IPOH, May 6 — Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad has expressed regret over the actions of some quarters that have manipulated his statement on the issue of Malay reserve land in the state.

He said that his remarks had been taken out of context and that the clip of his remarks was edited to cause confusion and hatred among the public.

"There are also political party leaders who use the edited video to malign me and their allegations are not based on facts,” he said in a Facebook posting.

In the post, he also shared the original video clip of him commenting on the issue on April 12.

Saarani said that as of last year, a total of 953,075 hectares of Malay reserve land had been gazetted in Perak.

"This number is expected to increase because the Land and Mines Office (PTG) is currently gazetting another 996.04 hectares of Malay Reserve land that will be handed over to the Perak Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIPk).

"At the same time, I have instructed the PTG to replace the cancelled land with other parcels of the same type and size,” he said. — Bernama