Thesun 2009-03-30 Page12 Tilting Under The Bulk Of Balkis

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theSun

| MONDAY MARCH 30 2009

speak up! letters

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DID must get to root of KL’s flood woes I REFER to “RM2 billion and counting” (March 24). Does the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) expect flash floods in KL to be eliminated by spending an additional RM528 million to complement the tunnel. I believe that the flash floods in KL will never be solved until we build a dedicated storm tunnel to carry excess water from the city. The major problem is not the excess water flowing downriver from north of PWTC (Gombak and Batu rivers) or Ampang (Klang river), but the excess rainwater running off the city’s surface. We can see that the Klang river can only carry so much water due to it being shallow and not wide enough. Whenever there is heavy rain producing more water than the river can channel out (due to the river being slow due to its surface height relative to the sea), a flood will result. The rainwater cannot seep into the ground because almost all of KL is covered up. Thus the water has no way to go but to the lowest point in KL which is the Klang river. We know that the SMART project only drains water diverted from upriver and not water from within KL itself. Thus, if there is heavy rain upriver, the SMART system will

definitely prevent flooding in KL. However, whenever there is extra heavy rainfall within KL itself, the SMART system will not be able to alleviate anything. No matter how many tunnels or ponds we build, if they are not draining out rainwater in the city itself, the floods will continue to occur. The only way to resolve this type of floods is by building a dedicated tunnel running underneath KL. All runoff drains should flow towards this tunnel ensuring that the Klang river will not overflow. The tunnel should run all the way to the Kerayong river or any other point outside KL so that this excess water can flow safely to the Klang river. The problem with the SMART system is that the designers did not provide for runoff within the city itself to drain into the tunnel, but that is not the purpose of the project. The main purpose of the project is to disperse traffic and divert excess water from upstream. So, instead of spending more money on diversion systems, DID should look at the cause of the flash floods, and find a real solution. Mohd Zaini Abdullah Via email

25-year wait for strata titles ON BEHALF of residents of Belcondo, Lorong Basong, Damansara Heights, I implore the mayor of Kuala Lumpur to help us solve this matter. We are depending on assurances given recently that he will do all he can to create a friendly “rent paying” KL community. Indeed, we believe that intervening and solving our strata title problem will give YB the opportunity to start doing this in DBKL’s “own backyard”. In the interests of brevity allow me to present the case in point form. We have repeatedly sought the intervention of the DBKL to have this matter sorted out over the years but to no avail. This is despite our understanding that the laws and regulations require the DBKL to “take over”

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the administration of condominiums where no strata titles exist. There have been no titles for 25 years and DBKL has done nothing to address this problem. As a result we are not aware of who holds the land title, who the developers are, and whether the loans taken have been repaid. We are consequently left “in limbo” with a “self-styled” and self-appointed management assistant who collects the charges for the utilities and is not accountable to us for the sums collected or expended. Many residents are aged nearly 80 and are anxious that this matter be settled promptly.

