Tales of a failed state: It's ordinary citizens who have to suffer

Strange it may seem, but for four to five years, I have had to raise my problems at every hierarchy within the Selangor State Government.

        Most disappointing are two of DAP's parliamentarians, Tony Pua and his successor, Gobind Singh Deo, and two of their local councillors from the same party. 

        This coming from someone who saw how hard Dr Tan Seng Giaw, and respected his party, I must say that the dismal performance of the DAP and Pakatan Harapan State Government in Selangor, especially since Amiruddin Shaari became Menteri Besar. 

        This reminiscent those days when Selangor was under Barisan Nasional, where problems were not solved and politicians were deaf. 

Problem 1. Over just a few humps

        Due to issues with several speed humps installed by the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS), my car's fender was damaged. Just before Chinese New Year 2025, I had to replace it at a cost of RM400 at the nearby Honda Civic Centre.

        It is worth noting that speed bumps can cause damage to vehicles, especially if they are not constructed to standard specifications. 

        According to a study, one in five drivers has experienced vehicle damage after encountering speed bumps, with issues ranging from tyre problems to suspension damage.

        After the general election, a few of the problematic humps were removed. This was only after I had to follow up on many occasions with Gobind Singh. But, the local council left two humps there, as a thorn in the flesh for me. 

        Instead of solving the problem right away when all the machineries were on the ground, Gobind told me he would follow up with the local council later. I took it as a promise. 

        He has not fulfilled the promise -- in fact, NEVER fulfilled other promises as well -- since nearly three years ago. Despite sending him voice messages expressing my anger on a number of occasions, including the recent Chinese New Year when my wife's own car hit the humps, he remained "deaf." As a voter, I am very disappointed.

        It all began when I tried to approach then MP, Tony Pua and state assemblyman Elizabeth Wong to help solve the problem in our housing estate, they remained "mute". Wong, was of course, on her way out after the Sheraton Move. 

        When MPS and Pua's local councillor met with the Resident Association chairman, I was never consulted when the humps were built. 

        Even when the matter was brought to DAP's disciplinary committee chairperson Ngeh Koo Ham, the matter was not resolved. He had initially sent both Michelle Ng (Subang Jaya state assemblyman) and Ng Sze Han (state exco in charge of local government) to come to the ground to check, but Sze Han refused to come to the gound which sent a very bad impression of the state government. 

        Later, all I was told was that a lot of issues I faced previously were requests were all made by the resident association. Ngeh claimed that this is “an internal issue” and both state exco Ng Sze Han and current one, Ng Suee Lim are not in a position to do anything, since this is requested by the Resident Association and MPS implemented the requests from the RA. Now I want to hear from him why now the RA chairman pointed fingers at the DAP local councillor.

        Sometimes I laugh at this rationale. 

        I cannot believe such a statement could come from Ngeh, as I was not even opposing the humps, but telling him that the humps were built too steep and causing problems to cars with the lower decks. 

Problem 2. Two-Way short stretch of road (about 40 feet) turned into One-Way Street

        Interestingly, when I checked with the RA chairman recently, this was his reply via voice message on Whatsapp: 

        On 14 February, 2025, the RA chairman sent me a voice mail to explain that he left it to me to discuss with MPS on what's best for the residents. 👇🏽 Click to listen to the audio:

        I spent hours at the site when the contractor Zarul did the work. No one from MPS even discussed with me. They just implemented their own plan, even though the job was unnecessary and poorly executed. Look at the arrows above. 

        

        Although it is designed to be a two-way road as mentioned during a meeting by someone, presumably from the "Panel" who met the RA chairman and I at MPS, this is a short stretch of road that was turned into one-way street. Assuming that I am turning right, but the road (Jalan Wangsa 1/1) immediately after that is a two-way lane, so what happens? 

        Technically, I am not wrong if I follow the right lane after the corner. This is at least what the turn right arrow means. What it is, it simply makes no sense to make this short stretch of road a one-way, then join with a two-way street on the right and one-way street on the left. How this all came about is because MPS never enforced the development plan when the developer constructed the ramp was done haphazardly. Now, we are suffering because of the shoddy planning work by MPS these past 30 years. 

