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Descendants of Johor’s ‘Father of City Planning’ file faraid claim for RM300b

A total of eleven descendants of Johor’s Datuk Bentara Luar — responsible for the planning and development of the southern state — signed the appeal for the whopping sum that has spanned seven generations. — Reuters pic
A total of eleven descendants of Johor’s Datuk Bentara Luar — responsible for the planning and development of the southern state — signed the appeal for the whopping sum that has spanned seven generations. — Reuters pic

JOHOR BARU, Dec 6 — The descendants of Johor’s famed 19th century dignitary Datuk Muhammad Salleh Perang, dubbed Johor’s “Father of City Planning”, today filed a notice of application to obtain a faraid order for the deceased’s estate worth more than RM300 billion at the Johor Baru Syariah Court here today.

A total of eleven descendants of Johor’s Datuk Bentara Luar — responsible for the planning and development of the southern state — signed the appeal for the whopping sum that has spanned seven generations.

Their lawyer, Norhanisah Johar said the affidavit for the application was signed by the applicants who were representatives of the heirs.

According to her, the application was only made because her party was still in the process of examining the estate belonging to Mohammed Salleh, which was entitled to be handed over to his rightful heirs.

“At present, the heirs of the deceased have reached seven generations involving more than 4,000 people with the death register involving the heirs recorded at 462 people.

“The oldest surviving heir is an 86-year-old woman, while the youngest is still in primary school.

“Today’s process is to get a faraid (the distribution of a deceased property under Islamic law) order from the court which will determine who the heirs are and how much is the value of the estate that they are entitled to,” said Norhanisah when met by reporters outside the Johor Syariah Court compound today.

Norhanisah added that after the process is completed, another claim process will be initiated by her side.

She said this time it will involve the Land Office and other state government agencies.

Meanwhile, the representative of the heirs, Mohd Zaini Aris, said that the claim made today was in accordance with the letter of the law by the heirs who are said to be rightfully entitled.

He said the deceased’s property is estimated to be worth more than RM300 billion in real estate if valued at current market prices.

Mohd Zaini had previously informed that his party had valid documentation such as land grants to prove that the deceased still had assets in several districts, which until now had not been transferred to the entitled heirs.

He alleged that efforts to obtain the estate in 2016 with the help of a lawyer could not be continued because it was prevented by irresponsible parties.

“The late Mohamed Salleh’s heirs are not interested in getting the land back, but want to only be given financial compensation,” said Mohd Zaini.

Previously in 2019, the same group made headlines after they demanded RM300 billion worth of property which they claimed was owed to them by the Johor government.

Following that, the state administration said it had yet to review the records on the property claims made by Mohammed Salleh’s descendants.

Then Johor mentri besar Datuk Osman Sapian said the review will be carried out through the relevant government agencies to get confirmation and the truth to the matter.

However, there was no new development on the matter.

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