COMMENT The crowds are gone, the traffic is flowing smoothly again, the madness is over. And things should be returning to normal in Hulu Selangor. But are they?
With Barisan Nasional winning last Sunday’s by-election on bold promises of financial rewards and business opportunities, life can never be the same again. If those promises are kept, the folk of Hulu Selangor — many of them desperately poor — can expect a windfall to the tune of millions and millions of ringgit.
Indeed, BN’s victory could be the best thing that has ever happened to this semi-urban, ethnically mixed district that has sometimes been described as a Malaysia in miniature. If BN really delivers, every one of its residents stands to prosper.
There will, for instance, finally be a new highway to link Hulu Selangor to the North-South Expressway. The highway will be worth RM85 million and should silence complaints that we have been hearing for decades about the poor road system. It remains to be seen who will win this hefty contract and other contracts not so hefty but still not too shabby.
Even the dead, it seems, will benefit from BN’s victory. The government will spend RM90,000 to upgrade a graveyard near Ulu Yam.
Children too have reason to rejoice, even though they were too young to vote last Sunday. A school in Kuala Kubu Baru and another in Bukit Beruntung were each promised RM3 million in assistance. And in case there was any doubt about BN’s multiracial credentials, the Sin Ko Chinese School can expect a RM1.5 million present for its 100th anniversary.
Free tuition
BN obviously wanted to make everyone happy by dishing out money, even to those who apparently did not need it. A school in Lompang — one of the best looking and best equipped in the area —received RM300,000 for renovation.
Are you a village kid needing help with your studies? Worry no more. BN will set up an education centre worth RM200,000 in Kampung Permata and provide teachers who will give you tuition for free.
What’s that again? You do social work and could do with a little extra cash? No problem; BN is a caring party and money is no problem when it comes to worthy causes. A Chinese-based social service association will get RM25,000, and this is on top of RM460,000 to be set aside for NGOs operating in Hulu Selangor.
Let us not forget the new houses that will spring up. BN, apparently appalled at the sight of the hovels that are home to the poor folk of Kampung Menang Hulu Adnan and Kampung Suharto, promised to build new houses for them — 200 for the former and 250 for the latter. The cost will be RM26 million and RM32 million respectively.
And the problem with floods will be a thing of the past. BN will broaden the Batang Kali river in Kampung Sentosa for RM2 million.
Public facilities in Sungai Buaya will also improve this year and that exercise will cost RM5 million.
On top of that, a total of RM5 million was handed out as compensation for those who were forced out of their land several years ago.
Major facelift
Kuala Kubu Baru is set for a major facelift: RM6 million for a new farming facility centre, RM600,000 for renovations to the town hospital, RM350,000 for a new kidney centre, and RM870,000 for the upgrading of public facilities in 13 kampungs in the area.
And a whopping RM21 million will be spent on maintenance work for the rundown Bukit Sentosa township.
All these millions do not include the ang pows given out to those voters who stayed true to BN on election day.
We are indeed looking at a true 21st century-style township worthy of Vision 2020.
It has taken the death of an MP, the threat of a Pakatan Rakyat win and a 53-year wait for the people of Hulu Selangor to finally find good reason to celebrate — if BN’s promises are kept. (BN held this parliamentary seat during most of those five decades.)
A 60-year-old pensioner in Kampung Batu in Jalan Ipoh remarked that there should be a by-election every week in Malaysia so that the people can really see improvements in their lives.
“This is just great,” he said. “It is just amazing what the people of Hulu Selangor are going to receive from the government.”
Will every parliamentary constituency get the same royal treatment? We will know during the campaign for the next general election, which pundits say may be called as early as next year.
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