People of Selangor – Lets make the changes.

It has been a while since my last write up. Several people that I don’t even know sent me an email and ask me why I have stopped writing. Well, I did not stop. It was just a short pause as I had to attend to several family matters over the last 10 days or so.

Being a resident of Ampang and specifically Bukit Antarabangsa, over the last few years I have gradually developed a passion for this place I call home. However, I had also observed that the quality of life of the resident has actually deteriorated. While the wealth may have increased but the quality of life has gone down. There are many ways to measure the quality of life. Some use assets, number of properties, and amount of money in the bank etc

Quality Markers

The above are probably correct indices if we are looking from an individual perspective. What is the point if we have all the money in the world and yet when we are in the house, we have to close the doors and windows? It is not safe to open your doors and windows. In fact you can’t open your windows because the air is bad. Sometimes I think that the developer can save money by building houses without windows!

What is the point if the moment we start our car, we are stuck in traffic. Thank god somebody invented air conditioning otherwise many of us would have suffered from early death due to the heat and environmental stress. When we return home it is too late to even meet your neighbours. The neighbour doesn’t know you and you don’t know them.

From a society point of view quality of life should be measured in the aspect of eco balance within the habitat that we live in. We are part of the ecosystem. Unfortunately we, the man kind are the worst component of the ecosystem. In the name of development, we destroy many things including the most comfortable habitat that we lived in. In the end we had to confine ourselves to the house that we lived in. You open your doors, you see another concrete structure.

Quality of life is measured from the level of stress and happiness in the environment they lives. Right now in Ampang the very least, I can see that stress is very high. There is a high rate of divorce. There is a very little smile among the residents. During community program, there is little participation among the residents. The growing sign points towards development of a chronically ill society.

Why is it happening?

1. Development and developments.

Over the years of living in Ampang, my observation tells me that the government and many people in it interpretation of development is akin to having more buildings. In the name of developments, people with the right connections with the people in power can build anything. For e.g. in Ampang even river banks are not spared.

Using the San Antonio River project in Texas as a model, with the cooperation of a private corporation, the LA built Ampang walk with a big flaw. In San Antonio, the shops face the river and the shoppers walk along the cool banks which is planted with trees and flowers but in Ampang the river is right behind the shops. In San Antonio, there are river banks café but in Ampang, the back of the café face the river.

It is quite obvious that when this project was being done, the focus was not on the people but on business. We keep on creating more and more business premises. Every inch of land is being converted into business premises. At the Ampang Point- Ampang Hilir traffic intersection, a small piece of land with plenty of trees has been levelled and turn into another row of shops.

We lost one of the beautiful assets in Ampang Jaya when the rivers banks could have been turn into a linear park but it became another development eyesore. The river bank could have been use as the basic asset to improve the quality of air, the quality of health and beauty of Ampang as a whole. It could have been made into a place where families can go and sit down and enjoy the clean river. They can have games and family day and many more. It could have provided the very basic necessity for the people to enjoy the space and improved quality of air.

2. The people become is no longer the primary focus –

Making money for some people with connection is the new focus

Even though Selangor has proclaimed itself as a Developed State, I feel Ampang itself has taken the reverse mode. To be developed is not about to have more buildings. If this is the index of development, then I suggest the people that do the index to go back to school. Sometime last year there I noticed a sign board put up by MPAJ that a piece of land in the middle of Ampang shopping area is to be turn into a multi storey parking area. As usual, they were responding to a proposal by a private sector. It receives many objections from the business owners around that area. No doubt the problem is parking and it is in serious shortage. The solution may not be in building more parking. Many people complain but no one knows the outcome of the project. Rumours have it that was supposed to start after the 12^th GE.

The proponent of this project actually was trying to force their way trough this project. I believe it is because there is money to be made for all those who are involved. But it is quite obvious it is not the case. MPAJ should focus itself on zoning and control planning and then tender it out. Let the private sector do an open competitive proposal. The LA then can select the best proposal in terms of parking, aesthetic and making it a cool shopping area and a small public park in the centre where people can sit down after meals and in between meetings. I am not sure what happen to the proposal.

Another example where people is not the main focus but business it where it approves the development of a piece of LA land for the benefit of the certain people and businesses. The land in question is located right across Tesco Ampang where in the year 2000 the LA, approved the construction of commercial buildings on the land. They went ahead with the project despite people’s objections as there was no real benefit for the people. In actual fact it is believed that few inner circle benefits including some people that are very close to UMNO Pandan.

This are some of the few of the examples there I can mention here. In Bukit Antarabangsa, State land is alienated to companies and development is being approved haphazardly. Food court being built at an extremely fast paced on a piece of land that is zone for Tadika. It is unbelievable to note that a piece of land right behind the site of our mosque has been alienated by the state to a RM2 company. There was no competitive bidding and what is even worst is that the land is so hilly and consists of sandy soil and yet they are talking about building bungalows. Again why is this being done- is it in the best interest of people. It is quite obvious – it is no.

What can we as the citizen do?

The citizen has actually made the first step. They have changed the government in Selangor. Being a new government of the day is tough especially when the machinery is still the old government. The sad part is that the official machinery i.e. state employees and the Local Authorities which should be impartial has been ingrained within them the need to serve the political masters instead of serving the people. The attitude needs to be change.

Only the people can change this people attitude. The racist now needs to be more alert and must go into a surveillance mode. If they see that there is certain level of unprofessionalism or it appears that decisions has been made at the local authorities which does not make sense, they must bring this matter up to their representative.

In the similar fashion, the state representative must make themselves contactable by advertising their contact emails and addresses. I took the first attempt by sending an email to TSKI to explain to him on what is the expectation. Unfortunately I have no idea if he actually receives it as there has been no reply. This is different when I send an email to the KSN (Tan Sri Sidek) where I get a reply. Apparently he carries a blackberry around that enables him to read all emails while he is on the move.

While the ideal thing is to have a local council election but currently the law doesn’t permit. There is nothing stopping the state from having an election to “find suitable candidates which is to be appointed to the council.” This can be done via the Resident Association where the RA nominates their representatives for the state administrator to consider. We just need to be creative to find a solution and there is no limit to where creativity can take us. The state can even advertise the position of the LA YDP to ensure the best brain gets the job.

As a land owner, we cant stop them from developing their land. It would be totally unfair but what we need to do is to ensure that a balance development is being done. If there is a weakness in the law then the law need to be addressed. If there is a weakness in the delivery system then, the people involved in the delivery must be taken to task.

As for me being the resident of Bukit Antarabangsa, I hope to see the day where the entire BA is being turned into a Park where people can have a safe place to walk, jog, and socialize. BA is a beautiful place and we should improve the quality of life of the residents.

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