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Dr Collin Abraham Via email

Tilting under the bulk of Balkis TODAY, this newspaper that Balkis operated in stands vindicated. The a transparent manner events of the past week with members allowed at the Selangor State to bring forth ideas to Secretariat have yet again help underprivileged showed that theSun lives groups in the state, and it up to its motto – Telling served as a sanctuary for It As It Is. When Terence wayward young women. Fernandez and I exposed However last week, the excesses of the Asthe proceedings of the Sesociation of Wives of langor State Assembly’s Elected Representatives CitizenNades Special Select Committee in Selangor (Balkis) last on Competence, Accountby R. Nadeswaran year, everyone jumped ability and Transparency on the bandwagon. Cer(Selcat) put in public dotain sections of the media were used main the bitter truth – exactly what to discredit us and even threats of we reported almost a year earlier. legal action were made. Two police The excesses of Balkis and some of officers turned up in the office to its members were laid bare for all to find out our sources of information. see. The whole country knew what Our independence and integrity members of Balkis were up to – they were questioned. Since our reports used money from state-owned were accompanied with documents, companies to travel overseas on there were also suggestions that we business class for sightseeing. Even had breached the law but these their shopping bills were taken care documents were not classified. of. Instead of money going Demands that these documents be to welfare and made available were made but we soldiered on. The Balkis story started on April 25 last year when we reported: Three days after their husbands lost power to rule Selangor, the wives got into the act – plotting to dissolve a welfare body and remove almost RM10 million from its bank accounts. According to documents sighted by theSun, Datin Seri Zaharah Kechik, the wife of former mentri besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo had on March 11 convened an extraordinary general meeting of the committee to dissolve Balkis and close its bank accounts. The following day, the accounts were closed, with the money transferred to another account and then to Bakti – the federal Organisation of Wives of Ministers which Balkis is affiliated to. Three days later, we exposed charyet other wrongdoings: While their ity, the bulk went husbands went on “lawatan sambil for personal gains and these belajar”, the wives were not to be companies as rightly put by Selcat outdone. Shopping trips, overseas chairman, Tang Chang Khim acted junkets and lavish functions have as tukang bayar (paymasters). In been the hallmark of activities of short, some Balkis members used Balkis. Nothing wrong with the junthese companies as their personal kets, except that their excesses were and private bank. How else could paid for by the state government Zaharah get Permodalan Negeri and private donors, who contributed Selangor Bhd (PNSB) to pay for her money thinking that it was going to trip to visit her son in Australia? good causes. In the eight years that But there were some gems in Khir Toyo has been mentri besar, the proceedings. Take the “repentZaharah, who headed Balkis has ance” programme carried out by led delegations on trips to Europe, Balkis in Cambodia. PNSB chief Hongkong and Australia. Datin Khairiyah Abu Hassan said On the same day Zaharah called the programme was to make people for a press conference where she “repent”. Spending people’s money read from a prepared text to “negate on such outrageous activities borbaseless accusations hurled against ders on absurdity and yet, without Balkis. Zaharah went as far as sayraising an eye brow, PNSB parted ing: “If further allegations are made, with the money. we the former office bearers will Coming to the dissolution of not hesitate to initiate legal action.” Balkis, something does not compute. The Star quoted Dr Khir as saying Was a meeting called in accordance

with its constitution to dissolve the organisation? I don’t think so. Zaharah, in her capacity as the former president (emphasis is the writer’s), has no power of dissolution. According to the Balkis constitution, it can only be dissolved by twothirds of the members at a special meeting convened at the request of at least one-fifth of “ordinary members”. The constitution is clear on such special meetings and it states it must be held within 30 days of receiving notice of such a requisition. It goes on to say that the notice and agenda of the meeting must be sent out by the secretary to members giving them 14 days’ notice. Let’s work backwards. If the meeting was held on March 11, the notice must have been given on Feb 25 – at the latest. But her husband, then the mentri besar, was going around campaigning on the lines of “Zero Opposition” in Selangor”! Did Zaharah get a written requisition from one fifth of the members on Feb 11 – when Parliament was not even dissolved? Unless of course, some wives knew that their husbands won’t be occupying the seats of power! So, where do we go from here? Teng has categorically stated there is no offender or accused in Selcat’s inquiry and those who are being called up are only witnesses requested to come forward and help identify weaknesses in order to strengthen the state’s administration. The police or the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), he said, cannot use information gathered at the inquiry against any of the witnesses because the witnesses were protected by the immunity of the House guaranteed by the state’s legislation. But such a stand should not prevent law enforcement authorities from initiating their own investigations with a view to bring wrongdoers to book. The evidence presented at the hearings suggests that criminal offences were committed and that there was abuse of power. While everyone is talking about good governance, wouldn’t it be a right time to start in Selangor? After all, isn’t it the country’s first fully developed state? R. Nadeswaran has every reason to feel elated. After bearing the brunt of criticism for having a personal agenda, what he exposed was the truth and nothing but the truth. He is editor (special and investigative reporting) at theSun. He can be reached at: [email protected]

Lightning rods must meet standards THE F1 race at the Sepang International Circuit this week is scheduled to start at 5pm, that is, two hours later than usual. While this period may be conducive for the event, it is fraught with danger since this is the time that thunderstorms normally occur. The event would be especially dangerous for racing enthusiasts who are seated outside the grand stand since

they are fully exposed to direct lightning strikes. Although the circuit has installed many lightning rods to protect the spectators, they are of the early streamer emission (ESE) type which do not comply with the Malaysian and international standard. Since 2005, Malaysian consultant engineers have been advised against using the ESE lightning rods since they

have been classified as dangerous to use by the International Conference on Lightning Protection. In the United States, the ESE lightning rod vendors have been criticised by the courts for making false claims on the effectiveness of their devices. Zahar Kuala Lumpur