Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary wins an RM58 million purchase bid for the land but the Jalan Merlimau market hawkers consider it a death knell for their business.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Jalan Merlimau market is stark in its bareness. With a dusty cement floor, wooden beams and clutter of stalls, tables and chairs there is really nothing much to notice.
Except perhaps for the long pristine white banner hanging right in the middle of the market trumpeting the accolades of businessman Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary who has since won an RM58 million purchase bid for the 3.08 acre land.
The 300 hawkers, in what is better known as the Kenanga market, regard the banner as a death knell for their business.
The company, Konsortium Jentera Sdn Bhd/Nusantara Sdn Bhd, will build a Wholesale Textile Centre there but has reneged on an earlier agreement to house the market into the new building.
Even more disturbing is that the Ministry of Finance (MoF) awarded the land to Konsortium despite there being a second company which submitted a higher bid of RM88 million.
Suspecting something is amiss and fearing for their future, a group of hawkers accompanied by Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai and Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) this afternoon.
According to Tan, the ministry’s intentions to sell the land first surfaced when a survey was carried out on the land last September.
The Hawkers Department under the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) invited the traders for a meeting and informed them that there will be “certain changes to their lives and business”.
In April this year the department invited Tan, Fong and the hawkers to another meeting during which they were told of the land deal and the proposed project.
“By that time we already formed a committee and submitted a memorandum of protest. We objected to any development plan that didn’t include the market in the new building,” said Tan.
An agreement was reached that any corporation which won the land bid will also be required to submit a displacement plan for the hawkers.
Two companies submitted a tender – Konsortium and Kenanga Wholesale City Sdn Bhd.
On July 28, the MoF announced that the land will be sold to the former to build the 35-storey block. And amost immediately, Konsortium withdrew its agreement to move the market into the new premises.
‘It’s a big figure’
“I don’t believe the land deal is genuinely based on the consideration of the sum offered,” Tan said. “We’re talking about RM30 million difference, 51.7%. It’s a big figure!”
Tan explained that the basic principles of land deals involving government agencies are to develop the land and ensure optimum revenue is earned.
“This is evidence that Konsortium went against the tender principle,” he pointed out.
“The ministry should cancel the deal because Konsortium failed to abide by the principles. The land should be surrendered back to the government,” he added.
Tan and Fong have held countless meetings with DBKL, the Hawkers Department and Kuala Lumpur Mayor, Ahmad Fuad Ismail, over the issue. All three told the duo that the ministry has directed them to find another location for the market.
“So even the Federal Territories Minister (Raja Nong Chik) is helping Konsortium flaunt the rules,” Tan said.
“Any alternative site must be close to the original site but now only one piece of land is available. It is near the Pudu LRT station and belongs to Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM).
“KTM will lease the land but that means the possibility of the hawkers having to move yet again. They have already moved once. Don’t treat them like refugees.
“The market is 60-years-old and a proper structure was built for it 40 years ago. Most of the hawkers have been running their family businesses over those decades. Where will they go otherwise?” he added.
Tan said that both him and Fong have repeatedly tried to set up a meeting with Nong Chik over the past month but have been rebuffed.
“(Prime Minister) Najib (Tun Razak’s) administration says people first but not even the people’s representatives are able to secure a meeting with Nong Chik,” he said.
“It just shows that his pledge is nothing but a bluff,” he added.
Both MPs will raise the issue when Parliament sits next month and call for the MoF to explain its decision.
The hawkers meanwhile have taken it upon themselves to put up three smaller banners condemning Konsortium’s take over in a desperate attempt to change their now bleak future.
“My father opened his curry mee stall here since I was nine,” said a hawker, Hau, 61. “We’ve already moved once to make way for a new building. I don’t want to move again.”
“Have you seen the land they want to move us to? It’s so unkempt and far away, and it’s not government land. I don’t know what we’re going to do if this company is allowed to go ahead.”
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