Recently Parti Gerakan did a search at the Pejabat Pengarah Tanah dan Galian Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur on the 100 Quarters registered under title No: HS(D): 119632 PT: 29 Section 72, and the record shows that the property is held under Jabatan Ketua Pengarah Tanah dan Galian Putrajaya.

There is no individual title issued for the open field at Lorong Chan Ah Tong in Brickfields Kuala Lumpur adjacent to the 100 Quarters.

The records in the land office show that the open field under plan No: CP 25490 Lot No: 266 Section: 72 is gazetted by the Selangor State Government on 09 April 1970 under gazette No: WKNS 212/9.4.1970 to be reserved for the purpose of a site for a public open space to be under the control of the commissioner of federal capital Kuala Lumpur.

In this context Gerakan is shocked and puzzled how did Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) overlooked this and allowed the gazetted land to be developed by Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB).

There were objections from the stakeholders and residents in Brickfields on the proposal to develop the site. The 100 Quarters is still owned by the federal government, and the open space is gazetted and no development order (DO) has been issued to MRCB pending the outcome of the objections.

Therefore Gerakan would want the federal government to immediately cancel the memorandum of understanding MOU signed with MRCB and declare the land a heritage site.

Since it was a land swap made by the federal government with MRCB in exchange for the development of Little India, Brickfields, MRCB should consider its corporate social responsibility (CSR) and make peace with the stakeholders and residents in Brickfields for the mess  that they have created on the traffic flow in Brickfields. Gerakan also wants the federal government to convert the only open space in Brickfields  into a playground or park.                 

Brickfields one of the pioneer settlements in Kuala Lumpur was developed  in the 19th century. It also used to be site of the main depot for Malayan Railways (now known as Keretapi Tanah Melayu - KTM) during the administration of the British. The British authorities brought in people from Sri Lanka and South India to work in the railways and the depot. Today the depot has been transformed into KL Sentral.

S PARANJOTHY is former Gerakan National Youth chairperson.