'Missing' land puzzles authorities

'Missing' land puzzles authorities

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian authorities yesterday were
investigating the "disappearance" of some 18,000 hectares
(45,000 acres) of land to be gazetted as permanent forest
reserves in northern Kedah state.

The area, constituting about half of the 35,567 hectares of
land earmarked to be gazetted, has been classified as missing,
Kedah land officials said.

Initial investigations revealed the "missing" land had either
been sold or given away under the previous administration but the
land office has no official records of this.

Geographically, the area reported "missing" is the size of
northern Penang island, officials said. The Star daily reported
yesterday that some of the lots given away had been issued land
titles.