Noh Omar slams Azmin over demolition of houses

PETALING JAYA: Tan Sri Noh Omar has condemned the demolition of several houses and shops at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Airport Mosque on Wednesday as "cruel".
The Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister said the matter could have been settled in a better manner, and that Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali should have stepped in and postponed the demolition.
He said it was unfair for the residents there to be evicted on short notice with no where else to go.
"That (demolition) is an act of cruelty. There's always a better way to settle problems.
"Like when we investigated a certain tahfiz as not being a hundred percent complete and safe, by law it should be closed. But no, because we can always discuss," he told a press conference after opening the 20th National Housing and Property Summit 2017, here, yesterday.
The demolition of the houses, which were occupied by airport mosque committee members, was carried out at 11am on Oct 4 by the Shah Alam City Council and the Petaling district land office, after being served an eviction notice by Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd in November last year.
A video of the fracas had gone viral, with nine people, including activists from Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), arrested for protesting the demolition.
Following the incident, Azmin offered the two affected families People's Housing Project (PPR) units at Section 8 Kota Damansara, and said the state would bear the rent for six months before they are offered to the families.
Noh however said Azmin should have instead stopped the demolition and settle the families' placements first, instead of doing it after.
"All he needed to do was give one call. But this is the problem of the Selangor Mentri Besar, he is even lower than the local councils. What's wrong with postponing the demolition for two months?" he said.
On a separate matter, Noh said the Fire and Rescue Department has been given a month to do safety checks on all Islamic religious schools, including tahfiz.
"There are 690 registered tahfiz nationwide, and over 300 still unregistered. We have given the department one month to visit all these schools, plus orphanages and old folks homes, to do checks," he said.
On Sept 14, 21 students and two teachers were killed at the Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah in Datuk Keramat, Kuala Lumpur after it was set on fire at 4.15am.