Cover 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 […]
councillor
Understanding town planning
(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 […]
Tales from a Councillor: Barricades and racial quotas
UPHOLDING 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 […]
When laws are flouted
Corrected 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 […]
The problem with silence
Sssh (Pic by ehlert / sxc.hu)DING Jo-Ann‘s commentary about the government’s policy of silence got me wondering if the same holds true for the Petaling Jaya City Council, or MBPJ. Do we practise the same deafening silence? I shall answer that question with a story. Not mine to give Once, a group of Section 19, […]
Hurdles for local govt elections
THE promise by the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to have local government elections has been made yet again, this time by their politicians from Perak. The PR in Penang made a similar pledge during one of the state assembly sittings, while the PR in Selangor has largely kept mum about the manifesto. Hurdles (Pic by Foxtongue […]
Tales from a Councillor: Residents, developers and mechanics
PART of my work as a Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) councillor involves mediating disputes between resident groups and various parties. From experience, things are not always what they appear to be. There are no morals to these stories, save those that readers interpret for themselves. (Lamp by Dan Edwards; yin-yang by hisks / sxc.hu) […]
The maze of housing rights
(Maze by mzacha; houses by Stanley Elliot / sxc.hu) URBAN settlers who have lived in an area for many years are increasingly finding themselves uprooted and displaced while being offered verbal promises of compensation. Rather than debate on whether the local council or the developer is in the right to do all these things, I […]
Preventing neighbourhood strife
(Source: solsearch.us) FROM the sale of beer to the protest against the construction of a Hindu temple within a Muslim majority area, there seems to be no shortage of issues where the demands of one ethnic group are pitted against another. When such conflicts happen, the call for the police to take action against the […]
Tales from a Councillor: Taps
THIS instalment of Ampersand is on my experiences dealing with issues unrelated to my work as a councillor, but which get directed to me anyway. As always, there are no morals behind these stories, save the ones readers chose to interpret for themselves. Bath and taxes The call for maghrib prayers was still resounding when […]
