7-2-2018 Petition to the Selangor MB launched
6-2-2018 Petaling Jaya folk in the dark over TOD guidelines
1-2-2018 A&W dispute: Mayor should’ve consulted state govt, says councillor
29-1-2018 Councillors walk out, media ejected from MBPJ monthly meeting-The Star
29-1-2018 MBPJ councillors walk out over A&W drive-in issue – malaysiakini
29-1-2018 The Ruckus as seen by YB Rajiv – FB Posting
29-1-2018 DAP and PKR councillors walk out of MBPJ full board meeting – The Sun
As seen from MyPJ observers
Jeffrey Phang: “3 members of MyPJ were present at the full board meeting today. Sha , David Foo & myself. The meeting proceeded on as normal until the issue of the A & W restaurant was raised up by Tang (PKR) This concerns the Transit Oriented Development. This matter was discussed at the OSC meeting and was approved but with a DAP councilor Billy objecting(From the minutes it did not appear that he has objected to it) that it did not follow the MBPJ TOD guidelines and also that the landowner did not comply fully to the guidelines n yet given the permission to develop to the maximum of 8 plot ratio. The other councillors all contributed n requested that the OSC decision is referred back to the OSC for further deliberation. The councillors all state their reasons justifying why as a matter of prudence that it should be reconsidered as this will set a precedent for developers to develop their land without any consideration to supplementing the MRT infrastructure. The landowner must leave enough space for taxi drop off, pedestrian walkways, bus stops, adequate parking lots etc. Mbpj already has developed guidelines n non compliance of it will see an automatic downgrade from the 8 plot ratio thus reducing its size (and profitability). The discussion turned heated and the mayor as the chair tried to terminate the discussion, by moving on to another agenda item. However, the councillors particularly from DAP spoke against it and wanted a decision that the matter be returned to osc for further discussion. The PAS whip supporter the mayor and provoked the council members by suggesting that they walk out of the meeting if they want to show disagreement. This was followed by a banging of tables by some councillors who prompted the mayor to summon the security guard to expel the councillor. This is a first time in mbpj where a councillor was about to be forcibly removed. The whole lot of supporting councillors from DAP n one from PKR walked out. NGO councillor DEREK FERNANDEZ stayed back to explain to the meeting that there was a need to approach TOD in a holistic way.
It was clear that the mayor was keen to push through the project disregarding n clearly not respecting the councilors voice and also the ADUN views. YB Rajiv was the only ADUN there. The mayor claimed that they only need to follow the state guidelines and not its own mbpj guidelines. The guidelines r to find its way into the RTPJ plans but there r resistance from the mbpj staff. At the point of contention mbpj cut off the live public video feed. Also force our video recording to be deleted from our Hp. It is clearly a non transparent meeting and certain powerful forces are pushing to clear this project fast. The whole atmosphere became emotionally highly charged. As a resident, I feel sad and distress that the views of our elected representatives are being ignored in a high handed manner. The MB and the state EXCO need to pay special attention to this case and explain to us residents that they are in control of the council and that they are acting in the best interest of the residents.”
Sha
As one of those who attended, I must express how upsetting it was to see how Councillors who were upholding truth and fighting for the Rakyat’s voice to be heard, to be disallowed from voicing out, not allowed to convene a vote to support their stand. The Mayor also instructed security to eject one of more vocal councillors to and challenged the floor to remove him as Chairman and mayor. Jeffrey’s phone was seized and the council wanted to delete off recordings of the meeting from the phone. Yb Rajiv put his foot down against the deleting. Access to the live feed of the meeting was blocked off during the “hot moments”.What a sad morning for democracy instead.
Councillors like Derek, Terence, Sean, Ming Ern and Yi Wei deserve a good pat on the back by we, PJ residents, for standing on what is right for the community.
David Foo