Kuala Lumpur became a Federal Territory on 1 February 1974. Our capital city will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024. The Federal Government has repeatedly outlined a plan and vision to turn Kuala Lumpur into a World Class City with proper planning based on international standards. However, this vision to turn Kuala Lumpur into a World Class City failed as the former FT Minister from Barisan Nasional (BN), specifically YB Datuk Seri Utama Tengku Adnan, refused to implement and gazette the KL City Plan drawn up by urban planning experts. Instead, Tengku Adnan approved many high-density development projects on ill-suited sites in Kuala Lumpur while he held the Federal Territory Minister portfolio. This disrupted all the planning that had already been done to turn Kuala Lumpur into a World Class City.
Given that Kuala Lumpur will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024, we, the Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament for Kuala Lumpur want to urge the Federal Territories Minister YB Tan Sri Annuar Musa to clearly set the direction of development and governance in Kuala Lumpur. He is also urged to foster co-operation between the agencies responsible for Kuala Lumpur’s development with Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament to co-govern Kuala Lumpur. This is because we have been democratically chosen by the people in the past 14th General Election (GE14), and therefore have the legitimacy to represent the voice of Kuala Lumpur residents as well as raise any issues faced in our parliamentary constituencies to both the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (KLCH) and the Federal Government.
Today, we live in an age full of trials and challenges. Kuala Lumpur City really needs good governance as well as fresh and new vision. Therefore, we urge the Federal Territories Minister to set up a “Bipartisan Kuala Lumpur 2024 Committee”, draw up plans and policies starting from now until 2024, and govern Kuala Lumpur with the city’s elected representatives.
1) Kuala Lumpur Should Become An Example To Other Cities in Malaysia
There are many intellectuals and professionals who live and work in Kuala Lumpur. We need to work with them to better understand the challenges that are currently faced and will be faced by Kuala Lumpur and our country, in particular:
- To improve city planning, housing policies, and the public transportation system;
- To address environmental issues as a result of climate change; and
- To address the economic downturn as well as create job and business opportunities post Covid-19.
2) Short Term Covid-19 Agenda and Post Covid-19
The Federal Territories Ministry and KLCH should play a proactive role in working together with other government agencies to curb the spread of Covid-19 within the Kuala Lumpur community. This includes implementing a mass testing program and vaccination that will enable the people’s lives to return to normal as soon as possible. KLCH could follow in the footsteps of the Selangor State Government by facilitating the purchase of 1 million vaccines for Kuala Lumpur residents for the purpose of hastening the vaccination process for the population.
The government can utilise this Bipartisan Committee to conduct engagement sessions with residents and industry players in the business sector to create a framework and address problems faced by Kuala Lumpur city folks.
3) KLCH Becomes An “Open Service” To Allow Experienced Officers in Other Government Agencies To Be Transferred To Serve with KLCH
We urge the PN government to change KLCH’s public service from one that is “closed” to one that is “open”. This means that all KLCH officers will come under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Department (JPA) and the Government can therefore transfer more experienced and excellent officers in other government agencies to KLCH, while KLCH officers will also have the opportunity to serve in other government agencies.
Creating an open KLCH service system will surely contribute to governance that is clean, efficient, and has integrity.
4) Democratising Kuala Lumpur
KLCH’s expenditure is the largest of all of the cities in Malaysia. In fact, it is even larger than the expenditure of certain state governments.
Table 1: Comparison of the KLCH Annual Budget and several other states for 2020 and 2021
| State | 2021 | 2020 |
| KLCH | RM 2.65 billion | RM 2.97 billion |
| Perlis | RM 108.7 million | RM 253.97 million |
| Selangor | RM 2.32 billion | RM 2.33 billion |
| Perak | RM 1.21 billion | RM 1.09 billion |
| Kedah | RM 999.9 million | RM 1.09 billion |
| Kelantan | RM 1.57 billion | RM 1.1 billion |
| Johor | RM 1.85 billion | RM 1.78 billion |
In addition, Kuala Lumpur has a larger population compared to Perlis, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, and Terengganu.
Table 2: A comparison of Kuala Lumpur’s total population with other selected states in 2019
| State | Population |
| Kuala Lumpur | 1.78 million |
| Melaka | 928,000 |
| Negeri Sembilan | 1.12 million |
| Terengganu | 1.24 million |
| Perlis | 245,000 |
Therefore, the PN government should review the steps needed to roll out democratisation starting in Kuala Lumpur as there are many world class cities in other countries that hold local government elections for residents to choose their Mayor and city council members. Local government elections are also held in other regional ASEAN cities like Bangkok, Manila, and Jakarta.
Kuala Lumpur is the most suited city to hold Local Government Elections as it is the capital city with its own expenditure and a large population. Kuala Lumpur also does not have its own State Assembly. We urge the PN government to carry out a Local Government pilot Election (“Pilot Project“) in Kuala Lumpur so that any improvements and the most suitable model may be replicated by other local government authorities.
If Local Government Elections can be realised, then the time has finally come for the Federal Government to abolish the Federal Territory Ministry in order to avoid an overlap in jurisdiction for Kuala Lumpur’s governance.
Tan Kok Wai
MP FOR CHERAS
Fong Kui Lun
MP FOR BUKIT BINTANG
Teresa Kok Suh Sim
MP FOR SEPUTEH
Dr Tan Yee Kew
MP FOR WANGSA MAJU
Lim Lip Eng
MP FOR KEPONG
Fahmi Fadzil
MP FOR LEMBAH PANTAI
Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad
MP FOR SETIAWANGSA
P. Prabakaran
MP FOR BATU
Hannah Yeoh Tseow Suan
MP FOR SEGAMBUT