MCA president V Mahinda told a press conference here today that he had met with Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Steven Sim to highlight the association’s concerns.
He said Sim, in return, had expressed his ministry’s intention to keep the field and hold discussions with all parties.
Earlier this month, Astro Arena quoted the MCA as saying it had been given a notice to vacate the Kinrara Oval, which was once a popular recreational ground for Kinrara residents, after its lease over the field expired. The land is the property of Kinrara Housing Bhd (PKB).
Reports at the time said the land on which Kinrara Oval stands would soon be redeveloped to make way for a shopping mall complex and condominium project. This sparked an outcry from players, supporters and cricket club chapters nationwide, some of whom took to protests last week.
Today, Mahinda said the ministry had indicated that it would arrange a meeting next week with MCA and the land’s legal owners, with representatives from the ministry to sit in as well.
He added however that he was not looking for “promises”.
“I plead with all parties to sit down and discuss this, and to look at this from a national standpoint… This is a manufacturing process; national cricket players were not made overnight.
“We need mass development of academies, and venues are important.
“We’re not looking for promises, but it was good of Steven Sim to take the time to understand the issue and join us in discussion,” he said when asked about the deputy minister’s meeting with MCA last Friday.
Mahinda said MCA had yet to receive word from PKB about renumeration or compensation for vacating the field, which also houses the lodging for national cricket players.
Since it opened its doors in 2003, the Kinrara Oval, a stone’s throw from the BK5 LRT station, has hosted several international cricket tournaments including the DLF Trophy involving Australia, India and West Indies, and the 2008 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
Kinrara Oval is also lauded by the international cricket community for its upkeep and state-of-the-art field.
Cricket enthusiasts previously told FMT that the field was one of the very few in the Klang Valley with proper facilities and accessible to many. The other two are the Bayuemas Oval in Pandamaran, Klang, and the Royal Selangor Club in the city.
The Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ), whose purview includes part of Puchong and Kinrara Oval, told FMT it was unable to stop the purported development as it did not have jurisdiction over the land.
However, it said it had yet to receive any application in writing from PKB to redevelop the site for commercial use.
Under Kinrara Bhd’s Housing Layout Plan and the MPSJ Local Plan (2nd revision) 2020, the land is designated as an open space for private recreation.
Asked to respond to MPSJ’s statement and whether it would be better to say it would reject any commercial-based applications from PKB on the land, Mahinda said it was better not to rock the boat at the moment.
“To be honest, the discussions are ongoing with the help of the ministry. Let’s wait for that… We just want to sit down and talk with everyone. Things are in motion. Let’s give things until next week,” Mahinda told FMT when approached at Kinrara Oval today.
He said an invitation had already been extended to Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman to visit the grounds and speak to the MCA. However, the minister has yet to do so owing to his busy schedule.
Earlier, Mahinda also spoke on how Kinrara Oval’s closure would impact the progress of the sport in Malaysia, which was stagnant for years until recently. He said 800 schools nationwide take part in the sport, with many training here.
The national cricket team won two medals in the sport at last year’s SEA Games, where cricket was contested for the first time in the history of the games. The last time the national team bagged a prize was in 2014.
Mahinda said ongoing matches which MCA had bid for and won, or had received word from international players that they wanted to play at the field would continue, such as the Women’s Cricket Series 2018 match and the ongoing Armed Forces Cricket Challenge 2018.