Updated at 1:05pm, 12 March 2010 IN the first two articles about town planning, I dealt with planning that was done after Petaling Jaya (PJ) was founded. However, it is important to note that PJ was developed in 1952. This is significant because PJ’s founding clearly predates the legal provisions that the state government or […]
KW Mak
Low-cost units owned by senior MBPJ officers a matter of concern
By KW MakLOW-cost flat units are supposed to be reserved for low-income earners, and primarily to provide housing for squatter residents who are displaced by the development of the land they one occupied. To ensure that only the poor are allowed to purchase these low-cost units, the Selangor government has set the following rules: the purchaser must […]
Sabotaging public interest
By KW MakTHE local council often faces objections and sometimes outright hostility from the people when it needs to enforce the law. Protests by interested parties against enforcement measures, like the removal of illegal barricades, are the norm. In this exciting episode of Ampersand, I shall cover other issues that also face protests from interested parties. Three […]
Tales from a Councillor: Karaoke blues
By KW MakI 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
