Today I joined the Resident Association ( RA) of Sri Petaling to have a press conference to express our stand against the move to turn part of the ground floor of the DBKL parking complex into morning market. The reason for DBKL to do so is to relocate the hawkers of the present morning market at Jalan Radin, as that piece of state land has been sold by DBKL and it will be turned into commercial complex.
Sri Petaling commercial area is a highly congested area. The originally state land at Jalan Radin is supposed to be used to build a bus station. However, the UMNO people used their influence in DBKL to change the usage of the state land to be the present morning market and commercial shop lots.
In October 2013 , DBKL sold this piece of land to Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan with the price of RM30 million ++. One month later, Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan sold it with the price of RM35 million ++ to a private company which is related to Cheras UMNO head to build high density commercial project. The shop owners and residents of Sri Petaling protested the proposed project vehemently.
The hawkers who have “rented” their stalls at that land cried for help. DBKL doesn’t know where to relocate the hawkers, and now part of a newly opened parking complex has been turned into morning market in order to accommodate them.
The RA leaders then joined me to meet the deputy minister of Federal Territories, YB Dato Loga. He listened to the plea of the residents patiently. He seemed helpless.
Sigh……sad for this country. Why should DBKL officers work under or be influenced by the directive of local UMNO leaders. Malaysia Boleh!!!!