p 12 – 13 - Selangor Times

News
18 JUNE 8 — 10, 2012
MB meets FB,
Twitter followers
Khalid (left) belting out a song. Inset: Nadarajan.
By Basil Foo
subang jaya: Fortunate
Facebook and Twitter followers of
Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim got to see a
lighter side of the menteri besar
who took to the stage to sing during
a high-tea event at Holiday Villa
recently.
Khalid also mingled with some
200 guests at their tables and took
questions regarding election promises,
local council elections and
cleaning up the Klang River.
“Out of the 36 promises we
made, more than 30 are done, like
free water and allocating land for
Chinese, Tamil and religious
schools,” he said.
He added that reducing assessment
rates by 20 per cent was unlikely
to happen as the operational
cost for local councils increases
every year.
He said the state would try to
pass a law to restart local government
elections during the next state
legislative assembly sitting in July.
“In a democracy, we must be able
to choose our representatives from
local government, to state government,
to Parliament.”
He told guests Selangor will look
into whether the law for local elections
can be reinstated.
Khalid was also asked what steps
the state government was taking to
clean up the Klang River.
He said state government-linked
company Kumpulan Darul Ehsan
Berhad (KDEB) will be signing an
agreement with a company from
China on June 25 to clean up the river.
“The programme will be
launched then. The costs will also
be explained then,” he added.
Kuala Selangor resident Azianie
Manap, who started following the
menteri besar on Facebook last
month, said it was her first time
meeting Khalid up close as she only
previously saw him on TV.
The 32-year-old lauded the
state’s policies for being peoplecentric
but hoped for more development
in her district as most of
her neighbours had to travel to the
city everyday for work.
“It would be great if we could
work where we stay,” she said.
Marketeer Thomas Lim said the
state should increase the promotion
of its economic stimulus policies in
Banting, where he lives, so that more
people could reap the benefits.
The 36-year-old, who added the
menteri besar on Facebook three
years ago, said his area had many
school leavers who needed jobs.
“More opportunities for Indians,
especially on the contract side,”
was what 45-year-old sales executive
S Nadarajan said was his most
pressing request to the MB.
Also present at the function
were Lembah Pantai MP Nurul
Izzah Anwar and Khalid’s political
secretary Faekah Husin, who celebrated
her birthday by cutting a
cake.
Khalid, to wrap up the function,
gave out lucky draw hampers and
joined the band onstage to sing
“Bossanova” by Saloma.
Subang residents raise LRT concerns
subang jaya: Residents of
Goodyear Court apartments 3, 4,
and 5 in USJ 8 are appealing for
barriers to be built to ensure privacy
between their homes and a
nearby LRT station which is under
construction.
“The (elevated) station will be
26 metres high, which is about four
to five floors. People waiting for the
train can see what goes on in nearby
apartments,” said Subang Jaya assemblyperson
Hannah Yeoh.
She was speaking during a press
briefing at her office on June 1 on
the outcome of a meeting between
Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd
(Prasarana) and Goodyear Court
residents.
She added that during an earlier
meeting with Prasarana in April,
USJ 6 residents had asked for a wall
to be built while construction of the
station was going on for security
reasons.
“Because the houses have no
guards, the residents don’t feel safe.
They are open to the ongoing construction
and feel intruded,” she
explained.
She said Prasarana had agreed to
consider the residents’ requests and
will approach the residents again in
a few months to present their ideas
to tackle the issues.
Residents have also asked for less
intrusive piling work as their houses
currently vibrate during construction
work.
“Anyone who has cracks in their
homes can lodge a complaint with
the Subang Jaya Municipal Council
(MPSJ) to see if the cracks are
caused by the piling work,” Yeoh
said.
Residents are also concerned
that indiscriminate parking may
become a problem due to a lack of
enforcement at Station 8 of the
Kelana Jaya-Ampang LRT extension
line.
Vehicles can only drive through
to pick up or drop off passengers at
Station 8, which sits along Persiaran
Kewajipan, between USJ 6 and
Goodyear Courts 3, 4, and 5.
The LRT is scheduled for completion
in 2014 and Yeoh said
MPSJ has two years to ensure that
parking does not become a problem
– by hiring more enforcement
officers or outsourcing the jobs.
A good feeder bus system, provided
by the transport company,
can also help address the issue of
indiscriminate parking.
“But the buses must be regular.
We have asked Prasarana to furnish
us with more information about
their plans for the buses as soon as
possible,” Yeoh said.
Station 7, which sits about one
Azianie and her five-year-old son Advin Ahmad Waliuddin.
Lim and his eight-year-old nephew Tan Wei Han.
Khalid (middle) and birthday girl Faekah (right).
Yeoh addressing the concerns of residents.
kilometre away, is slated to have 600
parking lots at a fee, which Prasarana
says is needed to cover some of their
costs.
Yeoh said the company needed to
ensure that parking would be either
cheap or free as otherwise, residents
might just go to nearby neighbourhoods
to park for free – and possibly
causing congestion due to indis-
criminate parking.
Also present during the press
briefing was USJ 6 Residents’ Association
committee member Mohd
Yunus Ismail.
The next dialogue will include
residents from USJ 13 and will be
coordinated by MPSJ through the
housing area’s Residents’ Association
or Rukun Tetangga.