Dr M’s Kg Baru dilemma

Dr Mahathir Mohamad admitted he failed to develop Kampung Baru during his 22 years in power.

KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Mahathir Mohamad has conceded that he failed to develop Kampung Baru during his 22-year tenure as prime minister. He said it was due to the high cost it would require to maintain Malay ownership.
The admission, made in his latest blog posting, appears to be a warning to the Najib administration, which is making efforts to boost growth in what Mahathir called a piece of  “Malay land” in Malaysia’s main city.
The former premier said the main obstacles to his plan were land costs and the fear that ownership would be transferred to non-Malays.
“The price demanded by landowners was too high and this would make the cost of development very high,” he wrote.
“Malays would then not be able to purchase shop lots or housing. Maybe only non-Malays would be able to afford it.”
Should properties be sold to non-Malays, he added, Kampung Baru “as a Malay area would disappear from KL”.
One of the measures proposed to maintain Malay ownership of Kampung Baru was to require developers to pay high prices for the land and to allocate residential-commercial space for the Malays.
However, Mahathir said, that would only increase the development cost and Malay developers might not be interested while non-Malays businesses might be put off by the low purchasing power of the Malays.
“Up to now, many residential and business space allocated to Malays are not taken up,” he said.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has made plans to develop the Malay enclave under his grand Economic Transformation Programme. Last month, the government tabled a bill in Parliament to enable the newly formed the Kampung Baru Development Corporation to regulate development in
the area.
Najib said early last year that the land value of Kampung Baru would surpass RM20 billion once the government’s redevelopment plans were fully realised.
There were concerns that property costs would rise, affecting Malay businesses there. But Federal Territory and Urban Well Being Minister Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin, in a dialogue with villagers, gave them his assurance that Malays would spearhead the corporation.
According to the draft law, the corporation must be led by a Malay Muslim.
The 111-year old Kampung Baru is the biggest Malay settlement in the Kuala Lumpur area. It occupies 90.2 hectares and is home to about 35,000 people. It covers seven villages—Kampung Periuk, Kampung Masjid, Kampung Atas A, Kampung Atas B, Kampung Hujung Pasir, Kampung
Paya and Kampung Pindah.
Mahathir said he hoped the government would succeed in developing Kampung Baru “so that visitors to Kuala Lumpur will not see the poverty of Malays in their own country”.