Statement from YB Hannah Yeoh

This weekend we will be doing a voter registration drive at Sunway Pyramid, LG2, near McDonalds. If the General Election is called after March (parliament goes to full term), you can still make it to register to vote, if you do so before December 15.

Please spread the word. There are still millions who are not registered to vote.

The Selangor State Government Christmas open house this year will be at Sunway. See you there!

We have been informed that Mayland (the owner of Grand Dorsett Waterfront) has filed its defence to Court. MPSJ is in the midst of preparing its reply, and the case management will be on Dec 10, 2012.
MPSJ has frozen the demolition of the multistorey car park, which is crucial for Mayland to start construction until the court case is over.

This u-turn has been largely controversial, with large amount of residents coming out strongly for and against it. It was brought about because the LRT construction that will affect the traffic lights up ahead at Subang Parade, and this is to ease congestion there. MPSJ will request Prasarana to add signages and blinkers to improve the safety of this u-turn.


(From The Star Metro, 28th Nov 2012)

Council authorises new U-turn to help ease congestion along Jalan Kemajuan

VPU success story, in USJ12...


Dear Meng Chin,

I just foiled an attempt break-in at my immediate neighbour this afternoon at 3.30 pm

Shaming the litterbugs, vandals Writer: Brenda Ch'ng Published: Fri, 31 Aug 2012 SUBANG JAYA: Vandals, litterbugs and other wrongdoers may feature over video-sharing website YouTube if a proposal by a councillor is adopted by the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ). Footage of illegal dumping, misuse of billboards or sticking  Ah Long (loan shark) stickers caught on closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras around town may be edited and uploaded online. “This may be an effective way to tell people not to dump rubbish along the road and for offenders not to repeat their actions,” said MPSJ councillor Tai Cheng Heng. He raised the proposed at MPSJ’s full board meeting on Wednesday and further urged the council’s enforcement department to monitor hotspots and issue summonses to those dumping rubbish illegally. Tai pointed out that enforcement officers can compile footage of illegal dumping and patrol the rubbish hotspots to catch offenders. “We will look into uploading the CCTV footage online but those involving crime cases will not be uploaded,” said council president Datuk Asmawi Kasbi. He pointed out that the CCTVs were initially installed to help the police monitor crime and traffic flow rather than monitor illegal dumping. The CCTV control room, which operates 24 hours, is manned by about three officers during the day and two at night. Currently, MPSJ has 100 CCTVs installed around town at crime hotspot areas which were identified by the police based on the number of cases recorded. MPSJ will also be installing another 74 CCTVs to monitor crime and traffic flow around the area by December. Asmawi said the council will be using all 174 CCTVs to monitor and record council matters to help them improve services around town, in addition to helping the police monitor crime. Apart from uploading CCTV footage on YouTube, MPSJ will also be uploading public service announcements on their channel which can be found on their website www.mpsj.gov.my. Among them are videos on how to dispose of garbage properly, vandalism, dengue prevention and MPSJ events.

YB Tony Pua & YB Teresa Kok will be speaking on the Talam issue, in a public dialog as follows:


Date of event : 3rd November 2012 (Saturday)
Time             : 8-11pm
Venue           : Dewan Serbaguna MPSJ, Puchong Indah

One of the traffic bottlenecks and annoyance in SS16 today is the que to u-turn at the traffic light in front of Carrefour Subang Jaya. This que caters to cars originating from Persiaran Kewajipan, and some from SS15/5, that are trying to access the developments in East SS16, from Carrefour, Subang Avenue up to Mesiniaga, as well as the KTM Komuter Station. They have no choice but to u-turn at this junction. This junction also caters for vehicles that need to turn right to access Subang Parade and Saujana Residency.

The ban of heavy vehicles from our 2 main roads (Persiaran Kewajipan & Persiaran Tujuan) during morning and evening hour was first mooted in 2010. Here's a link on what I've written on the subject back then:
http://www.rajiv4malaysia.com/2010/07/ban-of-heavy-vehicles-during-peak-hours.html

This matter was deliberated for a good few months, before the council approved the matter in December 2010. Since then, and after the necessary procedures to gazette the move, the ban has come into force.

