Annuar Failed To Resolve Kesedar And Orang Asli Issues During His Ministerial Tenure - Ahmad Zahid

GUA MUSANG, Aug 12 (Bernama) -- The issues of land ownership for South Kelantan Development Authority (Kesedar) settlers and clean water supply for Orang Asli villages should have been resolved when Tan Sri Annuar Musa was a minister, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman questioned Annuar’s decision to raise these issues during the Nenggiri state by-election campaign, noting that they date back to Annuar's tenure as Minister of Rural Development from 1993 to 1999.

“These issues should have been resolved when he was the minister. Why bring them up in Nenggiri now? His failures then have become my responsibility and that of the current government.

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"He’s trying to deflect blame, but we are the ones left to clean up his mess. However, for the sake of the settlers and participants of Kesedar, we will help to resolve these issues,” he said during a press conference after the ‘Temu Mata’ programme with the Jeram Tekoh community here today.

Also present were UMNO secretary-general Datuk Dr Ashraf Wajdi Dusuki, Kelantan BN chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub, BN Nenggiri by-election deputy director Mohd Syahbuddin Hashim, Kesedar chairman Datuk Zawawi Othman and the BN candidate for the by-election, Mohd Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani.

Annuar, who is Perikatan Nasional (PN) Nenggiri by-election operations director, suggested at a ceramah here yesterday that land under Kesedar's administration be transferred directly by the state government to the settlers.

He also claimed that the provision of clean water to Orang Asli settlements is managed by the Department of Orang Asli Development (JAKOA) and that the issues were not due to failures by the state government.

Meanwhile, JAKOA, in a statement today, said the water supply issues in Orang Asli villages were due to a lack of rainwater catchment areas, which had been affected by uncontrolled logging and land clearing activities.

JAKOA noted that this problem is not only affecting Orang Asli settlements but is also widespread throughout Kelantan.

The by-election on Saturday is a straight fight between Mohd Azmawi Fikri, who is representing the Unity Government, and PAS candidate Mohd Rizwadi Ismail, who is contesting for PN.

-- BERNAMA