Kampong Sungai Baru: When Malay rights give way to big business

How government authorities have become the hired guns of developers

The Kampong Sungai Baru evictions this week is a classic case of how the politicians are selling out Malay rights, and using agencies to do the dirty work.

The evictions of 109 residents of Kampong Sungai Baru by officers of the Kampong Baru Development Corporation (PKB) is underway this week. Residents have been given until October 23 to leave their homes. These evictions come even though the prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in Parliament last February pledged the Kampong Sungai Baru project would be postponed.

In an answer to a question from Azli Yusof (PH-Shah Alam), prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said in parliament that the government doesn’t agree with the proposed lease offer for the development of the Kampong Baru area, which would affect the rights of the Malay residents. Anwar continued, and said there was a proposal to bring in a private company (Glitzy Gloss Sdn Bhd) to develop the area, but this is unacceptable, as it affected the interests of the resident Malays in Kampong Baru.

Anwar pledged to uphold the rights of the Malay community in Kampong Sungai Baru, has been sacrificed to benefit private developers who have been given the rights to develop the area, under unknown processes.

Malay heritage area

Kampong Baru is the last kampong within the Kuala Lumpur CBD. The area has long been considered prime real estate land, and owners have held out selling their properties to developers for generations. Some families living there go back 4 generations.

To the Malays of Kuala Lumpur, Kampong Baru is seen as a symbolic bastion of Malay culture. Kampong Baru has also become a tourist attraction and has a large number of street stalls and family restaurants specializing in authentic Malay cuisine. The elimination of Kampong Baru would affront the Malayness of Kuala Lumpur – a heritage that is quickly disappearing in the growing metropolis.

A large portion of Kampong Baru was gazetted as Malay reserve land back in 1900, where ethnic Malays could inhabit. Land in most of the area is freehold, but in Kampong Sungai Baru, its on a 99-year leasehold.

The Kampong Baru Development Board under statute must facilitate both developers and land owners. PKB is obliged to ensure that owners’ rights are preserved, and restrain developers from taking any action against the owners’ interests. However, PKB is clearly looking after the interests of the developers in the Kampong Sungai Baru case.

Residents this week were served unsigned notices by the Federal Territories Land and Mines Department, under ‘Operasi Pengosonan’, requiring them to vacate their homes by October 23, with the threat of an RM 500,000 fine and 5 years imprisonment, if they refused. This has intimidated the mainly pensioner group in Kampong Sungai Baru, who have been law abiding citizens during their lives.

Unsatisfactory offer to residents

Kampong Sungai Baru is prime Kuala Lumpur CBD land. The current land price is valued around RM 1.800/square foot, plus building compensation.

The residents have been forced to sell their homes under the Acquisition Act (APT) 1960. They were offered RM 500/square foot. There are a total of 98 terrace houses and 8 blocks of 4 storey flats involved in the redevelopment. Some 37 terrace households and 72 unit owners are holding out on compulsory acquisition. According to the director of Glitzy Gloss Sdn Bhd, Abdul Hadi Ahmad, 38 apartment owners were offered 900 square foot Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) apartments, at half value of their compensation package.

These compensation packages were clearly not enough for the residents to purchase a similar residence in the area.

There was no agreement with a number of residents, so the Federal Territories and Mines Department, by-passed the court system and issued their own eviction notices. The department is in effect undertaking the ‘dirty work’ of enforcing the developer’s will upon the vulnerable residents. Power and authority are being used to intimidate this group of Malays in Kampong Sungai Baru.

Who is the developer?

Given land prices in Kuala Lumpur, the developer Glitzy Gloss Sdn Bhd is bound to make bonanza profits from this venture. With such as strategically important project, its important to look at who Glitzy Gloss Sdn Bhd really is.

Although 3 out of four of the Directors are Malay, the majority of the company is owned by big-time developer Seuz Capital Sdn Bhd. Seuz Capital is primarily owned by the successful and well-connected Ter family. The company has more than RM 517 million in assets, and according to the company’s 2022 audit, had a revenue of RM 53 million last year.

Perikatan Nasional’s support for the project

Perikatan Nasional (PN) were no different from the current government in their attitude towards the project. In fact, the former Federal Territories Minister Shahidan Kassim positively pushed the project.

The only politician who opposed the project is Former Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad, who urged the Anwar administration to review the Kampong Sungai Baru development because there were a number of procedural issues in question.

This is just another example of how the Malay polity with their corporate friends us the system against vulnerable Malays. In this Kampong Sungai Baru case, the bureaucracy has savagely been used as a weapon against the Malay community. The evictions of Malay residents are being carried out with full knowledge by the authorities, the Malay community in Kampong Sungai Baru neither have the funds or resources to make a legal challenge to their DIY eviction notices.

The Malay elite are getting richer and the vulnerable Malays continue to be the victims. Where are the preferences for Bumiputeras in the symbolic centre of Malayness at Kampong Sungai Baru?

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