I AM often approached by people telling me about their woes and how they are unfairly treated by Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) officers. There are no morals to this story, save those that readers interpret for themselves. One side of the story It was around 10pm when my phone rang. On the line was […]
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Disputing PJ’s development
By KW MakCover of the PJ Local Plan 1 (All pics courtesy of KW Mak) IN the previous instalment of Ampersand, I explained how the Selangor government came up with the Rancangan Struktur Daerah Petaling dan Sebahagian Daerah Klang as the area’s blueprint for development. The said structure plan has since fallen into obscurity, and the Petaling […]
Understanding town planning
By KW Mak(Pic by moth / Dreamstime) THE Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) is the law when it comes to development within Petaling Jaya. It is empowered to impose all sorts of rules and conditions on developers. This is fine, except the conditions and rules that have been implemented may not have adhered to town-planning laws in […]
No action on illegal structures
By KW Mak(Pic by cjung / sxc.hu) THE issue of whether barricades on residential roads should be allowed has been simmering for some time. By taking no action, the authorities seem to be encouraging the problem. These barricades are illegal by law, and the residents who put up these barriers are cognizant of this. But these residents […]
Tales from a Councillor: Barricades and racial quotas
By KW MakUPHOLDING the law should be what government is all about. But there are times when I find that majority rule throws out all those law books I have been reading. There are no morals to these stories, save those that readers interpret for themselves. Barricades (Pic by Laura Leavell / sxc.hu) A group of residents […]
Ratepayers as beggars
By KW MakNot doing wonders for property value(© Robyn Gallagher / Flickr) IN a previous column, a reader requested for help to remove rubbish in Section 5, Petaling Jaya. The rubbish had not been removed for some time. Such requests are not isolated. Other complaints are about pot holes or illegally parked cars outside commercial areas like […]
The politics of sugar
By Deborah Loh“Boss, limau ais kosong, satu” (© Brian Lary / sxc.hu)NEXT year, the government will possibly abolish the sugar subsidy. I’m personally all for that. For many years now, I’ve learnt to enjoy food and beverages without adding (or at least reducing the amount of) sugar. “Boss” at the mamak stall at first raised his eyebrows […]
The truth about secrets
By Jacqueline Ann Surin(Pic by Kriss Szkurlatowski / sxc.hu) TWO weeks ago, I could not help feeling that there was little difference between the Catholic Church and the Barisan Nasional (BN)-led federal government. Both these powerful institutions have one thing in common — both have cultivated a long-standing culture of secrets. With the church, the damage has been […]
Time to un-gag information
By the Coalition for Good GovernanceTHE campaign for freedom of information advocated by civil society organisations in Malaysia is now five years old, and finally it has come to fruition. With the new change of state government, Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim has now taken the bold step of ensuring freedom of information. In November 2009, the menteri […]
When laws are flouted
By KW MakCorrected on 1 Dec 2009 at 11.45am A FUNCTIONING community is predicated on its members’ acceptance of the laws of the land, and the fact that these laws are applied fairly and justly to all. In a community such as a nation state, the custodian of these laws would be the various government agencies. But […]
