MARCH 11 — Jalan Abdullah / Lorong Abdullah/ Lengkok Abdullah, Bangsar is the last remaining and oldest piece of residential Bangsar situated in Kuala Lumpur with bungalows and semi-detached houses built between 1929 to 1940.

Residents who have lived here for a long time have stated clearly and consistently that we want the residential status of our area maintained under the "Established Housing” Zone and have unanimously opposed any form of commercialisation in our area.

However our collective protest against commercialisation was ignored and instead our historic residential area was unfairly zoned as "Major Commercial” in the Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020.

The local community has worked tirelessly to correct this illogical zoning through several letters to the relevant departments and various dialogues involving the relevant authorities.

This includes presenting our position through a petition to the Draft Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2040 and and also at the follow-up public hearing, to which we have not received any response. Therefore, we were surprised when told that the process to gazette KLSP2040 is underway. Residents are now worried that we will be let down a second time.

The Member of Parliament for our area YB Fahmi Fadzil fully supports maintaining the residential status of this area and during a dialogue organised in his office on March 27, 2021, the top management of DBKL informed the residents that DBKL will consider reverting the zoning of our area to residential.

A letter dated April 21, 2021 by Datuk Zul (Director of Planning Department, DBKL) was sent to Fahmi Fadzil and copied to the residents Rujukan: (96) dlm DBKL.JPRB.5124/92. Excerpt of the letter as follows :

"2. Adalah dimaklumkan bahawa susulan daripada sesi komunikasi strategik yang telah diadakan pada 27.3.2021 dan permintaan penduduk berkenaan pengezonan semula lot-lot sekitar Jalan Abdullah kepada zon guna tanah kediaman akan dikaji semasa penyediaan Pelan Tempatan Kuala Lumpur 2040. Pihak DBKL juga menggalakkan penduduk dan pihak — pihak berkepentingan untuk mengemukakan pandangan semasa sesi Publisiti Draf Pelan Tempatan Kuala Lumpur 2040 yang dijangka pada bulan Julai 2021.”

Following the above and with reference to the Federal Territory (Planning) Act 1982 regarding the preparation of a draft local plan, section 13(6) states, "In formulating his proposals in a draft local plan, the Commissioner shall ensure that the proposals conform generally to the structure plan as it stands for the time being,...” which explains the urgent need to return our zone to "Established Housing”.

To avoid being short-changed a second time, in March 2023 residents have written to the prime minister to urgently intervene to assist and reinstate our area into the ‘Established Housing’ Zone.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.