There is nothing wrong in MCA purchasing state land on the cheap, says Selangor MCA secretary Wong Koon Mun.
He said it has been the norm since independence to sell land cheap for community purposes such as temples and schools.
“It’s for the party, not personal property. It belongs to the party. All MCA land in the new villages belong to party headquarters, not personal. Nothing wrong (with that),” he said at a press conference today.
Wong ( left ) added that MCA branches in new villages were built on such land. It served as a de facto centre for community life, including as community hall and even as schools and kindergartens, in lieu of purpose-built buildings.
This is addition to the branches’ role of registering Chinese Malaysians for citizenship and fighting for their rights, at a time where there was pressure to deport them to China.
“All these contributions in the past can’t be washed away with (Sekinchan assemblyperson) Ng Suee Lim’s words,” he said.
Ng had alleged that the previous BN-led Selangor government had sold 24 plots of high-value land to BN component parties at RM1 per square foot with the MCA buying five parcels.
He estimated that in total, at least RM20 million worth of land were sold for over RM1.4 million which at today's market rate would fetch at least RM300 million today.
However, Wong 's rebutttal was that current prices could not be compared with the prices prevailing during the transaction period.
“There is no problem. It is very simple,” he added.
“When BN was in power and when MCA, Umno and other major parties were fighting for independence, we needed the facility (party branches), nothing wrong”.
When reminded that the alleged land sales took place from 1999 to 2008 and not the early post-independence era, Wong told reporters, “that was long ago ,too. How long ago was 1999? This is quite some time ago”.