JOHOR BARU: The state government will check on the status of the "haunted" Villa Nabila before deciding if it should be demolished.
Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said he would ask the Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) to check on the status of the abandoned bungalow on top of a hill over looking the Straits of Johor.
"We cannot simply take over the property or demolish it although it has been vacant for so many years as it is a private property," he told reporters here.
Mohamed Khaled was speaking after opening the Eastern Regional Organisation for Planning and Human Settlements Conference here Tuesday.
He said the state government would ask MBJB to investigate whether the owner had failed to pay assessment rates on the property over the years.
Mohamed Khaled said the state government has no plans to develop the area despite its location in the prime area of Danga Bay.
He said if the state government took over the property, it would set a precedent for other abandoned buildings in the state.
"Villa Nabila is just an abandoned bungalow and whether it is spooky or not as claimed by certain parties is yet to be confirmed," said Mohamed Khaled.
He said the abandoned bungalow has been there for many years, adding that only when rumours started spreading on the Internet was there sudden interest in the house.
Social media was rife with rumours on Sunday that a group of 23 teenagers had gone missing after playing in the house on Saturday.
However, police rubbished the rumours on Monday, stating that only a 16-year-old boy was reported missing. He was found in a friend's house early Tuesday.
US-based travel portal Expedia recently listed Danga Bay as among the five most haunted places in Malaysia due to the location of Villa Nabila.
The bungalow is perched on a hill that overlooks the Straits of Johor.
There are several versions of how the 40-year-old building earned its reputation, including one about murder in a wealthy Caucasian family that once lived there.
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