No stranger to controversy, Zaid' career in politics took him through a ministerial position in the Barisan Nasional government and then a senior position in the opposition PKR (People's Justice Party) before he fell out with them too.
Today, Zaid is part of what is often referred to as the "Third Force" or "Third Position" in Malaysian politics between the ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) on the one hand and Pakatan Rakyat (People's Pact) on the other.
I too am of a "Third Position", though the problem is that this so called "Third Force" is a very fragmented cohort of randomly drifting individuals with no coherent ideology, organisation, leadership, purpose and direction.
In it we have people like Zaid, Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, relatively unknown individuals like myself, some of my friends and acquaintances and others of diverse and even antagonistic political, social and economic ideologies.
However hopefully, we of various Third Positions can unite around one objective - I.E. to stop KiDEX
No2KiDEX
=======================
January 19, 2015 Zaid Blog
The KIDEX Highway
I write this piece in the hope that many PJ residents and the people of Selangor will continue to object to the construction of yet another elevated highway, the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway or KIDEX Skyway in Petaling Jaya.
Its proposed route of around 15 kilometres stretches from NKVE Damansara (in front of my house in Tropicana) through Jalan Damansara, Jalan Harapan, Jalan Semangat, Jalan Barat, Jalan Utara and Jalan Penchala to PJ Selatan and Puchong. The expressway will run through the densely populated areas of PJ, including PJ New Town, and will encroach on 3,874 plots in a 100-metre corridor on each side of the Expressway. KIDEX’s promoters say the project is “Serving the Traffic Needs of the Future”.
This project was not planned for the people’s benefit. It’s not in the PJ Local Structure Plan, which it should be if the people’s views had been taken into account. It’s not in in the country’s Highway Master Plan either, and this document involves the Highway Planning Unit and the Malaysian Highway Authority.
The idea of having another toll project came from a private company. It was conceived by people as a way of making a few billion Ringgit from the poor rakyat, by giving them something they don’t need but are obligated by law to pay for. The Highway Authority gave this concession because the project’s promoters are well-connected and include UMNO lawyers and those close to the Works Ministry. It has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with serving the traffic needs of the people in PJ and Selangor.
The company selected this route purely on the basis that it would serve as a bypass for the already congested Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong or LDP Highway. They also decided to tap into some of the inter-urban traffic from NKVE and channel it to PJ. This means long-distance traffic (totaling in excess of 48,000 vehicles daily), which has nothing to do with PJ in the first place, will end up passing through its centre.
In short, this project will bring more traffic and congestion to PJ, not less as its promoters claim. If this project is approved many schools, hospitals, offices, places of worship and other landed properties will end up right next to it. PJ will be more polluted, roads at ground level will become more congested and our Petaling Jaya will never be the same again.
Given that all these factors are plain for everyone to see, why is this project still going strong? Is the new Selangor Menteri Besar still thinking of approving it? Why is the MB, who once said that there will be no more tolled roads under the Pakatan Rakyat, still studying the matter? Why is there no urgency to cancel the project and reassure the people that their interests come first?
The answer, perhaps, is in the nature of politics in Malaysia. Businessmen make money—big money—and some people tell me that this concession over 48 years will generate RM60 billion for the people behind it. It must be difficult for politicians to reject proposals from businessmen when the projects promise to bring in such big profits.
I hope PJ’s residents and the people of Selangor will come to Dataran PJ (in front of Amcorp Mall) at 10am this Sunday, 25 January, to show the businessmen and the politicians that they won’t be pushed around. This gathering is aboveboard and the police permit has already been approved. The people of PJ must make their stand against this moneymaking venture, and let the authorities know that there will be political consequences if the project is approved.
http://www.zaid.my/uncategorized/the-kidex-highway/
================================
Following below are some posters opposing KiDEX which explain what the construction of KiDEX will do to the Petaling Jaya skyline. The scenes shown in these posters are of Jalan Semangat, which runs past Section 14, Petaling Jaya, as it is now, and an artist's impression of how it will look once KiDEX is built.
Here is the SAY NO TO KIDEX Facebook page.
My own No2KIDEX blog is independent of the Say No To KiDEX group, though I am involved with the group and we had several dialogue sessions with Bukit Gasing State Assemblyman, The Honourable Rajiv Rishyakaran over coffee, where we discussed several of our concerns over matters such a rubbish collection, KiDEX, the Petaling Jaya North Sewer project, the One Way Loop and so forth in Petaling Jaya.
Thank you Rajiv for meeting us over our concerns, and for conscienciously performing your duty to your constituents who elected you.
Yours truly
No2KIDEX
No comments:
Post a Comment