9.3 land aCquisiTion poliCies in kuala lumpur

9.3 Land acquisition policies in Kuala Lumpur

Land acquisition in Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan Areas has been dependent on the changing landscape realizing some concerns. Firstly, the increase in demand for urban land and revaluation of the laws and policies deciding which groups of people are legally or morally entitled to land. The globalisation vision of KLMA has displaced people without formal registration of land leading us to our second concern. Which are the methods used by these displaced groups to seek and regain rights to land. This could be through the narration of history, ancestral occupation and inheritance. Narrating how they came to live or occupy that piece of land.

Geo-histories of Land and Economy

The continuous shift in political powers and partnerships across the region had direct impacts on broader land use and territorial administration. It became necessary to reform the existing land tenure which was considered harmful to capitalist development. The Malay rulers who held all Malay land were vested with the power to alienate land as they pleased. Secondly, land registration and documented land titles were introduced. Registration in local registers was recognized but it limited the ownership to smaller plots. There were also restrictions enforced on the rights of indigenous settlements to specific areas. In 1957 the state attained independence and inherited a political framework that facilitated capitalist control of land and resources. Established shortly before this, The Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) aided with the transformation of jungles into lands suitable for settlement.

The Malay squatters

Before independence, untouched land was considered no man’s land and free for Malays and Muslims to use. Once cleared and occupied for cultivation, the occupier was considered the rightful owner of the land for as long as he showed proof of cultivation or occupation. Once abandoned, the land was reverted to its previous jungle state. Land acquisition through this kind of squatting took place through clearance and cultivation however this was restricted to rural areas and sizes of less than 100 acres and

further reduced to 10 acres in 1926. This remained so until shortly after independence when squatters began to appear in urban areas. The state government intervened and ordered the clearance of squatters in 1963. The whole event was controversial as the squatters fed the growing demand for industrial labour, but it was considered unsightly in a city which was undergoing globalization. Many native or aboriginal groups were forced to move to the jungles to give way to the Malay groups. British had overseen this and legally set aside some rights to these native groups through the Perak Aboriginal Enactment 1939 which allowed them to claim ownership over their land in the form of aboriginal reserves.

Malay squatters (Source: Property hunter)