        I want the higher authorities to investigate and ask this question: Does MPS -- its YDP, Director and Supervisors of Engineering, even follow the proper road design for the safety of the users?

        I received another voice message from the RA chairman himself on February 23, 2025: 

👇🏽 Click to listen to the audio:

        If the RA chairman himself has now changed his position, why is the the local councillor Calvin Cheong (mentioned by the RA chairman in the voice message) so gung-ho about turning one small stretch of two-way street at Jalan Wangsa Utama into one-way street?

        Before repainting the arrows, I was initially told by the contractor Zarul that the road was to be restored to a two-way based on the specifications given to him. I took it that finally the problem is solved.

      It makes me wonder now whether MPS and local councillors have intentionally done what they claimed to be the requests blaming solely on the RA. They always like to claim that it acted on RA’s request and RA had everyone's approval. But till today, they have never shown proof that they had consulted everyone before MPS did the humps and one-way street. There was definitely no discussion where I was involved. My neighbours told me the same thing.

         What is therefore, the objective of MPS and local councillor in doing this, especially when they know it is another thorn in the flesh for me?

        Please listen to my proposed solutions given to MPS and RA chairman on a number of occasions when I met with them to object the problematic humps and the one-way street for a stretch of 30-40 metres. The only relief I had was when a certain committee, on hearing my reasons, told me that the road is designed to be two-way. This is the meeting that the RA chairman had said in his voice message; so now, he has no problem with it being two-way, probably after what the "panel" told him. 

        In the past, the RA did a lot of things that did not follow the bylaws and MPS closed an eye. A former YDP finally took actions and removed the boom gate that was used to lock up the access road into Jalan Wangsa 1/1 after 12 midnight. Back in those days I had to ask the help of the police who instructed the guards to open the access gate for residents. This is, by the way, not a gated community and the RA chairman cannot decide on everything. 

Previously this was the RA's argument:

        By the RA Chairman: "An accident happened near the guard house. We do not have budget to install another auto-gate/barricade." 

My response:

1. Accidents can happen anywhere, everywhere. I have lived here for nearly 30 years. Touchwood, I have not had an accident at this junction. If it happened one day, it can happen elsewhere as well. The RA chairman's argument does not hold water. 

2. The reason is because this junction is mostly not very heavy in traffic. The whole stretch of 40 feet now turned into one-way street can hardly be considered being `heavy in traffic.' Road condition for the past 10 years remain good and no reason to pave it recently. 

Why? Because in one hour, only perhaps between two or at most five cars use this stretch. During peak hours, the number of cars may be slightly more but well-spaced out.

3. The only time it is heavy in traffic is during the morning hours, when cars are trying to exit the housing estate at the other road. The bottleneck is Persiaran KIP 2 where one lane becomes two lanes. The exit is blocked by these vehicles.

I have suggested many times that the way to manage this problem is to get the security guard to control the traffic. The supervisor said he is willing to assign one of his men to do manage the traffic but he needs the permission from the RA chairman.

4. MPS can also place rumble strips just before cars turn into the junction at the guard house to slow down motorists turning into the junction. Anything wrong with that, MPS? 

5. The two-way stretch of Jalan Wangsa Utama is to allow effective traffic dispersal, instead of going a longer way,  and still joining back to the same queue without getting out of Phase One of the Taman. This is why I pointed out to Gobind about two years ago that MPS likes to use the same solution "One-way street" for every problem they encounter. As usual, Gobind said he will look into it later, but till now, nothing has happened. 

6. All the authorities need to do is to authorise the security guards and get them to wear a safety jacket and carry a STOP sign. As easy as that. One person is enough. 

Problem 3. Hump just before the junction to turn right or left

        I was initially told that the hump at the end of the stretch of Jalan Wangsa Utama from the guard house to Jalan Wangsa 1/1 was going to be removed and replaced with plastic humps, based on the specifications given to the contractor.

