'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.