KUALA LUMPUR: CAMERON Highlands district officer Datuk A. Rahman Hamzah has defended his decision not to lodge a police report against a landowner who had extended his farm in Habu by encroaching into other plots.
He said it was no longer necessary to lodge a report, as actions had been taken by the landowner.
“We are focusing on preventive measures. The landowner owns a licence, but had encroached into neighbouring area.
“We have notified him of his offence and he has dismantled the structures on the extended piece of land which he had developed illegally,” he told the New Straits Times yesterday.
“If action has already been taken by the landowner, there is no need for us to lodge a police report.”
It was reported on Nov 25 upon visiting the site and witnessing a farm extended close to the main road, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had ordered a police report to be lodged, the land sealed and the structures torn down.
This was following the government’s combative efforts against illegal land use that had caused mud floods and landslides in the area.
He had been informed that the farmer, who was allowed to cultivate only 0.4ha of the land under the temporary operating licence (TOL), had extended his operations by 0.35ha, almost twice the size.
District police chief Deputy Superintendent Wan Mohd Zahari Wan Busu, when contacted, confirmed that no report had been lodged on the case.
“The land that was illegally developed is now being cleared by the farm owner. It is up to the land office to lodge a police report,” he said.
It was earlier reported that Muhyiddin said the authorities, in taking drastic measures to address the issues plaguing the highlands, would launch a large-scale integrated operations involving various
enforcement agencies to act against those responsible for illegal
land clearing that resulted in the Nov 5 mudslides which claimed five lives.