Can’t wait anymore for the Ombudsman

Upon learning that a local Malay stall operator had been summoned to a meeting with a local council officer—simply for raising concerns about a chronically broken lift—I felt deep empathy for her situation.

As a petty trader, attending a 10:00 AM meeting meant she would have to close her stall for at least half a day. In her line of work, if you do not open for business, you earn absolutely no income for the day. 

Understanding this financial burden, I told her that I happened to be in the area and offered to attend the meeting on her behalf to find out exactly what the officer wanted. We agreed that I would represent her, but she would keep this arrangement confidential.

My decision to step in wasn't just out of sympathy; I am also one of the complainants. I have visited the building myself and witnessed the lift breaking down for months on end. It was left unrepaired the last time, and now, history is repeating itself.

What makes this situation deeply concerning is that the building is barely four years old, yet the lift has already suffered two major breakdowns requiring extensive repairs. 

This time, the wire rope needs replacement due to severe wear and tear, and the greaser has leaked. It appears something is seriously amiss. 

Critical questions need to be asked: Who was behind the procurement process? Did the developer meet the mandatory specifications for these lifts? Most importantly, why was a light-duty disabled persons’ lift installed in a high-traffic public building instead of a robust commercial lift from a reputable manufacturer like Schindler or Mitsubishi?

The inefficiency peaked when I arrived at the council office, only to be told that the officer in question was not even in. How can a public official schedule a strict 10:00 AM appointment with a complainant and then fail to show up? If that stall operator had braved the morning traffic jam just to find an empty desk, she would have lost a day's livelihood for absolutely nothing.

While tenancy agreements technically grant local councils the right to call tenants in for meetings, this incident raises serious ethical questions. Is this a blatant abuse of power, or simply the high-handed behavior of another "Little Napoleon"? 

It is absurd that an ordinary citizen is summoned and penalized just for demanding to know when a vital public amenity will be operational again—especially when the council itself has failed to provide a clear timeline for the repairs.

It this case, I believe things are under control after council president was briefed about the way her officers had conducted themselves.

But not in every case, we have someone within the organisation more senior who is sincere and willing to solve internal issues. 

Little Napoleons

Many of you know that I have frequently locked horns with the "Little Napoleons" at the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS).

Anyone who has dealt with MPS will likely agree that numerous areas under its jurisdiction have long suffered from chronic neglect. 

A prime example is the Batu Caves Integrated Industrial Park. Before I highlighted the issue, the area suffered severe flash floods after every heavy downpour—a misery the business community endured for over three years. Read this, this, this, this and this.

Desperate for a solution, a local restaurant owner named Mr. Sadiq wrote numerous letters to MPS. Instead of addressing the infrastructural failure, the council retaliated by sending two vanloads of enforcement officers to look at every possible fault in his restaurant.

It was this blatant intimidation that drove me to write an Open Letter to HRH Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Alhaj Ibni Almarhum Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Alhaj, which finally yielded some justice for the local operators. I resorted to addressing Tuanku because there was simply no one else left to turn to. Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari is the Member of Parliament for Gombak, the federal constituency where this industrial estate sits. Despite being privy to the evidence, photographs, and blog posts I regularly shared in our chat group, there was absolute silence from his office. No interest was taken, and no action was initiated.

To delve into the inertia of the other responsible State Executive Councillors (Excos) would only invite more trouble. However, this apathy is a mirror image of Selangor’s political history from over two decades ago. 

Under the previous Barisan Nasional administration, components like UMNO, MCA, and MIC consistently pretended these systemic issues did not exist. It was precisely this arrogant indifference that irked me enough to campaign relentlessly against them until their historic ouster in 2008.

The Real Problem: Local Government Inertia

Even before 2008, the root of the problem lay squarely within local government management. During my time writing for the Malay Mail, my reportage focused heavily on DBKL, MBPJ, and MPS. While DBKL and MPS were notoriously difficult to deal with, MBPJ—particularly under the leadership of its then-mayor, Datuk Mohd Nor Bador—stood out as far more responsive. To this day, MBPJ remains at the top of my ranking of these three local councils, while MPS languishes at the absolute bottom.

The core issue is that certain council officers at MPS have remained in their positions for far too long, slipping into a permanent state of complacency and indifference. Unless the Chief Secretary to the Government (KSN) mandates a total overhaul of the top management at MPS, I fear civic governance here will only deteriorate further.

For my part, I refuse to stay silent. I will continue to expose the areas they have willfully neglected. I stood up for the people of the Batu Caves Industrial Estate, and my next focus will be on the severely clogged drains in Sungai Buloh—yet another area suffering under the jurisdiction of MPS.

In upcoming blogs, I will be updating you on more developments about how the little Napoleons behave in cohort the chairman of our Resident Association to put a thorn in the flesh for me. You would have read how it took a few years just to have two humps repaired properly by MPS. Whether it was timed after the warranty period, I have no way to verify.

Yet, it appears to me that lessons have not been learnt yet; therefore, a more drastic form of punishment may be necessary either the federal secretary to the state government take a more drastic approach to revamping all the problematic local councils, or I will have to wait and be the first client of the Ombudsman.   

At one point in time, when the Public Complaints Bureau (BPA) was led by Datuk Dr. Tam Weng Wah, it was a far more reliable avenue for justice.

Back then, if a local council or government agency failed to solve a problem, Dr. Tam would personally respond and ensure the complaint was addressed. He even visited the sight to do a video recording of what a mess things were due to the way some hawker stalls were erected on the public carparks to the deprivation of customers visiting other shops.

Today, however, the BPA has become inefficient—nothing more than a bureaucratic game of pass-the-parcel between government agencies.

For instance, despite copying Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi in my emails, getting a simple signboard installed at the Sri Damansara toll plaza has taken months of futile correspondence.

The sign is urgently needed to show drivers exactly where the second RFID lane is located, yet the buck keeps being passed.

I recently learned from the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) that the matter has now been shifted to the Public Works Department (JKR)—even though both entities fall directly under the same Works Minister.

I simply cannot understand why it is so difficult for Litrak, as the highway concessionaire, to install a prominent signboard.

Malaysian motorists have already spent RM35 just to purchase the RFID sticker, expecting the efficiency we were promised.

Instead, the last thing we want to endure is a bottleneck queue at Litrak’s Sri Damansara toll plaza, where cars frequently have to reverse and dangerously switch lanes.

Why is there still so much emphasis on using the Touch 'n Go card when RFID was supposed to offer a completely seamless journey?

It genuinely makes me wonder who has a financial stake in keeping this clunky, monopolized system alive.

Perhaps the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) needs to investigate this matter thoroughly.

Furthermore, the Madani government should scrap these fragmented payment gateways entirely and transition to a barrier-free Multi-Lane Fast Flow (MLFF) gantry system.

This overhead gantry toll deduction has been implemented seamlessly in Singapore, Japan, Melbourne, and numerous other advanced nations.

Yet here in Malaysia, we are still struggling daily just to reload multiple e-wallets and physical payment cards at the toll booth.