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Oppose Menara Warisan Merdeka: And for that reason, I petitioned…

By Adrian Ang | www.loyarburok.com
October 29, 2010

OCT 29 — For the past 10 years on Malaysia’s Budget Day, I have been glued to the television. I have listened to every detail of the Budget Speeches and this year was no exception. As the Prime Minister began his speech, I waited with much anticipation. What’s to be in store for the development of our country?

But my heart stopped when the Prime Minister announced the development of Menara Warisan Merdeka, a 100-storey tower which will be built between the Merdeka and Negara stadiums. The 19-acre mega development project is said to include a condominium and shopping mall. I couldn’t believe my ears.

It struck me that a massive construction project will soon descend on the vicinity of my alma mater, Victoria Institution (VI). Besides VI, there are also 3 other schools within the vicinity of the development area, namely, Methodist Boys’ School (MBS), SRJK (C) Jalan Davidson and Confucian Private Secondary School. I was dazed for a moment before questions started filling my mind.

Will the schools be relocated? What will happen to the traffic flow within the area? Will the students’ safety and health be affected? What about the schools’ environment? And do we need another tower in the first place, given that we already have the Petronas Twin Towers?

I could only imagine the massive scale of the mega project and its effect on the 4 premier schools.

The 4 premier schools are some of the oldest schools in Kuala Lumpur (KL) with VI being 117 years old — the oldest school in KL, MBS – 113 years, Confucian – 104 years, and Davidson – 82 years. These 4 premier schools have produced some of the best brains and minds in Malaysia.

I could only imagine that the noise and air pollution, scaffolding and building equipments, overhead cranes, earth movers, heavy-duty lorries and dump trucks etc will pose safety and health hazards to the students. It is most likely that the development will lead to massive traffic flow and congestion problems.

While I am not against progressive development for the country, the cost of sacrificing quality education is just too much to pay.

The RM5 billion development costs could and should be invested into other areas such as improving education and healthcare facilities, reducing poverty levels, and particularly making life easier through better public transportation and greater assistance to the Orang Asli, the disabled and the elderly.

Among others to:

  • Eradicate poverty and improve the people’s standards of living by providing shelter, electricity, water and other forms of assistance to the hardcore poor.

  • Improve the infrastructure of schools, and increase access to education by providing free books to schoolchildren in rural areas.

  • Improve the healthcare system by building daycare and dialysis centres, and upgrading equipment and facilities in hospitals and clinics.

  • Build the capacity of the disabled by providing training to enable them to enter and succeed in the job market while building infrastructure to enable their mobility.

  • Provide assistance to the elderly by building old folks homes.

  • Reduce traffic problems in major towns and cities while making them more livable.

Hence, I appeal to the rakyat of Malaysia to support and oppose the development of the 100-storey tower! I am still proud to be Malaysian without the tower.

* Adrian is a 4th generation young Malaysian born and bred in Kuala Lumpur. An accounting and finance graduate from London, he has been in the tax profession for the past 10 years. An alumnus of Victoria Institution, he represented Malaysia in the 1996 Australian Marching Band Competition which was awarded a First Class for performance. He is a passionate civil society activist and contributes through various channels. He must stop taking himself too seriously and be a real LoyarBurokker! Follow Adrian on Twitter @AdrianNCF.

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6 Replies to “Oppose Menara Warisan Merdeka: And for that reason, I petitioned…”

  1. “Adrian is a 4th generation young Malaysian born and bred in Kuala Lumpur. An accounting and finance graduate from London, he has been in the tax profession for the past 10 years. An alumnus of Victoria Institution, he represented Malaysia in the 1996 Australian Marching Band Competition which was awarded a First Class for performance. He is a passionate civil society activist and contributes through various channels.”

    Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But his eyes, they are still sepet arent they? And the decendants of prostitutes are no better than the children of prostitutes. Dont get me wrong. I am just thinking aloud. You know. Trying to make some sense of umno’s many great logics like umnoputras are the supreme race of the world. Things like that.

    And about Jibby-tower and yes the budget, was I wrong to have noticed that the budget contains no provision at all for reviving stalled projects like plaza rakyat?

  2. Sorry off topic. But there are just too many own goals being scored by umno. The writings on the wall now is telling the story of a crumbling umno.

    This is another own goal.

    “Lawyer N Surendran who is acting for Air Force Sergeant N Tharmendran in the jet engine theft case is now being threatened with criminal proceedings by the RMAF Chief.

    This is as a result of the position taken by Tharmendran that his service with the air force has ended on 28.5.10.

    The air force’s own documents show that his service had ended on 28.5.10 and they had stopped paying his salary for several months after June 2010.

    The air force now mischievously caims that Tharmendran is a deserter.

    By a letter dated 28.10.10 to N Surendran, the air force Chief has threatened him with s.135 and 136 of Penal Code allegedly for abetting a deserter which carries a 2 year prison sentence. (Letter attached)

    This is a serious and unprecedented interference with the duties of a lawyer defending his client in a criminal matter.

    The RMAF Chief has also made an outrageous demand ordering Surendran to advise his client as demanded by the RMAF.

    Surendran has been given 7 days to comply with the demands or face action.

    Members of the Malaysian Bar do not take instructions from the Armed Forces as to what to advise their clients. This unlawful threat and demand against Surendran must be immediately withdrawn, and the Minister of Defence must answer for the actions of the Air Force Chief to the public and the Bar.

    We will also be raising the matter with the Bar Council.

    Released by,

    Latheefa Koya
    Lawyers for Liberty ”

    Jib Jib Boleh.

  5. Regarding what Dagen posted in #2, it is ludicrous for RMAF Chief to threaten N Surendran who is lawyer acting for Air Force Sergeant N Tharmendran with section 135 and 136 of Penal Code that deal with abetment of the desertion of an officer or a serviceman and harbouring a deserter respectively.

    The reason for this is that legal representation of a person alleged to have committed a crime and even legal representation of a person already convicted of a crime (by way of appeal) IS A LAWFUL ACTIVITY AND DUTY OF A LAWYER TO DISCHARGE AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE ABETMENT OF ANY CRIME WITHIN MEANING OF SECTION 135 AND 136 OF PENAL CODE!

    [Otherwise every lawyer who represents a person charged or convicted of rape, robbery or murder will be guilty of abetting rape, robbery and murder and so we will have no lawyers specializing in criminal cases to defend those charged with criminal offence].

    My two cent advice of what lawyer N Surendran should do is to immediately lodge a police report against the RMAF Chief for criminal intimidation under section 503 of the Penal Code and together with the Bar Council call on the Attorney General to immediately charge the RMAF Chief under section 503 for Criminal Intimidation.

    Section 503 on Criminal intimidation provides:-

    “Whoever threatens another with any injury to his person, reputation or property, or to the person or reputation of any one in whom that person is interested, with intent to cause alarm to that person, or to cause that person to do any act which he is not legally bound to do, or to omit to do any act which that person is legally entitled to do, as the means of avoiding the execution of such threat, commits criminal intimidation.”

    What the RMAF Chief has said satisfied all ingredients of the charge of criminal intimidation – ie

    • Threatening Surendran with injury to his person, reputation or property

    • With intention to cause alarm

    • to cause Surendran to omit to do any act (legal representation) which that person is legally entitled to do (ie act as lawyer to defend N Tharmendran).

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