KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 — Federal Territories Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa has blamed former minister Annuar Musa for making a “rushed” decision that allowed a developer to take ownership of land in Kampung Sungai Baru earmarked for redevelopment.
According to Free Malaysia Today (FMT), she told the Dewan Rakyat that in 2020, there were no Federal Territories policies governing the consent threshold for land acquisition, resulting in the use of the Land Acquisition Act 1960 against residents who objected to the plan.
“Gazetting (of the Kampung Sungai Baru land) under Sections 4 and 8 of the Land Acquisition Act was done between June 18 and June 21, 2021,” she was quoted as saying by the paper, during a special briefing on the redevelopment project.
“The then minister (Annuar) must be questioned over such a rushed decision, made within three days, which led to the entirety of Kampung Sungai Baru to be owned by the developer.”
FMT reported that Zaliha said the developer submitted its request in 2020 to acquire the land, covering terrace houses and flat units, which was raised at a post-Cabinet meeting on September 9, 2020 chaired by Annuar.
The recommendations were then presented to the federal territories land executive committee on April 21, 2021, chaired by then chief secretary to the government Zuki Ali, and subsequently approved.
She added that only in 2021 did the authorities introduce a minimum 50 per cent consent threshold for redevelopment projects under the Kuala Lumpur Redevelopment Implementation Guidelines.
Annuar served as Federal Territories Minister from March 2020 to August 2021, before being succeeded by Shahidan Kassim, who held the post until November 2022.
Zaliha said she sympathised with Shahidan, who like herself, “inherited” the issue from previous administrations.
