From Charles F Moreira, via e-mail
I refuse to have a Facebook account, so my signature is not there. However, I object to this 100-storey tower and will sign a paper petition with full name and IC number if it's organised by DAP, PKR, PAS, PSM or a non-Sorosite NGO for formal presentation to the prime minister.
I also wonder what official basis this petition on Facebook has compared to a formally signed petition delivered to the authorities, apart from demonstrating that over 100,000 people oppose the tower.
Based upon past experience of web-based polls, the BN government should have lost the elections a long time ago but it has not, even though it lost its two-thirds majority by a small margin in March 2008.
So web-based polls aren't all that accurate a barometer of public feeling, but rather is an indication of the feelings of people who have online access, who visit a certain site and who bother to take part in any polls there.
Anyway, some may argue that the funds for this tower come from PNB and is not taxpayers' money but with PNB being a GLC the money or much of it indirectly is taxpayers' money.
However, citizens of Malaysia such as myself, have every right to object to construction in our areas.
For example, I was one of the residents of Section 14, PJ who objected to the construction of Millennium Square nearby, albeit unsuccessfully, especially as the then Petaling Jaya Town Council was under a BN state government of Selangor.
I attended public meetings (taklimat) with the Petaling Jaya Town Council (then MPPJ) and it had representatives of the developer there to give all their excuses, and the MPPJ clearly seemed to favour the developer.
Some argued that such residents are 'short sighted' as they do not see the appreciation in the value of their properties as a result, but for people like myself, money isn't everything. Instead I place greater value on the peace and serenity of my neighbourhood.
For example, now that Millennium Square is built, there is much traffic congestion, with cars parked, quite often illegally, along Jalan 14/15 (Dato' Abdul Jamil Rais) and on the corners of adjoining roads, as the eateries and pubs in the building attract lots of patrons.
Unfortunately, even the now Pakatan Rakyat government of Selangor hasn't done much about it either. However, I for one don't patronise these eateries and bars, unless to meet a friend when requested to, which is rare.
In another case, the residents around the Jalan Telawi, part of Bangsar, objected to the nightlife activities going on there and it's very much reduced today, thanks to the residents' opposition.
Back then, that Bangsar was a 'hip, hype and happening' place for wannabe-yuppies, many from outside the area to be seen in but thankfully, it's pretty dead now, thanks perhaps to the hard economic times as well.
When I was a boy back in the 1960s, there was a delightful children's playground close to what was called Jalan Davidson and a nice litle gazebo with a sundial across the road from Stadium Merdeka.
If the government wants to build something there, why not a public park or a green space instead of this building.
In the 1990s there was talk about the lepak (loafing) problem among youth in shopping malls. Well why is that, if not that the youth increasingly have fewer and fewer open places to go for healthy recreation.
Look at that vacant piece of land in Brickfields next to the YMCA, which has been fenced up since the late 1990s, supposedly for some building. That was a field owned by a club once but why not it be turned into a public field (padang).
Look at Sentul West, a huge vacant piece of land where Malayan Railways used to be. It's now a gated area on which some old buildings and the KL Performing Arts Centre now stands at one end of it. Why not that space be used as a public park for the people of Sentul?
Look at the former grounds of the Bukit Bintang Girl's School on which the Pavilion shopping mall now sits. Why was that not made into a public park or green space for the people of Bukit Bintang?
Yes, we should get rid of the self-serving BN government but at the same time, besides the high-profile 100-floor tower, the opposition parties don't seem to be making an issue about these other places either.
On another note, most unfortunately, based upon my past experience, there will be public opposition to these building projects but once they are built, the opposition soon abates.
Back in the early 1980s, there was opposition to the construction of Dayabumi but now it's not only forgotten but quite often not even noticed, well not by me at least.
There was opposition to the construction of the Petronas Twin Towers but look now how popular Suria KLCC is with locals and tourists. Also look at how young people hang out at Pavilion.
People soon forget or the people who don't protest are the ones who end up going there and the BN government knows this.
The only solution is to get rid of the BN government and make sure that its replacement lives up to its promises to serve the interests of the people and above all listens to the people, not to business interests.
Read:
No tower please, we're Malaysians
