Who 'owns' Kuala Lumpur?

Racial composition in Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest gap when only 21.9 percent of commercial and residential land in the capital are owned by the Bumiputera.

It is believed that this due to the design in the urban development that ignore the importance of Bumiputera's rights as enshrined in the constitution.

The debate on the inequality of ownership issue has since been raised by several non-governmental organisations (NGO).

Realising this, the Malay Consultative Council (MPM) and Pertubuhan Pemikir Agenda Watan Malaysia (PEMIKIR) have urged the government to change the status of all state-owned lands in Kuala Lumpur, such as the yet-to-be-developed government quarters, into Malay reserve land status.

Member of the PEMIKIR supreme council, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman also called on the authorities to look into Article 89 of the Federal Constitution on the Malay reserve land.

Abdul Aziz referred the issue when the economic inequality of Bumiputera, among the Malays in particular, is at its lowest level and therefore they are unable to compete in the current development trend.

MPM secretary-general, Datuk Dr Hasan Mas said the reserve land or land that has been gazetted as the Malay reserve land, must remain in accordance with the constitution. He, however, claimed that this has not been implemented.

In a press conference on Saturday, the two NGOs said this issue has been going on for quite some time, making it difficult for the Malays to compete in the capital city, and that they have increasingly been neglected.

Referring to the current 21.9 percent Bumiputera’s commercial and private ownerships, only 1 percent is of private ownership.