KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 — Environmental pressure groups have urged the government to suspend further development in Bukit Persekutuan, formerly known as Federal Hill, over fears of possible landslides.
Citing the Batang Kali landslide last week that has killed at least 24 people, Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) senior adviser Tan Sri Salleh Mohd Nor said residents feared the same at Bukit Persekutuan that was under heavy development.
“A developer has already acquired a plot of land in Bukit Persekutuan to build a mixed development. While MNS is not against development, but Bukit Persekutuan is unsuitable for this purpose.
“As it is, there are cases of severe soil erosion due to felling and uprooting of fully matured trees and inadequate drainage system,” he told a media briefing today at the MNS headquarters on Jalan Kelantan, that is located in Bukit Persekutuan.
Warning signs
According to Salleh, soil settlement has damaged roads such as Jalan Kelantan, while damaged Gabion walls — which indicate the propensity for landslide — have been observed along Jalan Negri Sembilan.
In December 2021, Salleh said landslides hit parts of Bukit Persekutuan along Lorong Travers, Jalan Kelantan and Persiaran Negri Sembilan (vicinity of the plot acquire by developer) after flash floods had occurred in the city.
“Bangsar Indah Condominium, which back into the hillock of Bukit Persekutuan and houses in Bangsar at the bottom of Persiaran Negri Sembilan were badly hit with landslides.
“Tenants in the condominium and houses had to be evacuated because of the danger or furthers occurring landslides,” he said.
Concerns grew when Jalan Abdullah residents (a neighbourhood next to Bukit Persekutuan) pointed out that there is a natural waterway in view of the construction of high-rise apartments in the vicinity.
According to residents, however, there are two contradicting reports by the Mineral and Geoscience Department (JMG) over the presence of the waterway.
“I’m concerned as Jalan Abdullah is adjacent to Bukit Persekutuan. We need absolute clarity in this matter.
“In view of how landslide prone and fragile Bukit Persekutuan is, we cannot afford to trigger another calamity.
“Who knows, it could possibly be in the scale of Batang Kali claiming casualties and victims that could occur in Bukit Persekutuan or adjacent to Bangsar,” said Salleh, indicating that it was proven that the fatal landslide at three campsites in Batang Kali was caused by the weakening of hillslopes by underground water flow, as revealed by the Mineral and Geoscience Department.
Gazette Bukit Persekutuan
Again citing Batang Kali, MNS renewed its call for the government to gazette what is left of Bukit Persekutuan’s green lung and the heritage it houses.
“We must preserve what is still left before this green lung and heritage site is totally wiped out.
“Maybe this is the takeaway from the Batang Kali tragedy, where nature is telling you that its wrath cannot be underestimated and that we should heed nature’s call to preserve and protect, especially in this climate-challenged era.
“The proposed gazettement exercise is just a way to stop unsustainable and rampant overdevelopment and this is our proposed remedial action to avert natural disasters such as landslides and soil erosion,” added Salleh.
This is not the first time that MNS is making a proposal of such. The group first made the call in 2008 and again in 2021, when it proposed that Bukit Persekutuan be gazetted and turned into a world-class conservation, recreational and heritage site that will also contribute to the goals of the Kuala Lumpur Low-Carbon Society Blueprint for 2030.
In 2018, the Selamatkan Kuala Lumpur NGO now headed by Datuk M Ali had urged the government to reverse a land swap deal made with SP Setia Berhad that included plans for a mega property development.
SP Setia, a government-linked company, had then acquired a 20-hectare plot of government land in the vicinity of Bukit Persekutuan in a land swap deal in 2012.
The development could threaten the MNS headquarters, a building that traces its age back to 1921 located on Jalan Kelantan.
Bukit Persekutuan is in the vicinity of historical sites pertaining to the country’s independence like the National Monument, Dataran Merdeka, Parliament House and the Merdeka Stadium.
The hill, located opposite the KL Sentral development in Brickfields and borders the Lake Gardens, was opened in 1896 as a government residential area, with bungalows for senior officers of the Federated Malay States.
In 1952, the housing scheme was expanded and the whole area officially named Federal Hill (now renamed Bukit Persekutuan) in commemoration of the Federation of Malaya in 1948.
Today, the roads that wind through the hill ― Jalan Persekutuan, Jalan Selangor, Jalan Negri Sembilan, Jalah Kedah, Jalan Kelantan, Jalan Terengganu, Jalan Johor and Jalan Perlis ― may be only familiar to motorists as an alternative to beat the heavy traffic on Jalan Mahameru.
But behind these names, the concept of “Federal Hill” commemorates the formation of the Federation of Malaya in 1948, which led to Malaysia’s independence on 31 August 1957, said Salleh.
The roads were named after seven of the Malayan states ― Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor and Perlis ― as there were streets in Kuala Lumpur already named after the other four states.
“The natural development of Bukit Persekutuan could go further as an extension of forest park network linking the Lake Gardens, Taman Tugu, butterfly and bird parks as well as Carcosa Seri Negara and Dataran Merdeka,” he said.
Stronger voices
With all that has been said and yet to be materialised, MNS board of trustee John Koh said it is time that the MPs whose constituencies are facing similar dangers come together to halt overdevelopment of nature.
“If our MPs such as Hannah Yeoh (Segambut) Fahmi Fadzil (Lembah Pantai) and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (Setiawangsa) come together to raise these environmental issues, I believe we can bring some change to protect the areas of concern.
“Otherwise, we have to wait for nature to take its course, and that is something we do not want,” he said warning against more disasters that could happen in Bukit Persekutuan if nothing is done soon.
Agreeing with suggestions to gazette Bukit Persekutuan, MNS executive director IS Shanmugaraj said the abandoned government residential quarters could be refurbished and be used as NGO offices.
“I have been applying since four years ago, and every year they will give me a new excuse of why the abandoned government residential quarters are not available.
“Sometimes they will say its full, then later they told me they are renovating, and until now it’s still left vacant and unkempt,” he said.
Weighing in, conservationist architect Datuk Hajeedar Abdul Majid of Icomos Malaysia (International Council on Monuments and Sites) said the Batang Kali landslide tragedy showed Malaysians did not learn from past mistake and incidents.
Expressing his frustration, Hajeedar said even a tragedy the magnitude of Highland Towers failed to make the authorities take heed.
The Highland Towers disaster refers to the 1993 incident in Kuala Lumpur where one of three apartment blocks collapsed due to soil erosion and killed 48 people in the nation’s worst housing tragedy.
“I was one of the investigators, but we were not allowed to reveal anything as information were classified as OSA (Official Secrets Act 1972).
“How are we supposed to learn about anything if such important information is being classified as OSA?” said Hajeedar.
Additionally, Icomos Malaysia has called on the government to conduct an immediate review of the area as a heritage site and to look into ways and means of revitalising Bukit Persekutuan.
