PETALING JAYA: Selangor land authorities may have violated a constitutional right of residents in a Kuala Selangor neighbourhood when they approved a cemetery project in the area.

A property consultant pointed this out when he commented on last week’s demonstration by residents of five villages against the alienation of land in their midst for a Chinese cemetery. He cited Article 13 of the Federal Constitution, which deals with rights to property.

When authorities want to rezone a plot of land to be used as a cemetery, according to chartered surveyor Ernest Cheong, they must let residents in the neighbourhood know about it and give them the chance to object.

“We need to establish whether the land was zoned for a cemetery in compliance with the law and whether due process was observed,” he said.

“In this case, it is a legal issue and not a political issue.”

He said the rezoning of land for a cemetery must comply with provisions in the National Land Code and the Town and Country Planning Act.

If due process was not applied, he added, the cemetery would be illegal and the owners of land around it could take the issue to court.

However, he said, if a vacant plot of land had been designated as cemetery grounds before the surrounding areas were developed, the onus would be on the buyers of the neighbouring plots of land to find out what the vacant land would be used for.

Cheong remarked that Malaysians generally would not like to live near cemeteries because they were “scary looking” and many taboos were associated them.

“In western countries like the United States, the cemeteries are maintained like parks and don’t look so scary. So the value and demand for surrounding properties may not be affected, but it’s a different story here.”

Environmental engineer Ellias Saidin said cemeteries should not be located near underground water sources.

Decaying bodies could pollute underground water sources, he told FMT. Bodies injected with embalming fluid were even more hazardous, he added.

“When it rains and the cemetery soil is not impermeable, water can seep in and flow through coffins and into underground water sources,” he said, adding this was why cemeteries needed to be built on grounds of clay instead of sand.