Seven Pakatan Rakyat MPs in Kuala Lumpur will demand that the City Hall (DBKL) cancels all the assessment tax hike notices sent to property owners in the federal capital.

tan kok wai 160211 The demand will be aired during a meeting with Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

The MPs said the drastic tax hikes, which were up to 300 percent for some property owners, should be cancelled until a full engagement process was carried out with the MPs and relevant stakeholders.

Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai ( left ) said the MPs' service centres were flooded with property owners signing their objection to the new rates, and estimated that there would be nearly 100,000 people filing their objections before the Dec 17 deadline.

"How will DBKL conduct hearing for all 100,000 of them? The local council laws already state that a hearing must be conducted for each individual objection," he said.

The MPs will also be demanding that DBKL discloses to them in full the draft for the 2020 KL development plan before it is gazetted.

They said that in a meeting with Tengku Adnan two months ago, they were not notified or warned about DBKL's move to re-evaluate properties in KL.

NONE Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said that the MPs would not budge from unless these demands are met.

 
DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok ( right ) called the steep hikes a "ridiculous" move that could only be explained as a political move to punish voters for backing Pakatan Rakyat in the May 5 general election.

She issued a statement saying that even Kuala Lumpur's ex-mayor Elyas Omar did not find the move reasonable.

"City Hall has bigger revenue compared to what it had 30 years ago. So, why must City Hall increase the assessment? There is no need to increase it even by 10 percent," Elyas was quoted saying by the Malay Mail Online .