A letter of demand has been sent to Kuala Lumpur mayor Mohd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz, saying he has until Wednesday evening to comply with the demands.
“If he doesn’t comply, then we’ll have no other choice but to lodge a report with the proper authorities,” a committee member of the residents’ association, Sylvester Navaratnam, told FMT. He refused to say which “authorities” he was talking about.
It was previously reported that the residents were concerned their grouses about two high-density projects in their neighbourhood would be ignored by DBKL because certain individuals linked to DBKL also sat on the board of trustees of Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan, which owns the pieces of land for the projects.
It was reported that among the trustees were Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor and his deputy M Loga Bala. The letter of demand notes that mayor Amin Nordin is a director of Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan.
The conflict of interest was the basis for the letter of demand sent by the residents.
“If the mayor is sitting on the board of the company that owns the land then it is clear he has interests in this project and, therefore, is not in a position to decide objectively on whether or not to allow it,” said Navaratnam.
The Federal Territory Planning Act 1982 and Federal Capital Act 1960 stipulate that the mayor is the commissioner responsible for approving or not approving development projects.
An earlier news report had said the residents were unhappy with an objection hearing they had with DBKL on Feb 27, where they had hoped to get answers to their concerns over the projects.
The letter is also demanding that this hearing be considered void.
Residents had complained that the hearing became nothing more than a dialogue session because the relevant officials, including DBKL’s planning department deputy director, were absent.
Navaratnam said the meeting was instead chaired by an officer who recorded the residents’ complaints and merely promised they would be handed over to the relevant department.