        I took this opporutnity to repeatedly tell the contractor that the hump is better placed at the beginning of Jalan Wangsa 1/1 immediately after turning right.

       

     I believe he saw and understood my rationale: if the hump remained at its current position at Jalan Wangsa Utama, motorists may slow down just before the hump. The moment they drive over the hump, they will hit the gasoline pedal while turning right. Because this is a blindspot, accidents can easily happen (see picture below) especially with cars reversing out of their porch or children walking on the road.

        I have just seen a young driver driving at very high speed here after I reversed my car into the porch a couple of days ago. Despite telling the contractor and MPS, nothing was done to slow down the traffic and the hump was done at a wrong position. I even requested for a convex mirror but I was told it was not necessary.

       
        No amount of discussion with either MPS, local councillors, or RA chairman had worked, despite using reasons to talk. Since contractor first mentioned the humps would be replaced with plastic humps, I suggested to relocate it to a more strategic place at the beginning of Jalan Wangsa 1/1, immediately after the blindspot. 

       Instead, the road was just resurfaced. As mentioned, this was not even the complaint I made. Job done, for the contractor, but did he follow the specifications that he mentioned to me about using plastic humps, etc?  

        The misleading arrow on the right lane may also cause another road accident, when cars following the arrow to turn right, only to suddenly find cars coming on the right lane of Jalan Wangsa 1/1. 

        Who is at fault? How can the contractor do such an inept job? If no one instructed the workers, I do not now think Zarul is a good contractor based on the arrows or it is just a town planner’s faulty design. Arrows are just painted on the road without thinking through the road safety measures.

        My discussion with Zarul (the contractor) had earlier given me the impression that he had the know-how and appeared to be reasonable. He even suggested that he would put the rumble strips just before the first hump immediately turning into Jalan Wangsa 1/2 leading towards this hump below.

 

        I agreed with him moving the hump too close to the border of Persiaran KIP2 could endanger motorcyclists. But, after the work was done, he did not do what he promised. No rumble strips, no plastic humps. 

        In fact, as mentioned right from the beginning I was wondering why they were re-paving this section of the road when the problematic humps that I complained about further away were not included in the scope of work! 

        Even after informing the YDP on February 13, 2025, about the humps, it appears that he is either too stubborn, or just hard of hearing, but it was sheer refusal to listen to where the problems are. He is definitely not customer-centric. 

        These were the two humps that were brought up time and again, and I had to finally drop the name of the Deputy Prime Minister, before that the MPS engineering boy I spoke to by the name of Salam contacted his superiors. He then returned on his motorbike to fetch Zarul to the site. 

        
        They returned, with Zarul telling me that they agreed now to fix the two humps. I thought the issues were all over! And I thanked Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof for helping out which, by right should not reach his ears, but I only wanted to let him know the problems ordinary Malaysians face with the Little Napoleons, a term which Pak Lah could not be wrong when he first coined it.

        Had the state and the local parliamentarian and state assemblyman handled the problems well, the DPM needed not to intervene. It's their failure and that of the Biro Pengaduan Awam that finally the problem reached the DPM's ears.

        By right, each parliamentarian and state assemblyman has their own people to help them. This is why I said it is bascially failure of the state as a whole after four to five years of trying to solve the problem, and engaging every hierarchy from ADUAN email at MPS, to SISPAA, emails to YDP, Pengarah, local councillor, parliamentarian, state assemblyman, state exco, Menteri Besar, and finally BPA Selangor Director and BPA Director-General in Putrajaya. 

        I am sure some of you have experienced this especially recently with the way how the local councils dealt with the stray dogs, and none one appeared to be forthcoming in solving the problem for so many years. There is simply no political will to solve problems. You will know the character of a person from the way he or she treats the animals. This truly brings disgrace to the Madani (civilised) government, unless these politicians are reformed themselves. They should be aligned with the Madani concept if they want to remain in government.

        In fact, if you read all my blogposts, all that I was asking to fix was just a few of these humps (about 4 or 5 in total). 

