12 TELLING IT AS IT IS theSun | FRIDAY MAY 15 2009

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Green mayor
walks a fine line
KUALA LUMPUR
Mayor Datuk Ahmad
Fuad Ismail probably
has among the worst
jobs in the world.
The member of
the task force to im-
prove the civil service
and doing business in
Malaysia (Pemudah)
was happy as the sec-
retary-general of the Down2Earth
Housing and Local by Terence Fernandez immediate predeces-
Government Ministry
when a huge burden
was placed on his shoulders – to
select an individual to replace
Datuk Hakim Borhan as the
capital city’s chief executive.
Urban legend has it that Ah-
mad Fuad’s “failure” in finding
a suitable candidate led to Chief
Secretary to the Government
Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan
bestowing him with that honour
which came with a pay cut.
“The irony is that the man
(Ahmad Fuad) selected to find
the best person for the job is
the best man for the job!” said a
Putrajaya official.
At a time when Kuala
Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) was
under much flak for being a law
unto itself via arbitrary decisions, using taxpayers money to in-
approving mega projects with-
out instituting proper planning
requirements and deforesting
whatever that’s left of the city’s
green lungs, not to mention the
allegations of graft against City
Hall and its officers, Ahmad
Fuad was looked upon as the
knight in shining armour who
would wield his magic sword
and put things right again in the
much tainted local authority.
With his no-nonsense ap-
proach to work as evident from
his last posting as well as his
previous positions as Subang
Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ)
president and general manager
of the Penang Devel-
opment Corporation,
the self-confessed
green advocate was
a breath of fresh
air from previous
mayors – one who
quit over the pur-
chase of luxury cars,
another the topic of a
steamy tell-all book
and Ahmad Fuad’s
sor who seemed to
have a problem with
the people who decided not to
extend his service.
However, fact is further from
fantasy as Ahmad Fuad pores
over stacks of documents and
discovers that there is little he
can do without subjecting the
city to mega lawsuits from de-
velopers.
Case in point is the develop-
ment of Bukit Gasing where
parcels of land had be “paued”
to developers although City Hall
records show that they are listed
as green lungs.
As he is finding out, many
contracts and JVs have water-
tight agreements which restrict
his options to reverse without
demnify the aggrieved parties.
There is also little he can
do to overcome the transport
issues in Kuala Lumpur as he
is dependent on the Transport
Ministry and Commercial Ve-
hicle Licensing Board (CVLB)
doing their jobs in streamlining
public transport – not to men-
tion the powerful politicians
who own taxi permits and bus
companies.
However, unlike some of
his predecessors, I am told that
Ahmad Fuad has managed
to resist the letters marked as
“arahan mentri” or “sila beri
kerjasama”.
How long he will be able to
stand firm against the special
interest groups who even want
to control grass-cutting contracts
in the city is anyone’s guess.
Word has it that bee-lines are
being formed outside his office
with “support” letters from the
top for the development of budg-
et hotels, information kiosks and
even catering services.
Apparently he has waved
them off as you would a pesky
mosquito buzzing around your
face but will this eventually
cause his departure from City
Hall in favour of a more special
interest-friendly Datuk Bandar?
Only time will tell. Perhaps
for the first time in a long time,
the Ramadhan bazaars will be
operated by the poor man who
wants to earn an extra income
to keep his family going in these
challenging economic times.
One prays that there will be no
more instances of licences being
bought en bloc by the division
leader of a political party to be
sold at five times the licence fee
to those who are truly in need of
it and for whom the Ramadhan
bazaar was conceptualised in
the first place.
So, if the government is truly
sincere in revamping the repu-
tation and efficiency of DBKL,
then it should just allow civil
servants like the Datuk Bandar
to do his job and give him all
the support he needs to stand
up to politicians and powerful
businessmen who want to make
a quick buck at the cost of the
rakyat.
It is time for political might
to be matched by political will
in putting an end to the rot in
DBKL. One man cannot do it
alone, but if the powers-that-be,
for whatever reason do not want
to help Ahmad Fuad in reform-
ing City Hall, the least they can
do is to get out of the way.
Terence feels that after a long
time DBKL has the right man at
the helm, but is concerned that
he too will be overwhelmed by
politicians and special interest
groups which had brought the
local authority down to unflat-
tering levels. He is deputy editor
special reports & investigations
and can be reached at terence@
thesundaily.com
Public servants do not
take liberties
SHOULD we feel assured that Britain
(long established in parliamentary
democracy and the rule of law) is strug-
gling with the same problems of modern
immorality as its former colonies?
Should we feel smug that the
British who are so proud of their
established standards of etiquette and
decorum are not spared the incursions
of modernity and a more fluid interpre-
tation of morality?
The British people are reeling with
disgust over MPs’ exploitation of their
rights and privileges. A report by
American journalist Heather Brooke in
Daily Telegraph has revealed the most
trivial claims made by MPs from all par-
ties, which include claims for pet food
and garden manure and many more
things of a personal nature.
They are shocked that taxpayers’
money is being channelled toward
maintaining the private lives and fancies
of politicians. In one case, cabinet min-
ister Hazel Blears is said to have made
a huge profit selling her property which
the public helped to maintain.
This is just the tip of the iceberg and
there’ll be many more revelations I’m
sure of the liberties taken by politicians
to interpret parliamentary rules. So
Not by top marks alone
I REFER to news reports on the selec-
tion criteria for Public Services Depart-
ment scholarships. I would think that
“meritocracy” would mean that the
person selected is the most qualified to
be offered public scholarships to pursue
tertiary education overseas.
If a student scores 15 As but lacks
communication skills, social skills and is
not involved in any co-curricular activi-
ties where he would be able to acquire
and display leadership skills and other
abilities that he would need to excel in
the “real” professional world, would that
person be the most qualified compared
to a student who achieved 10As but who
is more well-rounded high achiever?
When applying for jobs with large
successful multinational companies, do
they immediately hire the person with
many more grey areas will emerge as
to what is allowable and what is not in
the conduct and behaviour of public
servants. For servants they are indeed.
And servants do not take liberties.
Closer to home we hear of ministers
using public funds for family holidays
under the cover of official trips. Even
expenses incurred by household maids
are claimed out of their rights and
privileges. Excess baggage from shop-
ping trips are thrown together with
official baggage. This – apart from the
wining and dining.
I hope the KPIs proposed by the prime
minister for the cabinet and by the chief
secretary for public servants will have
a means of measuring a ministry’s ex-
penditure for official as well as unofficial
needs. And this must be made available
for public scrutiny.
I hope ministries and their depart-
ments are transparent in their claims for
entertainment, gifts, favours and other
things included as necessary in the line
of duty. A list of the things allowable in
the line of duty must be published for the
public to know.
Halimah Mohd Said
Kuala Lumpur
the highest examination marks? No they
don’t.
They would state their minimum
academic requirements to fill a vacancy.
Then they would have a series of selec-
tion processes to determine that the
candidate that they finally select is the
most qualified candidate that they can
get. The position is not automatically
granted to the candidate with the highest
exam results.
Doling out public scholarships based
solely on exam marks is not a good move
as the quality of a high achieving scholar
is not merely dependent on exam marks,
although it should be the criteria with
the heaviest weightage.
Adri Hemy Abdul Ghani
Jeddah

