EC says impotent in Kampung Baru referendum

The Kampung Baru enclave lies in the shadow of the country’s icon of progress. — Pictures by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — The Election Commission (EC) has no authority to hold a referendum on the proposed redevelopment of Kampung Baru as suggested by its residents, said the commission’s chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof yesterday.

On Friday, the Kampung Baru Malay Agricultural Settlement Administrative Board (MAS) had made the call for a referendum to poll landowners on their stand on Putrajaya’s plans to redevelop the Malay settlement in the capital city, just a stone’s throw away from the world’s tallest twin towers.

Its honorary secretary, Shamsuri Suradi, had said the EC was the ideal body to carry out such a vote as it was seen to be impartial.

But Abdul Aziz has now said the EC lacked the legal authority to do so.

Aziz said it was not the EC’s place to conduct the direct vote.

“There is no provision in the federal constitution and Election Commission Act for the EC to hold any kind of referendum. The EC is an independent body under the constitution and cannot be involved in such cases as a Kampung Baru referendum,” the EC chief wrote in an SMS to The Malaysian Insider.

Parliament is expected to debate a new bill in June to regulate development in the 111-year-old settlement, where it is hemmed in by newer buildings including the Petronas Twin Towers built over the last two decades.

In an interview with The Malaysian Insider, Shamsuri had said that the government should hold the vote to avoid bickering among co-owners of landlots who may support certain political parties, now that the issue has been taken up by politicians.

However, he admitted that a referendum would not be an easy process as it may take up to a year to complete.

The Kampung Baru Development Bill was delayed until June to allow the draft to be reviewed following the protest of landowners and heirs.

The bill, initially scheduled to be debated in Parliament this month, would have opened the way for a new body to replace MAS and give the minister in charge, full authority and immunity from legal proceedings with regards to developing the Malay enclave.

Most of the land in the settlement is under multiple ownership due to Islamic inheritance laws and cost a fraction of the land across the Klang River.

Residents are making a spectacle of their opposition towards the development plans.

There are more than 4,000 Kampung Baru landowners spread across seven villages in the settlement measuring 90.2 hectares.

Kampung Baru lies within the Titiwangsa federal constituency, which has always been an Umno fortress but fell to PAS in Election 2008.

Pakatan Rakyat has been quick to capitalise on the growing anger of residents unhappy with the Najib administration’s plans to develop the area into an icon of Malay ownership in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Several landowners have already put up banners opposing the new law or plans to redevelop the settlement, which has an LRT station and is popular among tourists and city residents as a street cuisine spot.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak kick-started the redevelopment of Kampung Baru by getting a RM20 million allocation recently to renovate the iconic Masjid Jamek in the middle of the settlement. - Malaysian Insider