Compulsory Acquisition of Waqf Land by the State Authorities: Compensation Versus Substitution

The compulsory acquisition of land is a process by which the government acquires from private landowners their lands which are needed for any public purpose or for a purpose beneficial to the economic development of Malaysia. It is a form of governmental interference as it results in the deprivation and removal of landowners from their properties. Many of the waqf lands donated by an individual or a group for the purpose of charity have been acquired by the government for this purpose. The objective of this paper is to compare two methods of rectifying damages for the loss namely ‘compensation’ and ‘substitution’. The study adopts qualitative methodology where data is collected through library research and semi-structured interviews with key informants. The paper employs descriptive analysis and concludes that the waqf or donated land will not be taken by the authority without reasonable grounds, but only in critical situations and during emergency.