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(as reported by Selangor Times)



Published: Fri, 21 Sep 2012

Speaking up on enforcement, especially in areas where there are ample legal car park such as Subang Parade/Empire area of SS16 as well as Taipan, with its multi-storey car park. Illegal car park contributes to congestion, which affects and annoys everyone.

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This article and quotes in it are in response to Prime Minister Najib's tabling of Budget 2013.


More needed to improve transport system
Teoh El Sen | September 28, 2012
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/09/28/more-needed-to-improve-transport-system/

The Association for the Improvement of Mass Transit is not impressed by the budget proposals.
PETALING JAYA: Budget 2013 has little to offer in the way of improving the public transport system, especially in the Klang Valley, according to the Association for the Improvement of Mass Transit (Transit).

Transit spokesman R Rajiv said that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s announcements were disappointing, even though some people might initially be impressed, especially with the proposal to extend the 50% discount on KTM Komuter tickets to people earning RM3,000 and less.

“There’s really nothing much on public transport; he should have done more,” said Rajiv.
“Instead of giving out BR1M 2.0, why not just give out bus passes for one year? That could be a radical solution.
“Instead of focusing on a discount, we must focus on fare integration.”

However, he welcomed the announcement about expanding the services of Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad to other cities besides Kuala Lumpur.
“Hopefully Rapid Kuantan and Rapid Ipoh will complement rather than compete and kill off each other,” he said. “But we won’t comment more on that until we see more of the plans.”
On the proposal to give school bus operators a RM10,000 cash rebate and 2% interest subsidy on loans for new buses, Rajiv said this should extend to all types of buses.

“Bus operators are having a hard time, and passenger numbers are dropping. The financial viability of bus operators is really something we desperately need to address.
“The Klang Valley is growing bigger and bigger, and there are no new bus routes. People would rather buy cars, and when that happens, nobody takes the buses anymore.”

Rajiv, who is a Subang Jaya municipal councillor, said Transit had always advocated a “complete network” of buses for the Klang Valley, which has 1,200 buses for a population of about seven million.
He made a comparison with London, which is nearly similar in population as well as geographical size. It has 7,500 buses.
“While I agree with Pakatan’s shadow budget that we should immediately get 1,000 more buses, this is still not enough. We need at least 5,000.”

Rajiv said the government should also encourage more motorists to park and ride, deploy more feeder buses to commuter stations, and have more pedestrian walkways.
“More buses won’t create more congestion. If just 10 people leave their cars at home, there will 10 cars fewer on the road and just one additional bus.”

Rajiv said the budget had also overlooked the need for more bus drivers.
“Many work overtime and that’s what causes crashes. Singapore has gotten all our best drivers.”

Tackling Parking and Traffic Problems

by Rajiv Rishyakaran First of all, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all Subang Jaya residents a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, and to our Muslim brothers and sisters, Selamat Hari Raya Haji. This year we have seen among the many neighbourhood celebrations, one jointly organized by the Bomba, Police, Subang Jaya Community Fire Brigade, Summit USJ & MPSJ. This is certainly something new, and with a good turnout and community support, we hope to see it return next year.  Another thing we can all be proud of, that in all these Tanglung celebrations, we see a gathering of all races, coming together to celebrate and fellowship with one another.  Grand Dorsett Development As an update to development & sales of the Grand Dorsett Waterfront Hotel Suites (or service apartments), MPSJ has filed a case in court, seeking a declaration that the development was approved solely for the expansion of hotel facilities, and not to be sold as residential units. This move was made after consulting 2 legal firms, to ensure that MPSJ positions the case right, to uphold the spirit of the approval that was initially granted in October 2010. A Challenging Parking Problem Parking problems within the commercial areas are somewhat straightforward to resolve. In most cases, continuous enforcement is all that is needed. But what is truly challenging, is the spillover of commercial parking into adjacent housing areas. A number of our commercial areas are adjacent to housing areas, especially in SS15. Often, this would tempt visitors to the commercial centers to park in front of houses, causing inconvenience to the residents. Not only do they make it difficult for the residents to park their own car (as we know most houses can’t fit all their cars within the gate), sometimes these visitors park irresponsibly, blocking gates, or narrowing the road, making it difficult for others to pass through. One solution for this problem is for each resident to apply for the MPSJ sticker. This MPSJ sticker that cost RM3, is used to identify local residents, and makes it possible for MPSJ to take enforcement action on those causing inconvenience.  The challenge with this, however, is getting the cooperation of all local residents to apply for the sticker. One area that I’m working with closely on this is the SS15 Hexagon area (SS15/6), which is nearest to Taylors University. Tackling Sri KL Traffic Congestion I have recently met with Sri KL’s CEO, En Hanif Othman Merican with some of my JKP members to look into resolving the traffic problem we have on Persiaran Kewajipan every afternoon (on school days). Some misunderstandings between them and MPSJ in the past have been clarified, and I’m glad we were able to brainstorm a few alternatives, that would enable parents to pick up their children, as well as not congest Persiaran Kewajipan. These ideas require a little bit of further study, and we will be meeting Sri KL again in a few weeks time to see what might be feasible in moving forward.  I look forward to sharing more on this soon.

