The future of the area has been cast into doubt by plans for a property development by government-linked SP Setia, which acquired a 20-hectare plot of government land there in a land swap deal in 2012.
Fahmi Fadzil, the MP for Lembah Pantai, has said he will seek to reverse the deal, which has also raised protests from residents of nearby Bukit Bandaraya and Bangsar.
Henry Goh, president of the Malaysian Nature Society, told FMT that “this forgotten historical site is synonymous and complements with the nearby historical sites pertaining to the country’s independence like the National Monument, Dataran Merdeka, Parliament House and the Merdeka Stadium”.
He said MNS and Badan Warisan Malaysia, a heritage foundation, had submitted a proposal to the government in 2008 for the 70-hectare hill to be turned into an Urban Conservation Forest, but with no result.
Goh said Federal Hill had significance in Malaysia’s political history, architectural significance as a site of the largest collection of government quarters of that period, and ecological and environmental importance as the last sizeable “green lung” near the city centre.
Protest over change in land use and lack of City Plan
Federal Hill is located opposite the huge KL Sentral development in Brickfields, and borders Lake Gardens.
Earthworks have begun at the site of the National Institute of Health at the foot of the hill, near the junction of Jalan Bangsar and Jalan Rakyat and several bungalows have been torn down.
Bukit Bandaraya Residents Association adviser Mumtaz Ali has said the NIH land was zoned as institutional land and could not be used for other purposes. He took the authorities to task for not gazetting the Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020.
Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad told the Dewan Rakyat the plan would finally be gazetted this year, after having remained in draft form for years under the Barisan Nasional government.
Mumtaz said, however, the minister might have been misled by the mayor and officials of Kuala Lumpur City Hall, who he said had been responsible for “the wreck under the former regime”. He said the plans should be opened for public viewing before it was gazetted.
Landmark of political federation and architectural importance
Goh said Federal Hill was opened up in 1896 as a government residential area, with bungalows for senior officers of the Federated Malay States. In 1952 the housing scheme was expanded and the whole area officially named Federal Hill (now Bukit Persekutuan) in commemoration of the Federation of Malaya in 1948.
“The road which led to these bungalows was known as Federal Road (now Jalan Persekutuan), with other streets named after seven of the Malayan States (Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor and Perlis). There were streets in Kuala Lumpur already named after the other four states.”
A survey by Badan Warisan of the 113 government quarters showed they were in fair to good condition. “Some still house serving government servants,” he said. The royal households of Kedah, Negeri Sembilan and Perak also have residences there.
He said Federal Hill contained the largest remaining group of government quarters of that period. “It represents a highly significant part of our nation’s architectural history and must be retained either as houses, or adapted for new uses if necessary,” he said.
Goh said MNS is housed in what is believed to be the only building remaining from the earlier era. A 1921 map of Kuala Lumpur shows the footprint of a bungalow on the same location, he said.
“It would therefore constitute the oldest building in this area,” he said, calling for it to be preserved.
Last remaining sizeable ‘green lung’ near city centre
Goh said Federal Hill was the last remaining sizeable green lung in the Kuala Lumpur city centre, and should be preserved in keeping with the new government’s election pledges on global warming and climate change.
He said there had been an effort to create an Urban Community Forest in 2017, in partnership with the federal government urban conservation centre Think City.
There were six species of amphibians, 65 types of birds, 39 types of butterflies and moths, and two types of fireflies found in the area, he said.
Land swap deal to move National Institute of Health to Setia Alam
The 20-hectare plot of land being developed at Federal Hill was acquired by SP Setia Bhd in a land swap privatisation deal in 2012 originally involving a joint venture with a company linked to prominent tycoon Syed Mokhtar Albukhary.
SP Setia bought out its partner for RM432 million.
SP Setia owns the land through its subsidiary Setia Federal Hill. The parent company is 77%-owned by government entitites such as Permodalan Nasional and its unit trusts, the EPF and Retirement Fund Incorporated.
In exchange for the NIH land, the developer would build a Klinik Bangsar and 24 apartments there, as well as a replacement facility for the National Institute of Health on a 41-acre plot at SP Setia’s township in Setia Alam, near Shah Alam.
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