12 theSun | FRIDAY JUNE 26 2009

speak up!

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Put scarce
resources
People pay for sins of others
TWO elderly gentlemen purposes”, the state did laws were thrown out the window

to good use walked into the office

I AM perplexed by “Govt
won’t close school with one
pupil” (June 24) where the
education minister is quoted
saying that the government
will not close any school even
if it has only one student and
that it would be up to the
headmaster to decide on the
closure.
It is the duty of the elected
government to manage and
allocate scarce resources in
the most responsible and ef-
ficient manner for the benefit
of the people.
To have the hypothetical
ten or even two teachers to
attend to the educational
needs of one pupil because
we do not want to close
a school seems to me not
only ludicrous but a blatant
disregard of responsible and
prudent public spending. It
defies logic and common
sense.
To put the onus on the
headmaster to decide
whether to close a school
or not is passing the buck,
not to mention being unfair
to the headmaster. Where
are our educationists and
educational planners. Do
their views matter?.
The electorate and taxpay-
ers expect the government
to act with courage and not
to succumb to political pres-
sure and blackmail over this
important resource allocation
Save Subang Ria Park
BRAVO! Hannah Yeoh. When
you took office as the Subang
Jaya state assemblywoman,
some quarters thought that
they had voted in the wrong
person, but this was proven
otherwise when you stood
steadfast to defend residents
in their fight to save Subang
Ria Park.
We now realise that we
have someone whom we can
trust, who will see to it that
no commercial development
will take place in the park
which should be used exclu-
sively for public recreation.
There already has been
much damage done to the
park; trees have been cut to
make way for a temporary
car park.
Before this invasion of
the park, visitors could catch
glimpses of fire-flies around
some of the monsoon drains
at night. Also, there used to
be kingfishers perched on
trees around the lake in the
morning.
issue which will burden the
taxpayers. Political parties
of whatever hue or leaning
should not use this issue to
twist arms or score points.
In the case of SJK(T) La-
dang Sungai Timah near Teluk
Intan, it is in the interest of
the lone pupil, K.Humah,
to interact, learn and grow
among other pupils of the
same age. He should be given
a small scholarship to enable
him to commute to another
school or attend a boarding
school.
The British colonial
administration did this for
me when I was growing up
for which I am still thankful
and there is no reason why
we cannot render the same
assistance to Humah. He
may be thankful too in later
years. The school building
can be converted to other
community or public facilities
and the teachers transferred
to other shools.
In this way, we hope the
right of children to education
is protected while at the same
time protecting the rights of
every tax paying Malaysian
to good and responsible
governance in the manage-
ment of the resources of the
nation.
Datuk Dr Shamsuddin
Kassim
Petaling Jaya
Most residents do not
agree with proposals to use
a small part of the park for
commercial development.
They reckon that once the
original nature of the park
is lost, the greenery will be
destroyed and worst still the
park’s future will be at stake.
Surely, with the federal
government’s policy to go
green and plant more trees
to reduce the greenhouse
effect, it is time for local and
state governments to follow
suit.
In fact, MPSJ and the state
government can kick start a
project to save the Subang
Ria Park and conserve
its trees. This will ensure
residents have a permanent
place to walk, jog or spend
quality time with the family.
It is time to gazette the
park as a green lung for
Subang Jaya.
Lau Bing
Subang Jaya
yesterday. They are
probably in their 70s.
It is not the first time
not take any action but
merely gave a verbal
undertaking in 1976
that no development
as it allowed more development in
an already congested area without
hearing the residents out.
No consultations were held with
that I had met them. would take place. the residents before the develop-
Two-and-a-half years In 1982, the state ment order was issued prompting
ago they approached de-gazetted the land, the High Court to find in favour
this paper to highlight turning the 166,000 sq of the residents when 86 of them
the plight of the house ft property over to pri- took the state government and the
buyers of Taman Palm vate hands and zoned (then) Petaling Jaya Municipal
Grove, Klang, and yes- Down2Earth it for housing. Today, Council (MPPJ) to court.
The Palm terday they visited us ground work for 22 An attempt to call for a public
again to update us on by Terence Fernandez bungalows is on-going, hearing after the fact was chided by
Grove the issue. although it has come Judge Datuk Alizatul Khair Osman
residents These two gentlemen are in- to our attention that a stop-work Khairuddin who held that meet-
are not volved in a 33-year fight to keep order had been issued by the ings to hear residents’ opinions
alone. a playing field from being devel- present state government, where cannot be treated as a formality
oped. the executive councillor for hous- but instead, be viewed as a genuine
Their Over the years, many residents ing, building management and platform for people to voice their
brethren and residents’ associations have squatters, Iskandar Abdul Samad, opinions.
in Subang approached us to help campaign will be meeting the residents and To Taman Desaria folk, it was a
Jaya, against development of their developer Colour World Sdn Bhd moral victory as the court could not
are also neighbourhood. In most cases for a solution. issue an injunction as the flats were
such as the Palm Grove issue, But as the law is on the side of already up. Valuers are crunching
paying the demands are legitimate but in the developers, there is little, one numbers to determine the damages
for sins of some instances, the complainants suspects, the authorities can do. which need to be paid.
the past were afflicted with the “not in my In January 2007, over tea with I doubt the Palm Grove resi-
as they backyard” syndrome. MPK’s urban planning director dents, led by the retirees have the
“Yes, we know we need an Noraini Roslan and then council stamina to see through a long-
fight to access road but we don’t want president Datuk Abd Bakir Zin, we drawn legal affair but it seems that
preserve the entrance to be so close to our were told that MPK would have to this could be the only recourse
the houses.” fork out RM10 million to buy the – and yet there are no guarantees
Subang “Yes, at the time of buying our land from Colour World – not an that the residents will win as in this
Ria Park homes, we knew that the field be- impossible task but this would case, the developers have the law
hind our houses was gazetted for a mean having to raise assessment on their side.
from school, but we don’t want it here.” to raise the funds for the cash- But it seems that as long as gov-
develop- The above two examples are strapped council. ernment officials can hide behind a
ment. actual responses of complainants Noraini also divulged that Col- shield of immunity for their actions,
who do not have a case but were our World had submitted propos- there will be more Palm Groves,
trying their luck to use the media, als for commercial development Desarias and Subang Rias.
hoping that developers would back which the council rejected due to In instances such as these, there
down from the adverse publicity. density concerns. seems to be no will or determina-
Needless to say we showed them The fact that the developer had tion to look into other aspects of
the door. agreed to leave 20% untouched how land was alienated, ie conflicts
Back to Palm Grove, the resi- (when planning laws only require of interest or graft.
dents here – the original buyers and 10%) is of little comfort to the resi- As such when individuals are
the next generation – have been dents. made to pay for messing up in their
working tirelessly to right a wrong The Palm Grove residents personal capacity, probably then
inflicted by past administrations of
the state government and Klang
are not alone. Their brethren in
Subang Jaya, are also paying for
those in office will take their jobs
more seriously and hold sacred the
Municipal Council (MPK). sins of the past as they fight to people’s trust.
The playing field was incorpo- preserve the Subang Ria Park from
rated in the development blueprint development by Sime UEP – also
as a “school reserve” and resi- because the state government in Terence is upset that some of those
dents bought their homes on this 1988 had alienated the land to the who messed up people’s lives while
premise. developer. in office can retire and get away scot
When the Education Ministry Just 3km down, the Taman De- free without their conscience being
dropped the plan to build a school saria low-cost flats is a testament to pricked. He is deputy editor special
there, instead of gazetting it as the incompetence of the previous reports & investigations. Feedback:
“open space” or “for recreational state government where planning terence@thesundaily.com
Do more to Insulate buildings
THE lack of insulation in most Malaysian ing the comfort of the indoor environment. Group strives to contribute to a greener
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office building or shopping complex. Ad- Over the years, users of insulation have time, we welcome the Green Building Index
mittedly, one of the reasons for this high discovered that even if only minimum insu- developed by Persatuan Akitek Malaysia
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air conditioning to maintain comfortable of a building, it can potentially save more neers Malaysia (ACEM) which was launched
indoor temperatures. than 20% of air-conditioning energy cost. recently and hope that this will contribute
The benefits of insulation are manifold. It While insulation is only one of the ele- significantly to the advancement of green-
reduces heat flowing from outside into the ments that make up a building, neverthe- ing efforts by the property and construction
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SINGAPORE’S Minister Mentor Lee He also made courtesy calls on