Big leap forward timely

for KL transport system
WE REFER to “Time to
revamp KL transport system”
(April 29) and agree that there
is much room for improve-
ment especially with regards
to public transport where the
majority of people would use
it if it is efficient and economi-
cal.
Kuala Lumpur is neither a
large city nor as old as com-
pared to Bangkok or Istanbul.
Our population and history is
only a fraction of theirs and
our economic circumstances
are not worse than either city
and yet our public transport is
much worse.
Bangkok in the last 10
years has improved by
leaps and bounds, its local
authority not only has built
an underground mass transit
system despite its low-lying
and soft alluvial soil but also
an overhead light rail transit
system. On top of that, it has a
pedestrian walkway above the
road and below the overhead
light rail system. In downtown economy is slowing down
Bangkok, you can either walk and things are relatively
or take the underground or cheap. Besides, the transport
overhead public transport. As projects it will stimulate the
a result, public transport there economy. Build and further
has improved tremendously improve public transport,
over the last few years. especially the LRT lines. And
In Istanbul, all express if it is feasible, build a mass
buses linking the city to other rail transit as KL will certainly
parts of the country of 68 become bigger in years to
million or to European cities, come.
never come to the centre of The authorities must move
the city. The bus depots are the Puduraya bus station to
miles away from the city cen- the outskirts of the city and
tre and thus help to reduce use LRT to transport commut-
pollution and congestion in ers to other parts of the city.
central Istanbul. The bus and taxi services
We understand that in must also be improved. Give
cities like Kota Kinabalu and commuters a viable choice
even Sibu, outstation buses when it comes to commut-
need not come into the city ing. Private cars are expen-
centre. Coming back to Kuala sive and inefficient for daily
Lumpur, why do outstation commuting.
buses have to stop right in
the middle of the city?
Now is the best time not Philip Wong Pak Ming
only to improve the transport President
system in Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak-Sabah
other major cities as the Foochow Association