Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
This is not the first
time planning authorities and local councils had blatantly abused the
law and the processes in favour of big-moneyed developers at the expense
of residents.
Crucial to this case is how land originally designated for road
construction under the KL City Plan 2020 ended up in private hands.
Friday’s
rebuke and the directive are not a pyrrhic victory – it will benefit
thousands of homeowners who have been bullied and brow-beaten by local
authorities who interpret the laws according to their whims and fancies,
costing residents substantial amounts to protect their rights.
This
means developers cannot simply plonk a high-rise condominium in the
vicinity of existing residences and that local authorities cannot
approve such applications blindly.
On some occasions, developers
are allowed to take parts of public roads to make them exclusive for
their use. Elsewhere, parts of the road are blockaded and, in some
cases, the council takes it upon itself to change traffic plans to suit
developers.
In general, approvals are given and development orders
are issued without considering the neighbourhood and if the existing
infrastructure can meet additional demands.
When planning
applications are made, meetings are called to hear objections from
residents, but they are hardly met. As far as the councils are
concerned, this is a requirement of the law and sending out notices to a
handful would suffice.
Empty plots of land earmarked for public
amenities, like roads in the DBKL case, open spaces meant for
recreation, and even playing fields become the target of unscrupulous
developers.
Aiding and abetting these acts against the public are
local councils and some of their officials who consider the grouses of
nearby residents as “necessary evils” which have to be ignored in favour
of the developers.
The PKNS land debacle
In 2012, a massive scam
was uncovered when attempts were made to surreptitiously amend the PJ
Draft Local Plan Two in favour of certain parties.
In what was
then described as the largest land fraud in the country, a councillor of
the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ), Derek Fernandez, charged that
irresponsible people within the council changed the plan to cause a
substantial increase in the land value.
Using the controversial
change in status of the PKNS field in Kelana Jaya in the plan as an
example, he said as recreational land, it would fetch about RM20 per
square foot (psf) but as commercial land, it can go as much as RM500 psf
– a 25-fold increase.
The
local plan, he said, was amended unlawfully twice, with some 220
unauthorised and illegal amendments involving 40 plots of land including
the PKNS field.
Most of the amendments had been done in complete
violation of the law and were hidden from the councillors who were “fed a
steady diet of lies” at every meeting of the council’s One-Stop Centre,
which scrutinises applications for development.
“You will find
that many plots of land are stolen from public open spaces, recreational
land and land meant to be surrendered to the local authority for public
purposes.
“Even land surrendered for public purposes by
developers but was not used for the purpose was stolen and later
alienated to cronies, avoiding public hearings.
“Magically, titles
later appear for these plots and that is how the public is robbed. That
is why the planning records are different for those lands,” Fernandez
was quoted as saying.
The good news was that the illegal changes
were not acceptable and were rejected. The bad news was that no one was
held accountable for the debacle and only one officer was transferred to
another local authority.
Public apathy
One of the reasons why these problems arise is because of public apathy.
When
local draft plans are published or displayed for the public to give
their views, there is always the selfish belief that the politicians or
someone else will do it for us.
Such an attitude has resulted in
“Little Napoleons” and so much loss to the community – losses that the
council could have used for better amenities for the people, and
overall, closing both your eyes to the abuse and misuse of power.
Money can be a great mover, but it is time for the people to wake up.
