Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh highlighted that the permanent housing should be built on the current 4-acre footprint within Taman Rimba Kiara.
With the 2023 Federal Court ruling that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had acted unlawfully to carve up Taman Rimba Kiara for a proposed development project, residents of Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) won their fight to keep the park intact. But the battle is not over for the longhouse community living on four acres of the 25-acre plot, who were promised permanent housing 43 years ago. When will that happen and how?
TTDI residents initiated the Save Taman Rimba Kiara campaign in 2016 after seeing a notice about plans by Memang Perkasa Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Malton Bhd, to build several blocks of luxury condominiums on 12 acres of the park that had been demarcated as a green space for public use under the KL Structure Plan 2020.
Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan, as the landowner of Taman Rimba Kiara, had entered into a joint venture with Memang Perkasa to develop the land. In 2017, DBKL issued a development order (DO) for the proposed project.
The TTDI community rose as one against the proposed project, saying they had not been told about it and there were no prior hearings to gather input from the public. After their protests and objections were ignored, they took legal action to quash the DO. When the High Court dismissed their lawsuit, they turned to the Court of Appeal and won their appeal. DBKL then took the case to the Federal Court which, on April 18, 2023, quashed its appeal to reinstate the proposed Taman Rimba Kiara development project.
Rumah Penantian, a documentary video by BFM released on YouTube today, traces the TTDI residents’ seven-year fight against “powerful forces and tells a human story that demands to be heard”. It has a happy ending with the Federal Court ruling. And last July, in response to Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh’s press conference in Parliament, the Cabinet directed DBKL to maintain Taman Rimba Kiara as a public park and green space, and build permanent housing on the existing footprint for the 98 families living in the longhouses.
That remains a work in progress for a community that has “sedang menanti” since 1982. The TTDI residents’ association hopes Rumah Penantian will inspire other RAs, NGOs and the public everywhere, should they face a similar situation in future. More immediately, they hope it can prompt questions on the covert actions of “certain forces” and what the authorities are doing about that.
Stay tuned for more on this saga.
