Selangor Government assists corporation make mega-profits through secret deals and land zoning changes

The case of Paya Indah Wetlands

There is an extremely close nexus between serving politicians and corporations. At state level, the menteri besar, or chief minister is the person who must sign off on any government land transaction and re-zoning. Corporations understand this, and can make bumper profits if forest reserve land can be re-zoned into commercial uses.

Gamuda Bhd had long wanted to obtain control over land within the Kuala Langat Utara Forest Reserve, for commercial development.

The land they sought was part of the Kaula Langat Forest Reserve, which was primarily peat swamp area, where the Temuan Orang Asli tribes used the area from collection and hunting purposes. Former and late chief minister Khalid Ibrahim had staunchly opposed any conversion of forest reserve into commercial land, and had formally rejected the proposal during his tenure in office. However, the case was different when Azmin Ali became chief minister, who signed off on the conversion and sale of land within the reserve.

Salak Land Development was given the land 30-40 years ago during the Barisan Nasional times. The land was annexed from the Kuala Langat Forest Reserve for the development of a palm oil plantation. Finally, in 2014 Salak Land Development was granted the zoning classification to develop the wetlands, and Gamuda snapped up all the shares of the company and took control of a 619 Hectare plot of the wetlands to develop. The land was in a strategic location adjacent to the Elite Expressway, and driving access to Kuala Lumpur, Shah Alam, Putra Jaya, KLIA, and Nilai in Negeri Sembilan.

The area has now been developed into an exclusive ‘native sanctuary and smart township’, called Gamuda Cove. The area has been developed to blend in with the surrounding peat swamp habitat and environment, where a number of re-conservation projects are undertaken with local universities.

The Green Party has been long concerned with the transparency of the project. Gamuda is a well-connected corporation, with establishment elites on the board. Some is related to a royal household. Gamuda is also involved in the controversial Penang Southern Islands (PSI) development, where there are also a number of unanswered questions about how the project was approved. 

The Abdul Razak Bin Ismail of the Green Party has taken the issue to the Selangor government a number of times without avail. In addition, a cat refugee was evicted from the land, and replaced with a Bukit Antarabangsa community hall. Assistance was sort by the Green Party from then deputy prime minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, without any acknowledgment, even though she was personally aware of the project.

In addition, a group representing 4,000 Orang Asli in the area petitioned the High Court for native rights in the forest reserve, which was rejected.

The rights of the Orang Asli rejected by the court system

In 2016, the Green Party took the matter to the Select Committee on Ability, Accountability, and Sincerity (SELCAT), chaired by then speaker of the Selangor Legislative Assembly, and now federal minister for youth and sport, Hannah Yeoh. The members of Selcat had their own internal discussions, denying natural justice to the Green Party to espouse their arguments. Consequently, SELCAT rejected Paya Indah case, without any open hearing on the matter.

Hanna Yeow was chairman of SELCAT

This is yet just one more example of how land grabs by connected corporations occur in Malaysia. Forest Reserves should be protected by state governments, and not sold off for profits. State governments, especially those of Pakatan Harapan persuasion use bureaucracy to block the transactions on land being made to the public. The Rakyat’s interests are once again put behind corporate interests.

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