Semantan Estate case: The government respects the court’s decision, but is worried about the serious implications – PM Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court’s decision in favor of Semantan Estate Sdn Bhd (SESB) in the dispute over the ownership of 263,272 acres of land in Mukim Batu, better known as ‘Duta Eclave’, with the Malaysian Government, could have serious implications for the country.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that even though the government respects the judiciary, they should look again from a legal point of view, because the principle of using the land in the public interest should be given consideration.

He emphasized again that in the government’s view, if the decision is used as a precedent or ‘precedent’ for land disputes either before or since Independence, the country will be in chaos.

For that reason, he said, there is a need to look again from a legal point of view and the Cabinet will refine the matter next week.

“Because the land was taken for public use, for government bodies and so on, not for private use. But, judges (High Court) may be subject to existing laws. So, I will suggest to the Cabinet to review this law.

“If this principle is used, what about the people’s lands that were taken since Merdeka or before Merdeka? Taken for government purposes, taken over by the private sector, or the private sector that buys agricultural land, the following weeks change it to industrial land?

“So (what about) people who sell at very low prices and get very high?” the question comes back.

Anwar said this when met by the media after completing the Launching Ceremony of the Guidelines on the Management and Governance of Federal Statutory Bodies in the capital today..

On Thursday , High Court Judge Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh ruled that the government should transfer the ‘Duta Enclave’ land to Semantan Estate, after allowing the company’s initial suit against the Federal Territories Registrar of Titles as defendant.

He also rejected the government’s request to postpone the trial while waiting for a proposed solution by the government regarding the land dispute.

Citing a Bernama report, Semantan Estate in 2003 filed a suit against the government for alleged encroachment stemming from the illegal acquisition of land from the company.

In 2009, Judicial Commissioner Zura Yahya ruled that Semantan Estate retained its beneficial interest in the 263.27 acres of land that the government had illegally taken over and encroached on the land in question.

The government then submitted an appeal but it was rejected on 18 May 2012 and on 21 November 2012, the Federal Court rejected the government’s application for permission to appeal the decision.

In 2018, the Federal Court again rejected the government’s application to review its previous decision.

Semantan Estate filed an originating suit against the Federal Territory Registrar of Titles in February 2017 to enforce the High Court judgment in 2009.

Following the latest decision, Senior Federal Attorney Shamsul Bolhassan confirmed that the Attorney General’s Department on behalf of the government had filed an appeal.