Mukhriz bars family members from getting projects in Kedah

Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir has ruled out giving business projects to members of his family to avoid a conflict of interest.

"At the moment, no members of my family have any intentions to embark on projects here. I hope it will remain like that. If not, I will be in a dilemma as I do not want to hurt their feelings.

"My priority is the people's interests. If I have to choose between the interest of the people and those of my family for business, I will be behind the people. Rather than hurting their (family members') feelings, it is thus better for such situations not to arise at all," he told a media conference in conjunction with his 100th day in office as Kedah Menteri Besar here yesterday.

However, said he may seek the advice of family members on their respective areas of expertise.

On the issue of housing in the state, Mukhriz said the state government would maintain the policy of 50:50 for ownership of houses by bumiputras as implemented by the previous PAS government and would not revert to the 30:70 policy of the Barisan Nasional (BN) earlier.

"We will continue to practise the 50:50 housing policy as there is a huge demand for houses by bumiputras and we want the ratio of bumiputra residents in urban areas to be maintained.

"So the 50:50 practice started by PAS will be maintained. However in terms of implementation, PAS failed. In this regard, we must also ensure the interests of non-Malays are also being looked after...there are many ways to keep a fine balance," he said.

Mukhriz said the 50:50 policy would prevent Malay reserve land from being swapped with land in other areas as had been practised under the 30-70 policy.

"In Alor Setar, virtually all lands are Malay reserve land. We want towns in Kedah especially Alor Setar to maintain the present demography," he said.

In another development, Mukhriz said the Kedah government was identifying suitable non-padi farming land to be developed as large tracts of land devoted to padi farming in the state," he said.

"At the moment, non-padi land can be developed as industrial estates. For example, in Bukit Kayu Hitam, 3,000 hectares are being developed for this purpose," he said.

He said apart from that, the state government was also discussing with the Muda Agricultural Development Authority (Mada) to develop land owned by federal government agencies on the fringe of Mada.

"We will discuss with Mada on developing some 8,000 hectares of such land around Alor Setar," he said.