Alaa… Biasalah tu… MPAJ kan..

Yesterday morning, I had the opportunity to attend a meeting with chaired by YBBB (Yang Betul Betul Bekerja) Ronnie Liu and some MPAJ Officers where the resident of Taman TAR , Bukit Antarabangsa and surrounding areas attended to discuss development matters in their respective areas.

First of all, allow me to say this – I am ashamed at the conduct of some MPAJ officers. The element of professionalism appears to be at the bottom of a very deep pit. I was appalled to see a meeting where a State Exco attended and the YDP was not even there. The Deputy came an hour later, I suppose the YDP must be involved in a meeting somewhere that cannot his presence is not excusable, that will give him a solid excuse not to attend today’s meeting.

YBBB Ronnie was not greeted at the entrance of the building. He came into the hall on his own. In fact, it was lucky that I had recognized him and greeted him in the hall. At the time he entered the hall, not many realized that he was already in the hall. If it was an UMNO man, I can bet you that there will be Bunga Manggar and a very long red carpet will be unrolled to ensure his shoes remains clean. MPAJ officers will be standing in a straight line right from the main road to the entrance of the hall. You can be sure no less than 5 to 6 goons be standing around him and walk into the hall to make him feel important and give him the VIP feelings.

It is not that I want MPAJ to give a similar treatment to YBBB Ronnie and I definitely do not agree with the show of excessive honour that is given to VIP but there must a certain level of respect. When YBBB Zuraida (she look very tired – probably overworked) walks in, I did not see any MPAJ officers greeted her. Had an UMNO man walks in, I can bet for sure that the whole meeting would have been interrupted because everyone wants to shake the YB hand. This is the state of affairs at MPAJ. Please be professional. Respect the office and the chair he sits on even if you don’t agree with their party flag. He is there because the majority of the people wanted him to be there. Maintain certain level of decorum and respect. Tan Sri Sidek (KSN), can you please look into the conduct of these officers. This cannot be allowed to happen.

Coming back to the issue of new development surrounding Taman Hijau and the Bukit Antarabangsa Food Court, without much option, I had to leave half way due to an unavoidable prior engagement. From the one hour that I had spent listening to the progress of the meeting, I can safely conclude that the people interest is not the main priority of MPAJ. It appears that development and businesses will take the centre stage. Listening to the cry and appeal of Dr Benjamin George and his experience in collapse of the highland tower, my heart wept in silence.

Dato Aziz and many more senior people in Taman TAR argued their case, I felt very sorry for them. For years, the Malay language has a proverb for this “ Mencurahkan air kedaun keladi” or in modern terms – masuk telinga kiri dan keluar telinga kanan. This is the attitude of certain MPAJ officers in dealing with the rakyat. People have to go all over the place to cry their grievances and in the case of the people in Selangor they have to change the government of the day, just to be heard fairly.

As I had mention earlier that it is rather unfortunate that I had to leave and could not say my piece in that meeting, I do hope this article reaches those in power. Please allow me to share with you my own experience in dealing with MPAJ.

Rules are meant to be broken – especially if you are the custodian and can break the rules.

I was appalled to be told that during the meeting and discussion of the food court issue that MPAJ knows that they broke the rules but they had no choice as it was an instruction from the top. Speculation is rife that the instruction is actually Khir Toyo office (of course this needs to be verified). At the onset of the development of the food court, the resident objected bit no one bothers about it. As usual, the people had to climb the many steps of MPAJ and on many occasions just to be heard and the cries of the people is recorded and kept in a file. Period – that is the end of the service.

Several years ago, when the developer of Puncak Utama wants to develop a piece of land near my house, we wanted to get more information. I am one of the few people that in the early stage that went to MPAJ to get information. I asked for basic information like TOPO charts and with much difficulty and trough one or two friendly low liner staff, I was able to obtain the information. The key word here is that it was not an easy task to get the relevant information.

Apparently there was supposed to be a hearing for the people so that those affected by the project can be heard. I suppose someone took a measuring tape and measured 200m from the project site and only very few residents was invited to attend the meeting. Guess what, we receive a 14 days back dated letter in my letter box on the morning of the hearing. Those who did attend the meeting, requested that the meeting be postponed as it did not provide the affected neighbours enough time to do their research as it did not comply with the 14 days notice. I remember the YDP then said that, lets not waste time and continue with the meeting. Those who are not happy can write in. The exact same phrase was used on the Taman Hijau Residence.

For Puncak Utama, it is very clear ( and I have sighted the report as well) that land gradient is Class III and IV by IKRAM assessment but the report is written in a very positive and encouraging note saying that certain mitigation factors can be implemented to convert the land from Class III and IV to Class II which then would make the land usable for development. It is quite obvious that the laws are being played around like a ball and the MPAJ officers probably close one eye on the matter.

During the construction, I think no less than 100 complain was made against the developer from many aspects. It seems the resident is more knowledgeable about the LA law then the MPAJ officers itself. Personally I have made about 10 complains. Can you imagine the developer can continue working using heavy machinery till 100 am at night and at one stage I got the police and MPAJ enforcement officer involved.

The enforcement officer was an ex military officer, my former staff. He was politely told to go and speak to his boss when he requested for a copy of documents that allows the developer to work “overtime”. This is how arrogance they are. I was told subsequently he too was to shut up when he brought with his boss. This is the state of affairs of things.

Coming back to the issue of food court, trough a “noble argument” someone convince the top management of the state, how they can relocate 13 hawkers in Bukit Antarabangsa by leasing a piece of land at dirt cheap price. Not only they manage to build a structure within record time of 3 months but they were also given a lot of exemption under the law. That is why when the structure was built, toilet and kitchen waste water are discharge directly into the river. This is the kind of flexibility that they were given. No CF requirements. The flexibility is given at the interest of business and “order from the top” at the expense of the people.

I am for one are not against developments. Companies buy land to developed and make some money. They should be allowed to do so BUT THEY MUST OBSERVE THE LAWS AND PROCESSESS STRICTLY. MPAJ should not only be the instrument for this development but rather must look at the bigger picture where it must protect the interest of the people. One of the important decision made yesterday is the formation of a subcommittee comprises of local residents, representative of developer and the authorities. This is a landmark decision. May I suggest that the state take a step further – make a law that makes it mandatory to the formation of such committee and the resident representative must be elected by the resident themselves and NOT APPOINTED by the developer…. just like the various independent consultant appointed by the developer to do EIA report and various other reports. I also suggest, the appointment of independent consultant is no longer done by developer but done by the local authorities but the developer pays for it. This way the true independence of the report will emerged.