        How to fix? So far, if doing it this way helps, why not just do it that way? Just make sure that the landing and the highest 'peak' of the humps are not too much of a difference. See my drawings. Why spend so much money to re-tar the road, yet refusing initially to fix the two most problematic humps at No 40 and No  6o Jalan Wangsa 1/1? Contractor initially said those humps were not in the specifications given to him. Why, YDP and engineering chief?

        Although I initially thought that Zarul would do a good job, the two humps that were so-called repaired still gave problems with my wife's Honda City. This is because some cars have lower decks, and easily hit the humps when the car is fully occupied. 

        I showed evidence that the humps, despite being repaired, are still giving problems. Look at the marks before it was painted over. Even after painting over, Zarul did not repair the humps as promised. It is still showing marks that cars have hit the peak of the hump. 

        So, my question to MPS is : are you following proper specifications as the YDP initially claimed? If yes, why did you have to spend money to re-tar the small stretch of road when all you could have done is to just repair the humps? I wonder if it was done to cover the traces of the repairs that were done earlier. The road condition was still okay due to LOW traffic here; there are other roads with poorer conditions, but nothing is done to solve them. The money should have been channelled there.

Time for change. 

        This is really not a BIG problem but it has involved so many people, and none of them can solve the problems which clearly shows that the Selangor state government has truly failed despite it being under Pakatan Harapan. It is really no difference now compared to times before 2008. Here are the people I have brought up these small issues

        (a) Former Local Councillor Ng Wei Keong

        (b) Former MP Tony Pua 

        (c) Present Local Councillor, Calvin Cheong

        (d) Present MP Gobind Singh 

        (e) Former ADUN Elizabeth Wong 

        (f) Former State Exco Ng Sze Han

        (g) Present State Exco Ng Suee Lim 

        (h) Present Minister of Housing & Local Government, Nga Kor Meng

        (i) Menteri Besar Amiruddin Shaari 

        (j) Aduan@MPS.gov.my 

        (k) SISPAA 

        (l) Former YDP 

        (m) Present YDP Shahman 

        (n) MPS Engineering chief IrSyaiful 

        (o) Lim Kit Siang in an 1 1/2 hour meeting to tell him what is         happening on the ground in Selangor. Very disappointed to hear that he is now retired and he would not be able to advise his people. How do you expect me to support DAP now?

        (p) Lim Guan Eng. 

        (q) Nga Kor Meng (when he became minister)

        (r) Anthony Loke (in his capacity as secretary-general)

        (s) Biro Pengaduan Awam (Selangor), Pengarah

        (t) Biro Pengaduan Awam Putrajaya, Ketua Pengarah

        
        I cannot name the entire list. But unless they improve themselves by being reformed to be more customer-centric, politicians and civil servants should either shape up or be shipped out. A good example of a director from MPS with good public relations is in fact, its director of landscaping, Tuan Mokhtar.  For that he earned the appreciation of the people he listened to. No need to waste everyone’s time.

        His boss, the new YDP? Despite trying to engage with him, I found him to be very unreceptive and likes to beat around the bush. I have no time waste wit him. I want jobs done, problems fixed. That’s all! No more whispers. 

        The other who person whom I find is a good example is YAB Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof. It was only recently, after the problems were finally highlighted to  just to show him how much an ordinary citizen has to face in a failed state, he only has to press the button. 

        And once again he has to press the button because people are just unable to discuss things amicably and solve the complaint with the YDP. What's the point of resurfacing the road without solving the above four problems that I have spoken about time and again? I hope that the DPM can send someone to check out the condition. Without coming to the ground, it is hard to understand what is said here.

        And those parliamentarians who think their job is only on national issues, then, they should put the local government in order at least with some interim measures to discipline civil servants who intentionally create problems. Disciplinary measures such as reassigning civil servants to other jobs elsewhere or demoted if they behave like little Napoleons, but local councillors can be replaced with better ones. Surely, the DAP has good people that they can promote, no?

        If, for example, the YDP and the local councillor discuss the problems amicably, I would not need to spend so much time brooding over this. 

END.