This series is still thinking about and asking the question, are we 1Bangsa of Malaysians? Two weeks ago, our friends of Taman Aman decided to invite MP Tony Pua to a Dialogue Bersama Rakyat. This was part and parcel of our local governance engagement strategy in asking for increased responsibility and improved accountability by all our public officials.
After all we elected our MP, right? MP Tony was gracious and came with little or no fanfare. As one of the organisers, I made sure I was there by 8.45am and Tony arrived five minutes before time; but we had to wait for the residents to trickle in and the meeting started by 9.15am.
Tony is a very responsible MP because not only did he attend the dialogue on time, but, he also requested the assemblyperson for our area and the two councillors for the area to be present. I presume these are all DAP appointees and he wields some authority over their performance.
Residents then took turns to make their complaints, all seated on chairs arranged by the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) and at a basketball court which was since covered after the 2008 elections. Nevertheless one special complaint confused everyone and made us wonder what the real the story is.
One lady complained about a large tree in the neighbour’s yard but which was sitting on a hill and which had branches spread out wide into the other’s yards high in the sky. The problem was that the tree looked about 40 years old, may be very frail and it shed leaves into other yards. And whenever it stormed or rained with heavy winds, there is a fear that the tree may come crashing down.
The technical question which came up in my heart and mind was, “who is responsible for the ‘good behaviour’ of this tree?” Actually the MBPJ councillor replied, “MBPJ will not do anything about trees that sit in private space of yards.” MBPJ policy is only to cut or trim trees that sit in public spaces which are under their jurisdiction, and based on complaints.
Whose tree and space is this?
Two days after the dialogue, another resident called to complain that one of the other neighbours was having their property renovated, and their workers were dumping earth and debris in the land at the end of the road in SS1/25.
Yours truly then decided to do some citizen ranger work and drove to inspect and confirm the same. In fact I even took a photograph of the lorry dumping earth in the said spot. When I asked the workers why they were dumping debris onto Tenaga land (under the electricity lines), their response was that, “The temple people wanted the debris to make a parking lot.”
When I went down the slope and investigated, there was in fact a small temple shrine and some huts which looked like a gathering space for prayers by some people.
Just then, to me, the tree question got enlarged philosophically: “whose space is this now and who has authority to work on this tree in air space, and do anything under that space?”
Transposed, is it just Tenaga, whose land this is, or also it is MBPJ who defines proper use of such spaces of land under tension wires? More radically, what about the Royal Malaysian Air Force, which space do they control and how low is it their airspace? Do we now need airspace boundaries?
The rape of our green lungs and space
After 30 years of living in Kampung Tunku, we the long-term residents know which space belongs to whom; unless one really does not care about good local governance. Therefore also, just two weeks before the 2008 general election, when a group of residents came to my home to argue the case for ‘the setting up security or boom gates in our area’, I asked them two questions which they could not answer and so they left.
My questions were:
1. On whose land are we setting up the gates and did MBPJ approve these impediments and obstructions to local travel? Are they complying with the transport and travel bylaws?
2. If we merely protect ourselves, who takes care of the spaces behind my house which is outside the inside loop, and who takes care of houses not covered by our localized but self-interested security system? Do I then stop loving my neighbour whom I am taught to love?
The two promoters of the project left and the Selangor state government collapsed and was replaced by a Pakatan state government. Nevertheless, the new government also has not done much better although I went to meet YB Teng Chang Khim on this very issue.
Local governance with boom gates is a mess in much of richer Petaling Jaya. Consequently also, my rights to local travel are being made complicated by uncontrolled blockages by illegal structures; and unauthorised guards.
Rule of the jungle
If local government by-laws cannot be enforced well and accurately, and our public spaces are denied by improper legislation, I am determined to see to it that I will not pay assessment starting 2015; because MBPJ is being irresponsible and not accountable to enforce the laws fairly and accurately. They show a preference for the rich against the less wealthy.
The classic case of the ‘temple’ growing, and now ‘a parking lot’ being developed, under Tenaga lines is a simple example of our ‘close-one-eye culture’ that we have evolved in Malaysia. Our public spaces appear to belong to anyone who can scream or shout the loudest and get their way through power connections, including, I suspect bribery.
They use their power to carry their point. Who then cares about the rule of law; we rule by law of the jungle and neither reason nor logic, or our espoused rule of law principle is obeyed.
Message to Selangor MB and MBPJ mayor
Dear Sirs, I have come and made a formal complaint about the many abuses of green and other spaces in our Kampung Tunku area. I was even heard by the Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) subcommittee chaired by the then-deputy speaker YB Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad. Therefore mine was a formal written protest to the highest levels of state governance.
This column is also my formal notice to the MBPJ’s new mayor: Please be alerted that I have decided not to pay assessment starting 2015 until rule of law is properly established in our Kampung Tunku, which is after all named after the founding PM of Malaysia. I am prepared to meet you about mine and all other related complaints. The Tunku died for 1Bangsa of Malaysians.
Friends and readers, mine is not an unreasonable request, but I may opt for the Gandhian model, or the Martin Luther King model of peaceful resistance. After all, Gandhi did say, “Be the change you wish to see”.
May God bless Malaysia with rule of law and not rules of the jungle.
Are we 1Bangsa of M’sians? Part I
