S'pore based landowner tears down Johor heritage mansion illegally

MALAYSIA - A landowner in Johor will be slapped with a maximum fine of RM$500,000 (S$192,000) after illegally demolishing a 150-year-old heritage mansion that once belonged to philanthropist Wong Ah Fook.

The demolition was done in the middle of the night.

The summons would be issued by the Johor Baru City Council under its Planning Act to the landowner, who is living in Singapore.

Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) chief whip Yahya Jaafar said the owner might have been worried that the state government would acquire the land at a price lower than the market value and thus hastily demolished the mansion in the middle of the night last Wednesday.

The owner wanted to develop a commercial property in its place, reported Malaysia's The Star.

"The land in the Jalan Lumba Kuda area in the city centre where the mansion stood is worth a lot due to the surrounding development under Iskandar Malaysia," said Mr Yahya on Sunday.

"That could be why the landowner was in such a hurry to tear down the mansion to develop a commercial property in its place."

LONG ACQUISITION PROCESS

It is learnt the land could be worth RM$30 million in the market.

Mr Yahya said the acquisition process would usually take some time and the landowner might have been trying to take advantage of that.

He said that no proposed building plans have been submitted to MBJB yet.

And there was also no application for a permit to demolish the building, reported the New Straits Times.

"We did not receive any application from the landowner to demolish the mansion.

"An application must be submitted to the local council for approval before doing so.

"This is a standard procedure for landowners who wish to expand, renovate or demolish a building or house," said Mr Yahya.

Wong Ah Fook, after whom the city's main street is named, was the chief government contractor who built some of the most recognisable heritage buildings in Johor, including Istana Besar, Balai Zaharah, the residence of first Mentri Besar Datuk Jaafar Mohamed at Bukit Senyum and the Johor Baru prison in Jalan Ayer Molek.

He was born in 1837 and died in 1918 at the age of 81.

The city council is investigating the illegal demolition and the Johor Baru mayor would issue a summons to the owner soon, said Mr Yahya.

The Johor Baru Chinese History and Heritage Museum chairman Tan Chai Puan said the incident had prompted a non-governmental organisation to start making an inventory of all the historical buildings in the state, especially in Johor Baru.

This article was published on May 6 in The New Paper.

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