The federal government should return Kuala Lumpur to Selangor.

The federal government should return the administration of Kuala Lumpur to the Selangor State government after alienating Kuala Lumpur to the federal government more than 39 years ago.

In 1974, the then BN government decided to alienate Kuala Lumpur as a whole to the federal government’s administration which is politically motivated by ostensibly upgrading Kuala Lumpur as a “federal territory”.

Since then, Kuala Lumpur was placed under the administration of Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) which was led by Kuala Lumpur’s Mayor. After 39 years being put under the direct administration of DBKL, DBKL was ineffective in improving the administration of Kuala Lumpur. It was up to a point where DBKL was adopted by Permudah to “restore” DBKL.

Such occurred because KL City has been administered by way of centralization of power in the hands of the Mayor and Federal Territory Minister. The citizens of Kuala Lumpur hadn’t any chance to voice their point of view when the decision was made to alienate Kuala Lumpur to federal government. In 1974, the decision to alienate Kuala Lumpur to federal government was done in a rush.

Furthermore, federal government has Putrajaya as central administration to replace Kuala Lumpur. Putrajaya was formerly a part of Selangor. In 1974, federal government only paid RM200 million as compensation to Selangor government as “acquisition” of Kuala Lumpur. Annually, Selangor government only receives RM18.3 million from federal government in compensating yield loss from alienating Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya as Federal Territories to the federal government.

Therefore, the federal government has to return Kuala Lumpur to Selangor since they already have Putrajaya. Kuala Lumpur resembles the lifeblood of Selangor State. It is not only that Kuala Lumpur is physically close to Selangor, but many of Selangor’s historical moments and events occurred in Kuala Lumpur. My objective of repeating this call is to remind the federal government that they should not be silent on this matter anymore. In fact, the federal government should acknowledge the role of Selangor government in matters related to the development and management of Kuala Lumpur . These have to be awarded a well-deserved honor and recognition.