Today saw a mass gathering of people from all walks of life at Bukit Kiara, there to show support for the effort to keep Bukit Kiara free from all development and keep it forever green. Thousands of supporters from near and far, including joggers, bicyclists, trail runners, families and kids turned up at 8am at Changkat Abang Haji Openg in TTDI, wearing their "Save Bukit Kiara" t-shirts. Greater than 1,000 people signed onto the petition to the authorities, agreeding that "they want Bukit Kiara exactly like it is", as created by Nature, not sculpted by machine. They want it to be gazetted immediately, not someday, after construction and privatization done.
The Government decided way back in 2003 to preserve Kiara as a park and have been trying ineffectively to gazette Bukit Kiara since. The pace of preservation has been glacial, but the pace of destruction, by DBKL, JLN, and private developers wastes no time at all. DBKL was to return a plot of land, Lot 52314, to the Land Office for gazetting, but was sued Nov 2011 by Berjaya's Bukit Kiara Resorts equestrian club. You can read the official court judgement to form your own opinion. Basically, given Berjaya the benefit of the the doubt and create a binding lease contract from oral discussions, and send DBKL and us packing. DBKL lost and have not appealled the ruling to date, denying the Government and the people of Malaysia from 62.5 acres of clean green lung. The total forest of Bukit Kiara is estimated at 466.86 acres, but gazettement in-toto has been stalled by the Berjaya vs DBKL fiasco. At risk is the 62.5 acres on which it is thought Berjaya would now like to build several private structures including a hospital, 4-story shoplots, 4 blocks of condominiums, a huge stadium, an expo hall, 1,000 car parking spaces, and a swimming pool.
Today's walkers hope to signal to DBKL that any development is unacceptable, and all measures must be taken in the Rakyat's interest to preserve the forested hills. Perhaps DBKL can appeal the decision which took a oral discussion and conflated it into a lease-agreement out of thin air, complete with terms and conditions such as it is a 70 year lease from 1994 onwards. Perhaps DBKL can reject any development plans Berjaya submits, as long as the Public can see them. Perhaps the land can be retained as a "public open space" not a private grassy enclave to those who can pay membership fees.
Additionally, today's event is to remind everyone that the struggle is not over. In fact very government department charged with preserving Bukit Kiara (Jabatan Landscrape Negara or JLN) have misdirect thier efforts & consultants. They plans are clearly not inline with what 11,000 signatories have said and unambiguously declared: "We want Bukit Kiara Exactly as it is" with no development or man-made improvements. And that the entire forest should be gazetted immediately, especially Lot 52314 and Lot 54270, before Berjaya can spoil it. We've waited years, decades even. Why is it so hard to get a sign-off in the Warta Kerajaan? But so easy to begin cutting and plowing Nature? We want not so much a landscaped cemented park, in the sense of Hyde Park, but a natural dense forest, undisturbed by machine and man. There is precious little forest left in KL, can't car parks and retail cafe's by located in existing shoplots?
However, the ill-thought-out development plans hatched last year, by JLN - to develop, cement, trim, cut and prune the forest is alive and well. With no public involvement, as was promised 31 July last year by Ministry Chor, and not even a public notice, workmen have this month commenced to survey and drill, perhaps for piling locations for their planned multi-story carpark within the forest, amongst many other structures. As their unapproved plans indicate, they seem to be quietly plowing ahead, on Lot 54270, just 10meters from today's public display of dismay towards the authorities. What happened to the promise "to preserve the forest as well as repair the damage" and "public engagement sessions" as Chor promised 31 July last year?
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