Rocky ground for Batu's poor

By Stephanie Sta Maria - Free Malaysia Today

SPECIAL REPORT ON KL Urban poverty is a stubborn thread woven tightly into the fabric that is Kuala Lumpur and no amount of tugging has managed to completely unravel it.
For most constituencies, it is yet another social ill to eradicate. For Batu, which houses the most People's Housing Project (PPR) flats in Kuala Lumpur, it is a deadweight. And this is the behemoth that Tian Chua inherited when he took over Batu from its Gerakan predecessor in 2008.

The first-term MP has branded urban poverty as a “serious phenomenon” in his constituency and pinned the onus on greed, bad town planning and impractical policies. The first two, he claimed, are the culprits behind the development of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) land reserve in Sentul.

“KTM land is the biggest land reserve in Batu on which the railway settlement is located,” he said. “When the government privatised the land – which was a very unwise decision – the developers chose profit over social responsibility.”

“Their grand plans to erect high-end property there will not only displace the poor but also create a scenario where the rich and poor are literally living side by side. And this will become a warm bed for a different set of conflicts.”

The PKR information chief reproached the government for its lack of thought for driving the poor into PPR flats and its indifference towards their deplorable living conditions.

According to him, settlers are often herded into hastily built PPR flats, which are haphazardly scattered around Batu with no consideration given to the appropriateness of its location. Most of these flats, he added, suffer major infrastructural and environmental problems, which stretch beyond an MP's capacity to resolve.

“Then there are impractical policies like disqualifying an unmarried person's application for public housing,” he said. “For some reason, the government believes that singles can easily find a roof over their heads when the fact is that many of them have no one to take them in. So they wind up either squatting or living on the streets.”

“Despite the growing urban density, we still haven't learnt to predict the future trends of population and housing. We should be able to calculate the number of people who will be living in PPR flats within the next 20 years, compare that to the land that has been approved for housing and be able to tell if there will be a problem in the future.”

Tian Chua pointed out that even the middle class is not spared in the pursuit of development. The emphasis on quantity has led to shoddy building design and maintenance, which has resulted in “high-cost apartments” deteriorating into “low-cost slums”.

“I sometimes joke that these apartments are actually PPR flats with a guard house and swimming pool,” he laughed, before resuming solemnity. “But this is what happens when no one thinks about the type of residents who will live in these spaces.”

He explained that such apartments are often sold to a motley crew of residents who are split into those who can and cannot afford the monthly maintenance fees. The problem starts as soon as one group starts defaulting on payments.

Once this happens, the private management company resigns and is replaced by another company which charges a lower fee but compromises on quality. Before long, the middle class finds itself saddled with low-cost housing.

“We have to take a different approach in serving and developing the KL community because the standard approach is mechanical and ends up creating more misery,” Tian Chua said. “The government conducts a survey on the number of squatters and then decides how many flats to build. But this doesn't solve the problem. Communal development is about building communities, not infrastructure.”

Saving Batu's face

The other bone that Tian Chua has to pick with the government is the latter's move to shove development down Batu's throat at the expense of its rich cultural heritage.

Plans are apparently underway to demolish the KTM quarters in Sentul, which will wipe out the history of the Indian railway workers and the development that reflects the essence of the community there. Tian Chua lamented that Sentul's moniker of “Little India” is already fast losing its relevance.

“Located further north of Batu is a two-century-old Malay Mingakabau settlement,” he said. “It holds a proud history but again development involves relocating the people to PPR flats to make way for a shopping mall.”

“Then there's Jinjang Selatan which was a Cold War insurgency area and one of the biggest new villages in Malaysia. That too is under threat. These are sources of pride but the government's vision is taking precedence over historical value.”

Tian Chua said that if development continued down this path, it would create a monotonous future that would make Malaysian strangers to their own culture.

“Is this what we want for KL?” he asked. “These three ethnic communities have their roots in Batu and are witnesses to KL's history. They should be preserved in our urban landscape but this consciousness is missing from the Minister of Federal Territories and Urban Well-being (Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin), the bureaucrats in DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Hall) and sadly, even society.”

One cannot talk about development without mentioning another of Sentul's best known features – the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC). Hailed as the breeding ground for young local talent, KLPAC has breathed new life into Sentul. But Tian Chua is reserved in his praise.

“I appreciate the good work that KLPAC has done,” he said, choosing his words with care. “Unfortunately it doesn't belong to the community here but to those with a starkly different lifestyle.”

Betting his bottom ringgit that the PPR flats also house hidden talent, he shared that he was once involved in scouting for talent within that community and giving them a platform to perform for their own people.

He added that KLPAC provided minimal employment opportunities for the Sentul community because the government's approval of projects isn't based on the number of jobs it can create.

“In countries with a matured economy, a development proposal has to state not just a revenue forecast but also say how much employment opportunity it will generate during construction and after completion. The authorities here fail to do that.”

The call of duty

Tian Chua is further rankled over DBKL's insistence on shouldering the full responsibility of town planning and ostracising Pakatan Rakyat MPs in KL from this process.

“Locking us out equates to rejecting the people's input and disrespecting the democratic process,” he asserted. “So here we have DBKL single-handedly making decisions to which we disagree and us creating enough noise for them to retract it. But it's a waste of time! We can achieve so much more if DBKL treated us as partners in the problem-solving process.”

Then he chuckled and confided that he was luckier than his counterparts as three DBKL advisory board members reside in his area, which inevitably makes development a tad easier.

“DBKL's problem is its enforcement structure which places it directly below the Minister of Federal Territories and Urban Well-being (Raja Nong Chik),” he said. “It's meant to function as a state but right now it is answerable only to the government, which makes it difficult for its policies to respond to the people's needs.”

While he commended KL Mayor Ahmad Fuad Ismail for attempting to maintain a cordial relationship with Pakatan MPs, he made no secret of his disdain for Nong Chik.

“The minister is an arrogant politician who is openly taking a very sectarian and partisan attitude by declaring his party allegiance during government functions,” he stated. “I recently met a group of settlers facing eviction in Sri Sentosa who sought help from his office but were chased away because they are Pakatan supporters.”

“Nong Chik doesn't realise that he is not an Umno politician... his responsibility is to the people. He has made no secret that he was given this position to recapture seats for BN. That is a disservice to the residents of KL and an insult to their intelligence.”

When asked what he thought PKR's new FT chief, Zaid Ibrahim, could bring to the table, Tian Chua replied in one word – coordination.

“Zaid is fortunate that KL has the highest rate of Pakatan MPs than any other states, so he can leave the daily issues to us. What we'd like to see him do is to coordinate our efforts and his vision in articulating a better future for KL if Pakatan comes into power.”