To clarify (arising from the newspaper article below), all commercial and industrial lots, or businesses, are required to dispose of their waste at their cost. This has been the practice even before Pakatan Rakyat took over. In fact, the MPSJ bylaw on the matter can be seen in Section 12, Undang-Undang Kecil Pemungutan pembuangan dan pelupusan Sampah 2007, available here:
http://ocps.mpsj.gov.my/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.document.Document_168b2f0d-a020f414-12146260-6562edb8

I find it ironic that 2 former councillors, Dr Kow & Mr Lee who were sitting councillors who approved this bylaw in 2007, are now raising fuss over the matter. If the insist on holding such press conferences, they should first apologize for their "error" in approving the by law.

As for the business owners, they are free to engage any waste management company for this purpose, including but not limited  to contractors hired by MPSJ for waste collection.


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Garbage contractors from MPSJ charging more for extra bags collected
Story and photo by CHARLES FERNANDEZ
metro@thestar.com.my

THE Kinrara and Kelana Jaya MCA branches want the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) to be clear on the guidelines for garbage collectors.

The contractors are asking food operators in these areas to pay for extra load of garbage collected as they claim they are only supposed to collect five bags of garbage per day and anything more is subjected to a fee of between RM100 to RM200 per month.

“The maximum bags collected per day is five irrespective of its size and contractors are demanding for extra fee and this has caused uncollected bags to accumulate,” said Selangor MCA Youth chief Dr Kow Cheong Wei.

He said the garbage collectors are also choosy as only recyclable items are collected while bags of domestic waste are left behind.


Different sizes: Dr. Kow (third from left), Lee (second from left), MCA Youth Puchong division chairman Lee Sau Peng (first from right) and other local MCA representatives showing the different bag sizes used by food operators for their domestic waste disposal in Jalan Kenari, Puchong.
Dr Kow, who is also former Kinrara assemblyman, added that this problem started in August after MPSJ councillor Loka Ng issued a statement that all business licence holders are responsible for getting rid of their rubbish.

“We demand to know from the councilor which bylaw he is referring to. Contractors are paid a fee and their responsibility is to collect garbage and not restrict to the number of bags to be collected each day.

Food operators in Jalan Kenari, Puchong, are upset with Ng for stating that this ruling is part of the licence requirements and that the former can engage their own contractors to collect the garbage if they felt the fee is too high.

One food operator who requested anonymity said the garbage collectors are carrying the newspaper cuttings with them on their rounds to state their claim and this has resulted in unnecessary confrontations.

Ng had said that the contractors had only limited capacity in their compactors and if they had to take away more than the set limit for each restaurant, they would not be able to cater to other businesses in a commercial area.

“If that is the case, recyclable items should not be counted as one of the five bags set for each restaurant. Even then this guideline should not be applicable as the garbage contractors have a moral responsibility to clear domestic waste,” added Dr Kow.

Dr. Kow said he had sent a letter to MPSJ after Ng made his comments during a meeting with residents of Jalan Tempua and have yet to hear from them.

Meanwhile, Kelana Jaya MCA Youth chairman Lee You Hin said MPSJ must come clear on the limitation of bags, the size of the bags and if the bags with recyclable items are considered as one of the bags in the five-bag limit.

