THE Malay Agricultural Settlement (MAS) administration board of Kg Baru is no longer relevant in managing permits and approvals for development in the historic Malay enclave in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

The Kampong Bharu Development Corporation (KBCorp), an agency under the Federal Territories Ministry, said today that this was the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ legal view, which was also conveyed by the minister to the MAS board on February 13.

“The function of managing land in Kg Baru is to be fully implemented by the Federal Territories Land and Mines Office and not MAS,” KBCorp said in a statement today.

The change was agreed to by Selangor’s Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah in December, KBCorp added.

As such, matters related to development planning, building approvals, parking lot fees, permits for traders, rental for advertising space and other functions MAS used to perform will no longer be carried out by the administration board, KBCorp said.

Instead, they will come under Kuala Lumpur City Hall.

The MAS administration board was established when Kg Baru was gazetted as MAS land in the 1900s under British rule.

Since then, the MAS board has represented Kg Baru villagers, who have welcomed redevelopment of their village without the need to sell their land to the government or non-Malay developers.

Redevelopment of the village has been a thorny issue beset by disagreements over the price of land, overlapping lots, inheritance claims, the nature of development, resettlement concerns as well as whether locals would benefit from future projects. – June 6, 2020.