Putrajaya should return Kuala Lumpur to Selangor

COMMENT The federal government should return the administration of Kuala Lumpur to the Selangor state government, after having alienated Kuala Lumpur to the federal government more than 39 years ago.

In 1974, the then BN government decided to alienate Kuala Lumpur as a whole to the federal government administration, a move that was politically motivated by ostensibly upgrading Kuala Lumpur as a "federal territory".

Since then, Kuala Lumpur was placed under the administration of Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) which is headed by the mayor of Kuala Lumpur.

After 39 years of being under the DBKL administration, the DBKL has proven itself to be ineffective in improving the administration of Kuala Lumpur. It came to a point where DBKL had to be adopted by Permudah to "restore" DBKL.

This took place because Kuala Lumpur had been administered by way of centralisation of power in the hands of the mayor and the federal territory minister.

KL citizens could not voice their views

The citizens of Kuala Lumpur did not have any chance to voice their points of view when the decision was made to alienate Kuala Lumpur to the federal government and in 1974, the decision to alienate Kuala Lumpur to federal government was done in a rush.

Furthermore, federal government has Putrajaya as central administrative capital to replace Kuala Lumpur. Putrajaya was formerly a part of Selangor. In 1974, federal government only paid RM200 million as compensation to the Selangor government as the "acquisition" price for Kuala Lumpur.

Annually, the Selangor government only receives RM18.3 million from the federal government as compensation for the yield loss from alienating Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya to the federal government as "federal territories".

Therefore, the federal government has to return Kuala Lumpur to Selangor since it already has Putrajaya. Kuala Lumpur resembles the lifeblood of Selangor. It is not only that Kuala Lumpur is physically close to Selangor, but many of Selangor's historical moments and events occurred in Kuala Lumpur.

My objective of repeating this call is to remind the federal government that it should not be silent on this matter any more.

In fact, the federal government should acknowledge the role of the Selangor government in matters related to the development and management of Kuala Lumpur. These have to be awarded a well-deserved honour and recognition.

LAU WENG SAN is the DAP state assemblyperson for Kampung Tunku.