Zaliha told the Dewan Rakyat that in 2020, there were no policies at the Federal Territories level governing the consent threshold for land acquisition.
Thus, she said, the Land Acquisition Act 1960 was invoked against Kampung Sungai Baru residents who opposed the redevelopment plan.
It was only in 2021 that the federal territories authorities set the minimum consent threshold at 50%, in line with the Kuala Lumpur Redevelopment Implementation Guidelines.
She said the developer had submitted a request in 2020 to acquire the land, which included the existing terrace lots and flat units. The request was then raised at a post-Cabinet meeting on Sept 9, 2020, which was chaired by Annuar for deliberation.
Zaliha said the recommendations from the meeting were then submitted to the federal territories land executive committee on April 21, 2021, which was chaired by then Chief Secretary to the Government Zuki Ali, and was approved.
“Gazetting (of the Kampung Sungai Baru land) under Sections 4 and 8 of the Land Acquisition Act was done between June 18 and June 21, 2021,” she said during a special briefing on the planned redevelopment project.
“The then minister (Annuar) must be questioned over such a rushed decision, made within three days, which led to the entirety of Kampung Sungai Baru to be owned by the developer.”
Annuar served as federal territories minister from March 2020 to August 2021. The post was then filled by Shahidan Kassim, who held the post from August 2021 until November 2022.
Zaliha, in her speech, also expressed her empathy for Shahidan who, like herself, “inherited” the problems.
“All these processes were carried out way before Arau (Shahidan) became the federal territories minister. I have to explain all these so that there would be no misunderstanding (directed) towards my friend, Shahidan,” she added.
Zaliha also reiterated that there are no official records to show that the land in question was a Malay Agricultural Settlement (MAS) or Malay reserve land, based on checks made by the Federal Territory lands and mines office.
Any attempt to re-gazette the land as MAS or as Malay reserve land would require the consent of landowners, she said.
“These lands have been granted ownership and this (re-gazetting) proposal needs to be initiated by the land owners and not by the government,” she added.