When the Subang Ria land matter first broke into the public space, I wrote in support of the position of the Subang Jaya assemblyperson, YB Hannah Yeoh, that truth and ‘ ketuanan rakyat ’ were the core matters.

I agreed then with her position. Now, the Selangor MB has come out in full support on this issue and the entire Selangor state exco has made a courageous stand on this matter, much unlike the High Chaparral case in Penang. And in this case, my vote goes to Selangor but not to Penang.

Truth matters in all areas and arenas of life.  But, somehow in the modern age of information technology and expediency of modernity, the truth of issues somehow has a less than complete life (they are driven only half-truths) in too many cases. What do I mean?

All truth must transcend space and time, and in fact add to generational knowledge and knowing. Let me take the case of my neighborhood green lung in our Kampung Tunku; our residential area developed by SPPK and named after our Bapa Merdeka.  

Ask anyone who has lived here longer than I have (I am only 25 years here) and they will tell you that the green lung (still marked green on every map of PJ) was our playground for the children and there were a basketball court, badminton courts and even a skating rink. My neighbour’s three-generational extended family that still lives here, had two of them who grew up within the playground of the green lung.

Today, so-called “development” has reached us so profusely in this “most developed state,” that our green lung is no more. The problem with that older model of so-called development, as we are finding out in the Middle East, has nothing to do with skyscrapers or industries; but, it has a lot to be with the quality of life we offer our third generation.

I also wrote another column disabusing the claim by the former MB; who is now finally and correctly charged with corruption; which is keeping him quiet for the first time in his life.

Marerialistic model of development

That materialistic model of development has abused our nation-state more than anything else; other than bribery and corruption. Its focus was on physical development with none or little concern for non-material development, or, what is called the quality of life, which is shameful, to say the least.

Take the rape of another green lung in our neighbourhood, “development” almost under the high-tension lines in Paramount Garden, as another example. Illegal approvals by MBPJ have resulted in a green lung adjacent to these high tension lines being “abused with two sets of high-rise buildings!”  

The two were developed under that mainstream type of development model of duality between espoused theory and theory-in-use. Therefore the developer was “forced to build low-cost flats for the squatters,” and approval was given for the luxury apartment complex which was illegally approved; both of which were within our green lung. The squatters were living on the green lung.

Today we face untold misery related to traffic and parking; which were created by the local authority’s poor planning and for which the residents are now being asked to pay a price with our quality of life and unequalled harassment by the MBPJ enforcement officers; under their “new performance model”.

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This is definitely not a sustainable model under our LA21 Agenda which MBPJ has espoused for some time now, but for which there is still a severe gap between espousal and execution of projects.

Therefore, there is more to the Subang Ria decision than meets the eye. It is not just about a state executive authority giving back what was originally meant to be their community green lung to the residents of Subang Jaya. Even greater is the moral courage of the state and exco to undo wrong doing.

It was a matter of truth. For, truth does matter in every area and arena of community life. And, where truth has been overlooked or ignored, we must revisit and bring to book all parties and those who colluded in wrongdoing. There cannot be any excuse good enough to not do that.

Doing what is right

I will urge the Sime Darby Group therefore to stop, think, not react but do what is right. The board of Sime Darby Berhad cannot fight with the community which has given value to your shares, and your history. It cannot fight with a sate where much of your so-called Vision Valley sits.  You cannot ignore what you call as your corporate social responsibility of your public listed group on such matters.

As is now evident the world over, the new reality is being learnt and appreciated that the third force of influence in the new governance model are educated and informed citizens who can say NO to abusive governments; whether here in Asia or even in the Middle East.  

Moreover, other than the power of the internetworked world of new technology, the West has very little or anything to do with what is happening. They are simply interested observers from a more developed society which has seriously been able to appreciate and balance their physical development with their non-material development.

They call that value system the democratic way of life. You cannot deny them that unless we genuinely have an alternative to offer. May God bless Malaysia.