Food operator Demetrius Lee Chun who operates the Destiny Garden restaurant in Jalan Kenari said the comment by the councilor has only worsened matters and urged MPSJ to come out with an official statement to solve the problem.

Dear all,

MPSJ & I would appreciate your feedback on suggestions for bus routes within MPSJ, as well and to and fro areas in MPSJ. You can email them to me at rajiv@dapsj.com

Dear all, 

Tahun 2012, pihak Bahagian Landskap telah merancang untuk menebang pokok kelapa tersebut. Kerja penebangan awal yang terlibat adalah disekitar monsun drain yang dijangka dimulakan pada 23/7/12 oleh kontraktor tahunan. Oleh itu, diharap pihak yang terbabit maklum akan keputusan ini.


Sekian, terima kasih.
Azlina Mat Salim
Bahagian Landskap

The following is the preliminary plan for tree re-planting by Prasarana. For every tree that Prasarana cuts to make way for the LRT project, they have to replant 10. I am pushing for MPSJ to produce the following in more detail, including plotting these trees on a map for residents information and feedback. 

The locations of Pasar Ramadan in Subang Jaya has always raised objections every year, especially the one is SS18 & USJ4 (USJ1 & USJ7 escapes such level of complaints). The objections arise especially from the neighboring houses, which is very understandable. The complaints revolve around to traffic congestion, parking congestion, smoke from the cooking, & rubbish left over. This year, we have to also contend with the the on-going LRT construction.

As a councillor, this is one of the harder cases to handle, as unlike potholes or broken playground equipment, there is no clear answer that will satisfy all. All these issues have been discussed at length in MSPJ, and the approval to set up the Pasar Ramadan was certainly not taken lightly.

Pasar Ramadan is very popular among the residents, and arguably has been for a very long time part of our traditions and way of life. A simple google search on "Pasar Ramadan" will yield so many results of blog post and forum comments demonstrating that fact.

Unfortunately, unlike some other townships, Subang Jaya is very "built-up", leaving very little open space suitable for this Pasar Ramadan. I recall in some other areas, it is held in Stadium car parks, among other places, which are not near houses. But such locations are not to be found in Subang Jaya.

The next best thing to do (also considering that Pasar Ramadan has been in Subang Jaya as far back as I can remember), is to manage the situation, to mitigate all inconveniences to the nearby houses. For the case of SS18, the Pasar Ramadan is still maintained there for the features where are yet to be identified elsewhere within the SS12-SS19 area, namely:

• The stretch of stalls must not prevent access to any homes, i.e. are there alternative roads to access the houses
• Availability of parking places (yes, admittedly there will never be sufficient "parking boxes", but the impact of overflow of parking should not grind traffic to a complete halt and minimize impact to overall traffic circulation. Thus, proximity to a underutilized main road like Persiaran Jengka between SS14/SS18 helps.
• The activities should not, if possible affect the traffic flow on Persiaran Kewajipan & Persiaran Tujuan, as this road at critical during the evening rush hour.   

In the last couple of weeks, I have had discussions with both MPSJ and Prasarana on measures to mitigate traffic and parking issues, namely (do also refer to the diagram below)

1. The reduction of stalls this year (from 200+ to 184 this year), and its relocation towards SS18/1...
2. freeing up the circulation around the Padang, to enable more cars to park and move around the padang (not inside the padang!)
3. Enforcement officers will be placed on the 4 residential streets to ensure proper parking.
4. A total of 15 traffic enforcement officers will be placed around the area to help ensure proper parking and traffic flow.
5. Prasarana will open at least 3 openings in the construction barriers for safe crossing from SS14 to SS18
6. Prasarana will also ensure at least 2 lanes be open at all times, and where possible more than 2 lanes to facilitate traffic
7. Prasarana has also committed to doing "Water spray" in the area before the stall set up everyday to minimize dust effects on the Pasar Ramadan. 

Hannah Yeoh & myself have also done a press conference today on this issue, and we do ask for the cooperation of all visitors to the Pasar Ramadan to cooperate with MPSJ's enforcement officers, and to not park indiscriminately.