It's slander! This is how Cempaka state assemblyperson Mad Aris Mad Yusof described the slew of allegations against him.

According to the veteran politician, the allegations were the work of his rivals who want to discredit him ahead of the coming general elections.

On the contrary, Mad Aris, who is also an Ampang Jaya municipal councillor, said he has contributed much to his constituency and was asked by local residents to stay on as their elected representative.

"All the developments I have brought to the constituency are for the benefit of the residents. There is no personal interest involved," the Umno leader told Malaysiakini.

"Everyone has enemies in the party. The polls are getting closer. You should go to the ground and ask the local residents and listen to their opinions about me," he added.

In the first two instalments of this three-part series, Malaysiakini highlighted the allegations raised by several residents against Mad Aris.

The residents suspect that the state assemblyperson has abused his power to alienate many reserve lands in Ampang for commercial purposes.

These include green belts, school reserves, irrigation and drainage reserves, road reserves, buffer zones and empty lands These were alleged to be leased out to his cronies and the latter have in turn re-rented it out to other companies for a higher price.

Done with approval

Mad Aris, who is in his fourth term as a state assemblyperson, said that all the development plans were approved by the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council and local residents.

"All those who utilise the lands are locals. Local residents are the ones that reap the benefit."

For example, he said, the Light Industrial Zone located between the Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2) and Kampung Pandan Dalam was an empty plot of land, covered in grass, prior to being developed.

"Eight years ago, before this piece of land was developed, it was occupied by squatters and grass. After development, local residents now have another place to do business," he added

The zone is one of the land scandals which residents claim involves Mad Aris.

The frustrated residents also submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi demanding that Mad Aris be removed from the line-up of the last general election in 2004. A copy of the memorandum was made available to Malaysiakini.

What memorandum?

Mad Aris, however, said he was unaware of the memorandum.

"There is no such memorandum, I never received it or been informed about it. If the memorandum really exists, someone will certainly tell me, right?"

He also said that local residents are supportive of his activities. Some of them, he added, even hope that he will continue to serve as their state representative.

"The residents have no problem with me. Every activity organised by me is well attended by the residents. Some even said that they want me to stay. I don't see any dissatisfaction.

"Wherever I go in the constituency, I'm warmly welcomed. Last Saturday (Jan 5) we had a election trial run. The number of participants exceeded our expectation," he added.

Mad Aris also said he has solved many local issues during his four terms as a state representative, especially the squatter problem.

"I took care of the squatter area issue during my tenure. Now all squatter problems have been solved. Problems of drainage and floods have also been solved."

Part 1: Mad at YB Mad


Part 2: YB Mad and the 'land scandals'