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.

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.

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.

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’.

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?

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!

Residents' website: www.nolandslide.org

Pic 2 & 4 courtesy of Seri Menanti  

More on Ukay Heights

PKR Representatives Visit The Rakyat At Bukit Antarabangsa

March 30, 2008, Bukit Antarabangsa

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.

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.

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.

Late last year, about 40 trees were cut and part of the land cleared but

residents got together and managed to halt the work.

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.

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.