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April 12,
2008
"Save Ampang Hills" event at
Ukay Heights
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March 30,
2008
PKR Representatives visit
the Rakyat
at Bukit Antarabangsa |
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What Does It Take For Us To Pay More Attention To Our
Environment
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by
Tony Yew |
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April 12, 2008,
Ukay Heights |
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Until the recent elections,
most Malaysians were an apathetic lot. They really were.
The 'as long as it is not in my backyard' mentality
still heeds. But it’s only my opinion. was told by a friend of mine,
that if I could change my support for BN, then there is hope altogether for every
other Malaysian. Yes, I am guilty as charged. A die hard Gomen supporter until
recently, that is. |
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I was at the 'Save
Ampang Hills'
meeting today. Alerted by a fellow blogger
Sri
Menanti, I got there in time for the start of
the meeting. Three Resident
Committees had gathered amidst three recently elected
members of Parliament, as well as a State Exco member.
State Council member for Tourism, Consumer Affairs and
Environment, YB Elizabeth Wong was on site to receive
the brief on the action committee's latest actions.
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The Ampang Hill which is to be
developed by MAA, is part of the 141 hill slope
development projects that was approved by the previous
BN lead government.
The resident committees of
Taman Hijau, Ukay Heights and Taman TAR gathered
to appeal to the current
Pakatan Rakyat (People's Alliance) State Government to
investigate 'approved'
projects that were done at local council level in order
to
determine the feasibility as
well as the environmental impact which could
mitigate as a result of it.
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Taman Hijau RA President Datuk
Abdul Aziz appealed to YB Azmin Ali, Member
of Parliament for Gombak and
State Assemblyman for Bukit Antarabangsa as
well as YB Zuraida Kamarudin,
MP for Ampang to provide their support and
help in helping the RA's to
halt the project.
Given the recent decision by the Selangor State
Government to stop all hill
slope projects (category 3&4
slopes are which slope with gradient of 29% or higher),
the Ampang Hills project under the ownership of MAA,
Malaysian
Allied Assurance will have to
stop. However, because MAA was given the conditional
approval by the MPAJ (Ampang Jaya Municipal Council) in
2007,
it seems for now, this project
can only be appealed against by the RA's. YB Elizabeth
Wong had added that though the State Exco can issue stop
work
orders and open investigations
to these projects, she hoped that the RA's can utilise
the channels available to them for now. This would
mean the avenue
of legal process.
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YB Zuraida was more vocal and
had vowed to ‘stand at the top of the hill’
should heavy machineries be
brought in to clear the slope and jungle. During
the gathering, residents were
heard giving their opinion and thought to the
representatives. One gentleman
who immigrated from abroad had likened
the behaviour of the
developers to being drug pushers, placing interest in
making money rather than protecting the environment. He
reiterated that
his decision to migrate to
Ampang Jaya was because he loved it here, not
particularly Malaysia, but Bukit Malawati! A local
resident also pointed out
how the public hearing on
protest regarding the project was ‘bulldozed through’.
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It is indeed disturbing to
note that even though, the Highlands Tower tragedy
(being the most deadly
landslide tragedy of this nation) occurred in this same
area, the local government can see
it fit to approve such a high risk project.
If nothing is done to stop
these land grabbing, slope cutting, tree chopping
developers to task, then we
might as well follow the Brazilians in outdoing
them to destroy the forest which so
evidently needs protection. Shall we? |
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Of course not, and you can do
your part in telling friends, and taking
ownership, much like our friends in
Ampang Hilir who are up in arms against indiscriminate
development!
Start by sending emails of support to the MPAJ council,
or better still show
up for the next gathering
where we can all join hands in saying enough!
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Residents' website:
www.nolandslide.org
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Pic 2 & 4 courtesy of
Seri Menanti
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More on
Ukay Heights
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PKR Representatives Visit The Rakyat At Bukit
Antarabangsa |
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March 30, 2008, Bukit
Antarabangsa |
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PKR Representatives visited Bukit Antarabangsa today to
meet the Rakyat.
The visit was in response to a meeting some residents of
Jalan Kelab Ukay 5
had with Ronnie Liu, the recently appointed Selangor
state exco member in
charge of local government, at his office in Shah Alam
on Friday.
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Initiated by Syed Zul and other concerned residents, the
meeting with Liu
was to discuss the depleting greens and other
environmental issues in
connection
with a proposed development in the area and a massive
food
court that was
built despite initial resident protests. |
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The entourage of about 30 people was led by Zuraida
Kamaruddin(above),
Ampang member of Parliament and Keadilan Women's Wing
Chief, seen
here
with Taman
Kelab Ukay residents, Rozali Osman and Syed
Zul at the site
of
the proposed development, if allowed to proceed, would
deprive
residents
of about 100 trees and a badminton court.
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Late last year, about 40 trees were cut and part of the
land cleared
but
residents got together and managed to halt the work.
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KB Lim(above), of the newly
formed Taman Kelab Ukay
Residents Association
briefing Zuraida and her team on security concerns,
amenities, parks and
generally the declining quality of life due the
poorly-planned development
on the hill.
Abdul Razak of Taman Mulia,
Eriko Motoyama of Bukit Utama. Rafick Khan of
Taman Bukit Jaya, Norizan
Ibrahim of Kyoto Gardens and 40 over residents
from Riverdale, Sinaran Ukay
and other Bukit Antarabangsa neighborhoods
came to express community and
environmental concerns.
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According to Zuraida, a
meeting has already been slated on April 1 between
MPAJ and PKR, where the
council is expected to make a formal presentation
of their existing projects,
future plans and its work procedures - an area the
public perceives to be
inconsistent at times.
The residents are grateful to
Ronnie Liu and Zuraida Kamaruddin and their
team for being sensitive to
community issues and swift in their response by
taking immediate remedial
measures.
Sorely missed at the session,
however, was
Elizabeth Wong,
Selangor's head
of Tourism, Consumer Affairs
and The Environment.
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Above session covered by The Star on
Monday March 30, 2008. Read the article
here
You can also discuss
these and other issues
here |