We did not agree, says Kg Baru council
By Yow Hong Chieh - KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — The administrative body in charge of Kampung Baru has refuted the Federal Territories Minister’s claim that owners and beneficiaries of the area agreed to the government’s redevelopment plans.
“We did not agree,” said Mashuti Mat Soom, acting deputy chairman for the Kampung Baru Malay Agricultural Settlement Administrative Board (MAS).
Federal Territories Minister Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin said on Monday that Kampung Baru residents had agreed to the ministry’s proposal and that they were now speaking with “one voice”.
The minister had met with MAS and Kampung Baru owners and beneficiaries over three hours on Monday to iron out the details of the redevelopment plan.
MAS, which has been acting as local council for the settlement since its inception 110 years ago, called Raja Nong Chik’s statement “confusing”.
“Many residents called asking us when MAS had agreed to the proposal,” Mashuti said.
He was diplomatic when asked if Raja Nong Chik’s statement was true.
“That depends on who’s doing the talking. If the minister thinks it’s true, that’s up to him,” he said.
He stressed that it was not possible for the government to go ahead with its plans if MAS does not first give it the green light.
“MAS and the residents go hand-in-glove. We are one,” he said.
“If MAS says no, then most likely the residents will say no too. So how are they going to implement it?”
MAS honorary secretary Shamsuri Suradi said that one of the points raised during Monday’s meeting was MAS’s role under the government’s proposed Kampung Baru Development Corporation (PPKB), which would be responsible for implementing and supervising redevelopment.
He had suggested to the ministry that it use MAS as a shell body to administer the redevelopment instead.
“It’s better for us to develop our own village than to leave it to an outsider who isn’t aware of our issues,” he said.
“This is our village. They (outsiders) will do the planning without referring to the landowners. We don’t want that.”
He conceded that it was the government’s right to use the Land Acquisition Act 1960 to take the land by force, but added that authorities knew what the “implications” of such a move would be.
Section 3(1)(b) of the act allows the state authority to acquire any land which “is needed by any person or corporation for any purpose which in the opinion of the State Authority is beneficial to the economic development of Malaysia or any part thereof or to the public generally or any class of the public”.
However, Shamsuri emphasised that MAS and Kampung Baru residents were not against development but rather the form it takes under the current proposal.
He added that “worst come to worst” MAS will conduct a house-to-house referendum to determine support for the government’s plans. - TMI
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