BY ZAZALI MUSA

Lost property: Residents of Taman Saujana expressing unhappiness to loosing their land.

JOHOR BARU: Residents of Taman Saujana in Mukim Plentong here are appealing to the state government to step in and help to solve the land issue involving them.

The Taman Saujana Land Buyers Association chairman Badri Mukibat said that there were never ending issues for the past 40 years.

He said they were worried of being evicted from the 64.74ha settlement as the land they bought now belonged to a private developer.

Badri said Taman Saujana was developed in 1967 by a private developer with an office in Jalan Wong Ah Fook and land buyers had moved in 1970.

“By 1973, residents finished paying for their land and the developer was supposed to issue the land titles to us but failed to do as promised,’’ he said in a press conference on Sunday.

Earlier, a briefing session on the issue was held at the Community Hall in the settlement attended by some 100 residents.

The event was also attended by Pasir Gudang Umno division information chief Dahari Hassan, Taman Saujana Umno branch chief Sheikh Ayub Abd Rahim and Mentri Besar’s Johor Special Assistance Tan Cher Puk.

Badri said they have exhausted all means to get their lands including bringing the matter to the Johor Baru High Court in 1979 but the issue remained unsolved.

He said the company only issued 48 land titles in 2001 and 2002 while the remaining 842 landowners did not get their titles despite completing payment for the land.

Badri said instead of designating the land as individual plots with individual land titles to the rightful owners (the land buyers), the developer had decided to register it as a single plot under its name.

“Legally, the land belongs to the developer and they have the right to chase us out for encroaching into their land illegally,” said Badri.

One land buyer, Raja Qahaarruddin Raja Abdul Aziz, 43, said that the 0.069ha land belonging to his family was sold without their knowledge in 2011.

He said the family brought up the issue to the relevant authorities and they said the developer was the rightful owner of the land and the residents’ names were not in the land title.

“The only way to solve the issue is for the state government to buy the land from the developer,’’ said Raja Qahaarrudin.

Another resident Suleiman Omar, 68, said the issue would not be solved even with help from the state government as it has been going on for too long.

Meanwhile, Pasir Gudang MP Normala Abd Samad hoped that the developer would be more compassionate and consider the plight faced by the residents.

“I believe the state government will be able to come out with an amicable solution for both the developer and the residents,” she said.