Call local councils to account

The Sun 06/06/2006

In our country, alarm bells ring only after the disaster. And then too for just a little while before it is all forgotten - until the next disaster strikes again. And then the cycle starts again as we pull our hair out and point our fingers willy-nilly but it is too late by then.

That landslide in Hulu Klang is yet another shocking example (how many more such bombshells do we need?) of how local councils have abdicated their responsibility of allowing only planned and orderly development which takes into account the safety, well-being and comfort of existing residents.

The Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) puts the blame for the latest landslide, which killed four and is said to be the sixth in the region since 1993, on developers. It said they did not put up retaining walls according to specifications and took too long putting them up.
It seemed that MPAJ was unaware of reports that had warned of landslides in the area and which described the entire area as landslide-prone because of development which has destabilised the slopes in the area.

Question is why MPAJ did nothing when it found that the developers were not doing things according to requirements. It could have issued stop-work orders a long time ago but it did not.

It could have imposed severe penalties for late completion of the retaining wall to ensure that it was completed on time. It could have engaged independent consultants to certify that the wall was being built to specifications.

Instead the head of the MPAJ made vague references to it being a natural disaster and put the responsibility conveniently on God, when there were many things he could have done to prevent a landslide, especially given the number that has taken place in the region over the years.

But till today, there is no talk by anyone in authority of making MPAJ responsible for their actions, or more precisely in this case, their lack of action. As long as that kind of attitude continues expect disasters which can be avoided to happen.

Not long ago we saw in other parts of Selangor mud flow into an agricultural park. We saw serious flooding in Shah Alam. Experts linked these developments to uncontrolled, irresponsible development. In fact a Selangor state company was found in court to be responsible for some of it.

As long as local councils and developers act in cahoots with impunity and as long as local councils are not held responsible for their negligence (at best) and collusion with developers (at worst), the environmental disasters will continue unabated despite all the wailing after the fact.It is high time we called our local councils to account.