I WAS quoted in StarMetro’s article “KL green lungs under pressure” (July 7) primarily in regard to leasing of reserved land to private parties.
This indeed happens to public purpose reserves.
But beyond this is a much broader discourse on how our government, through many agencies at federal, state and local level, holds in trust public land encompassing more than just reserves.
Today’s administrative practices are shaped by decades of statutory interpretation.
They do not change easily.
However, my emphasis on the current situation in the Federal Territory (FT) of Kuala Lumpur is actually about the unprecedented transparency we now have on land development matters under Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Hannah Yeoh.
In addition to being able to access green and public open space statuses and their gazettement details, the federal territory public also had their online access to developers’ planning applications status (“Portal OSC”) restored under her watch.
It is high time for the public to be informed and use such information to drive positive changes, starting with our own neighbourhoods.
My personal observation is that there are still far too few earnest users of this information.
With the long-awaited Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill having passed its first reading in Dewan Rakyat, such civil activism could positively affect the eventual new law’s nascent administrative practices, specifically in areas that would promote urban participatory governance.
Yeoh’s teams at FT Ministry as well as Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and Federal Territories Lands and Mines Office (PTGWP) must be commended for their work.
Gaps and shortcomings undoubtedly remain, but at the same time, stakeholders must demonstrate constructive use of the transparency already provided.
Communities agitating for better land and development governance can build broad data points that some future national coalition of civil society organisations could potentially use to campaign for wider, longer-term reforms.
The long road ahead starts with responsible grassroots activism demanding sustainable, equitable and constructive neighbourhood changes.
Kuala Lumpur citizens are now uniquely equipped to be the nation’s trailblazers.
Let us all live up to this responsibility.
And speaking of “equitable”, many may not be aware that there was a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAPBHR) launched in August last year.
It signalled our government’s acknowledgement of the need for equitability between big business and society at large.
Its current mechanisms are focused on “high-risk sectors” of the Malaysian economy.
Urban settings remain largely beyond the contemplation of the NAPBHR for now – so this is yet another area where urban civil society could campaign for change.
Whatever the setting, right to information (RTI) never fails to loom large as an obstacle.
Elsewhere in Peninsular Malaysia, the public still cannot access Portal OSC.
Developers’ planning application statuses remain inaccessible to the general public.
So we in Kuala Lumpur should reflect on how fortunate we are, and make the most of it.
Our constructive and effective use of the information transparency we have now would be the best protection against rollbacks by future administrations.
The road to reforming regulatory and administrative frameworks pertaining to land and development practices will be a long one.
There will be much inertia and vested interests to overcome, even if the political will can be found.
Our current statutory interpretations were shaped in the era long before Sustainable Development Goals existed.
Urban ecology and biodiversity were not material considerations when those development landscapes we take issue with today, were first alienated or converted.
Everything has to start somewhere.
I would humbly suggest to those who have started the journey to also think of “paying things forward” – to seek the change that will benefit communities beyond our own.
Malaysia will be a better place for it.
PETER LEONG
Kuala Lumpur
