Govt will preserve convent school when lease expires, Land Office assures

 

The Convent Bukit Nanas girls' school will not be demolished once its lease expires, assured the Federal Territories Land and Mines Office.

Instead, the office's director Muhammad Yasir said the government's intention not to renew the lease is to allow it to help preserve and fund the school after the lease expires.

"Right now, Convent Bukit Nanas is partially aided and it is a very old school. It will benefit more if it was made a fully-aided government institution," Yasir was quoted as saying by The Star yesterday.

Among others, he said the government will bear the cost for remedial works if there is a landslide or erosion at the slope near the school.

The school - which is over 120 years old - is set to lose its land lease in September after a bid to renew it was rejected by the Land Office last December.

Yasir assured that the land the school is on would not be redeveloped once the lease expires.

"However, if the school board (Lady Superior of the Society of Saint Maur) wants to continue operating the school, they can appeal to the Federal Land Commissioner who owns the land lease.

"If they choose to do so, the school may not be able to enjoy the full benefits that come with being a fully-aided government school, '' he said.

Convent Bukit Nanas was established in 1899 and moved to its current site in 1909.

Distinguished alumni include former minister Rafidah Aziz, Bank Negara governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus, writer Adibah Noor, lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan and a number of prominent royal figures.

Online petition

Despite the Land Office's assurances yesterday, an online petition has been launched to lobby for the school's preservation.

As of 7.30am, some 31,500 people have signed the petition. The petition, launched on April 19, is targeting 35,000 signatories.

National heritage NGO Badan Warisan Malaysia said losing the school would be a tragic loss to the country, and that the government must gazette it as a heritage site.

"Convent Bukit Nanas, like all great schools and colleges in the world, possesses a legacy of fine educational traditions and architectural buildings.

"It would be a tragic loss to our nation that this fine legacy is carelessly destroyed if that corner of Kuala Lumpur at Bukit Nanas is further developed.

"Convent Bukit Nanas had reportedly written to the Lands and Mines office on Oct 4, 2017, to seek an extension of the land lease but was told on Dec 18 last year that the lease would not be renewed," the NGO said in a statement last night.

The school is seeking a certiorari order to quash the decision by the Lands and Mines office to not extend the land lease and mandamus to compel the Federal Territories Lands and Mines director to revoke the land lease non-renewal letter.

In filing the application, Convent Bukit Nanas said the Lands and Mines office had failed to consider the impact of its decision on the school’s students and teachers. - Mkini

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