From the frying pan into the fire!

This is a follow up to yesterdays' piece about living dangerously! So the learned Works Minister has decided to lift the ban on hill slopes development, which effectively contradicts the Deputy Prime Minister's call to all local council to ban all hillside developments! Who's the Boss? Whoever the boss maybe, the Minister's statement was welcomed by the REHDA president. However, the Bukit Antarabangsa Residents Association chairman, Dr. Mohd. Rafick rightly pointed out that it is the lack of adequate laws on hillside development which is the issue. What the good doctor said maybe true but I am a pessimist. Even if we have adequate laws and guidelines on hillside development, the good doctor has forgotten that corruption in the government departments (I don't care if it is a BN administration or otherwise) IS a work culture!

As I know, land matters are the sole prerogative of the State government, therefore, no federal minister has any say on such matters. I salute the Selangor state government for taking a stand on this issue. They have decided that they shall not lift the ban in Selangor. On the contrary, the Penang DAP chairman said that "it would be disasterous to stop hillside development in the state". He also pleaded that the current administration should not be faulted as these projects were approved by the Gerakan administration. Well, if the PR government in Selangor can do it, why not the DAP in Penang?

ALL PENANGITES, LISTEN UP, AND LISTEN GOOD! The DAP man said that local councils would have to cough up a couple of hundred million as compensation to developers! I WISH I HEARD HIM WRONG! WHAT HE SAID CERTAINLY SOUNDED LIKE LOST LIVES AND PROPERTY OF THE ELECTORATE IS STILL CHEAPER THAN LOST DEVELOPMENT! GET THE DRIFT?

“We have taken measures such as issuing stop-work orders on some projects, sometimes even repeatedly, to ensure the developers complied with the guidelines,” he said. The Penang public is aware of these so-called stop work orders, but as I pointed out yesterday, the order may have been issued, but the blasting continues unabated. I hope what I have read in the media is his (Chow Kon Yeow's) personal view and not that of the DAP. He said it would be easier if the Federal Government imposed a blanket ban on all hillside projects. Spoken like an idiot, as an assemblyman, he should be aware that land matters are excluded from the purview of the federal government. See, that is the problem we get when we vote for some incompetent nincompoop fronting as candidates for the political party of our choice!

We deserve the government we put in office. Regrets? Anyone?