KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 — A task force in Kelab Golf Negara Subang (KGNS) allowed a caveat to lapse on its leased land last June in order to preserve the club president’s ties with the Najib administration, according to documents obtained by The Malaysian Insider.
The panel’s move without seeking the members’ approval could now cost the club billions as the official land owner, the Federal Land Commissioner, has gone to court to compel them to pay market rates for the 330 acres of land which sits squarely in the middle of both established and rapidly developing areas such as Subang Jaya, Ara Damansara, Kelana Jaya and Bandar Sunway.
The clubs’s land issue task force met on June 17 this year, six days before the caveat filed in 2004 was due to expire when it decided not to extend the caveat. That meeting was chaired by club president Tan Sri Megat Najmuddin Khas and attended by several other members.
“We are not intimidating the Government who is the rightful owner of the land.
“Avoid embarrassing the President of KGNS who has on several occasions briefed both the PM and Deputy PM on the land dispute and the need to look for an amicable solution,” according to the minutes of the task force meeting on that date.
The minutes form part of 18 annexure that is being sent to all members ahead of an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on November 20 to discuss the club’s land dispute.
It is learnt that the club members were not told that the caveat was allowed to lapse. Even the land authorities did not know as they filed their originating summons on August 23, 2011, seeking to remove the caveat.
The commissioner is also asking for damages and other costs deemed fit by the court.
But the members argue that the club has already paid for its 99-year lease and the annual quit rent of RM9,900 since its inception. The club paid a total of RM1.8 million at RM5,000 monthly between 1980 and 2010 for a RM1 million loan given with five per cent interest to develop the golf course in 1968.
It is understood that some members are also considering suing the task force members for dereliction in duty in not taking care of the club’s interests in the negotiations with Putrajaya.
“They seem more interested in taking care of the president’s ties than the club’s. That’s wrong,” said a club member who did not want to be named.
The golf club, which is seen as an iconic institution for those living in and around the township of Petaling Jaya, was opened in 1968 and entered into a 99-year lease arrangement for the land with the federal government in 1971.
The Malaysian Insider understands that discussions over the status of the land have been going on for several years but things came to a head when the federal government decided to file a lawsuit for the land.
When KGNS first moved to the present site, the land was far less valuable as it was in the middle of rubber estates and former tin mining land, and the golf club today with its matured landscape presents a much appreciated green lung in the burgeoning Kelana Jaya area.
The legal suit has also given rise to speculation that the land has been earmarked by the government for sale to developers to build high-end properties.
Numerous politically-connected businessmen live in beautiful mansions opposite the club and could be opposed to any move to intensify development in the area.
The Singapore Straits Times, which also reported on the government’s legal suit, said the Subang golf club land, which boasts two 18-hole golf courses, is worth an estimated RM5 billion or more in commercial value.
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