Rival groups table proposals to resolve KGNS land dispute

By Jahabar Sadiq
Editor

November 19, 2011

PETALING JAYA, Nov 19 — Rival groups have tabled alternative proposals to resolve Kelab Golf Negara Subang’s (KGNS) land dispute with Putrajaya in a fiery emergency meeting tomorrow to keep its 330 acres of pristine greenery here after the club leadership allowed a caveat to purposely lapse.

Documents seen by The Malaysian Insider reveal that a group aligned to the general committee wants to set up a corporate body to manage and control the club after winning an official lease from the Federal Land Commissioner while another group wants to establish a task-force to solve the issue upon instructions from all the members.

The entrance to KGNS which sits on 330 acres of prime land. — Picture by Jack Ooi

At the heart of the matter is whether the members will have final say over the club’s fate or they will have to leave it to the proposed Perbadanan Padang Golf Subang (PPGS) to decide the fate of the club and its leased land.

A notice of motion filed on November 17 proposed three resolutions, including to defend a suit filed by the Federal Land Commissioner to compel KGNS to pay market rates for the 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 second resolution called for the setting up of the PPGS “be empowered to take on the responsibility for the management and control of Kelab Golf Negara Subang (KGNS) in accordance with the Subang Golf Course Corporation Act 1968 (Act 509) after obtaining a lease of land held under Hakmilik Lot PT No. 221 HS (D) 3458 (148046), Mukim Damansara, District of Petaling Jaya, State of Selangor, from the Federal Land Commissioner and the creation of a sub-lease in favour of KGNS.”

“That Kelab Golf Negara Subang (KGNS) be authorised to negotiate the terms of settlement of the land the management and control of the Club with the relevant authorities and that the terms thereof be tabled at the General Meeting of the Club for rectification and approval,” said resolution three of the motion.

The Malaysian Insider understands that the motion was filed after a rival group called for a special task force to “deal with all issues that have arisen in respect of the status of land presently occupied by Kelab Negara Golf Subang (KGNS) with the Federal Land Commissioner, the Subang Corporation Bhd and/or any other Government Agencies pertaining to the said land.”

The group called for seven members to form the special task force which “shall be independent of the management committee”.

It said the special task force should regularly review civil suits in the case but will have no right or power to commit KGNS to any agreement or compromise on the status of the land.

“The Special Task Force Committee should be independent and should not be anyway hampered by direction from the Management Committee as in the past, and the interests of the members must always be primary,” according to a member supporting the resolution who declined to be identified.

“The line of communication must be extremely clear. The Management Committee has in many ways abdicated its duty to the members by not reporting the progress of the issues and keeping matters to itself,” he added.

The Malaysian Insider reported last Saturday that a KGNS task force allowed a caveat to lapse on its leased land last June in order to preserve the club president’s ties with the Najib administration.

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.

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) tomorrow 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.

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.