Harapan Mps Urge Dbkl To Retain Management Of Community Halls

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Pakatan Harapan lawmakers have urged Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to ensure that management of community halls are not privatised, a practice that started during the previous BN administration.
Eight Harapan MPs from the city said no private parties should profit from these DBKL community halls. 
"Community halls built using public funds must be opened for use of the local community.
"It must be managed transparently by DBKL for public benefit, not by a private party with the intention of making profit," the group said in a joint statement today.
"During Harapan's time in government, we 'cleansed' these community halls from the control of BN parties, because there were those among them who used it as their private property by conducting businesses for personal profit.
"The Harapan government had taken over most of these halls and prevented further privatisation," they added.
The group urged DBKL to continue with the non-privatisation policy, on top of ensuring equal access to the facilities, including by opposition parties.
Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh told Malaysiakini they were informed of attempts to return to the old model, prompting the call to prevent it.
It was previously reported there were 330 units of community halls and sports complexes in Kuala Lumpur, and Harapan's takeover attempts, which started in 2019, involved 202 facilities on DBKL land but managed by third parties.

Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh (centre) at the Bukit Damansara Community Centre in 2019
Among others, Yeoh cited the successful handover of Bukit Damansara Community Centre from a private company back to DBKL in May 2019, resulting in a 50 percent cheaper rate for facilities including badminton courts, a sepak takraw court, football field and the main events hall.
Aside from Yeoh, the Harapan MP's statement was endorsed by Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai, Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Wangsa Maju MP Tan Yee Kew, Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil, Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad and Batu MP P Prabakaran. - Mkini

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