Kuan Yew recently visited Malaysia.
Some people felt that it must be nos-
talgia on his part.
Well, Kuan Yew is not a nostalgic
person, as he means no nonsense
when it comes to politics. Lim Cheng
Siong, his former comrade in PAP,
was detained for a long time before
he chose to leave for London. Chen
Siong, who led the left wing of the PAP,
and many others, such as Said Zahari
and Cheah Thye Poh, had been wiped
off from the political map of Singapore
More than nostalgia behind Kuan Yew’s visit
through sheer political muscle, though
in the name of the law. That was the
infamous “Operation Cold Store”
which took place on Feb 2, 1963 which
effectively stunted the growth of the
Socialist Front in Singapore.
What is Kuan Yew’s agenda in Ma-
laysia this time? Well, after last year’s
political tsunami, Kuan Yew would
like to have first hand knowledge of
developments.
Kuan Yew covered Negri Sembilan,
Perak, Penang, Kelantan and Selangor,
a mixed bag of BN and PR states. It
served the purpose of comparative
study, at the very least.
Kuan Yew met Datuk Ong Tee Keat
and other MCA leaders, despite old
scores, as PAP was known to have
harboured the intention to replace the
MCA in the Alliance. He also met Tun
Dr Lim Chong Eu.
He visited Nik Aziz, the PAS spiritual
leader, who is known to be a moderate
on Islam.
He also called on Lim Guan Eng, the
Penang chief minister, during which he
criticised Penang’s road traffic system
and its infrastructure. Whose fault is
it? Apparently, that is the question he
purposely left open. He also predicted
that one term is too short for Guan Eng
to finish his job.
some sultans, as he is aware of their
importance in Malaysia.
He purposely missed Tun Dr Ma-
hathir Mohamad, who once called him
“a little emperor from a tiny middle
kingdom”.
However, as his visits to the impor-
tant figures were behind closed-doors,
only Kuan Yew knows the success of
his latest tour.
Lim Boo Chang
Penang