Malaysiakini today that there appears to be a political agenda in the attempt to resurrect a 'non-issue' and portray him in a negative light...
Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad has clarified that he was not in violation of any policy over support letters when he suggested that a mixed development project that included affordable housing units be approved for a developer, because the Kuala Lumpur land exco was not under his authority.
Khalid, who then was the federal territories minister, told Malaysiakini today that there appears to be a political agenda in the attempt to resurrect a 'non-issue' and portray him in a negative light.
"I did support the idea for a lot of affordable homes. The idea was that within the five years the proposal was to use this land and deliver at least 50 percent affordable homes. The total, in this case, was 54 percent.
"This was in line with the vision of the FT Ministry. The company in question had originally been awarded the use of the land in 2017, but then it was cancelled. When I looked at the DBKL proposal to develop it into a nursery, I thought that affordable homes were needed more," Khalid said.
He stressed that he did not violate any policy as claimed by a news portal because he did not have any authority over the Federal Territories Lands and Mines Office Exco that was making the decision.
"I think there is possibly some political agenda in this issue. I was not writing to a subordinate. There is a clear difference as the chairperson of the land exco does not report to me.
"I myself am not part of the land exco and the exco is not under my authority. It is therefore appropriate for me to provide views on this development proposal in writing.
"The land exco that will consider the application was also not under my jurisdiction as the federal territories minister as it was directly under the chief secretary to the government. And it is not possible for a minister to direct the chief secretary who reports to the prime minister.
"The regular application has to go through the usual process and adhere to conditions and costs imposed. I only supported this application for the sake of the project I wanted to implement," Khalid said.
Project approval revoked in November 2018
This came after news portal Malaysia Now ran a story saying Khalid had backed the developer's bid to obtain approval for the transfer of a plot of land in November 2019.
Khalid was said to have left a handwritten note on the appeal letter by the developer, after the project approval was revoked in November 2018, one year after it received the green light from the Federal Territories Lands and Mines Office.
The developer then decided to write an appeal directly to Khalid in December 2018.
Khalid also said he was not aware of the detailed ownership of the company - Saujana Beringin - as reported by another news portal.
"Well, they are saying that the company filings show that Mohamed Nazim Razak, a brother of (former prime minister) Najib Abdul Razak surfaced in the company on March 30, 2021.
"First, it means that he wasn't around at the time when I was a minister. Second, we supported the idea of affordable homes but did not involve ourselves in looking into it in detail.
"That would be the job of the land exco who makes the decision," Khalid added.
