Madani Organises Rm4b Kota Madani Project But Needs Ura

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“A new property czar is in the making.”
– P Gunasegeram, Malaysiakini columnist
What rational people should keep in mind when it comes to the Urban Renewal Bill is that Madani does not need it if the government really wants to help the urban disenfranchised, which seems to be the main talking point of this bill.
If the prime minister can announce RM200 million aid for Gaza with nary a whimper from his cabinet or the opposition, if the prime minister can put together a RM4 billion Kota Madani project which involved the political class, bureaucrats and plutocrats - do you really believe that his government needs the Urban Renewal Act (URA), to rejuvenate, regenerate and revitalise urban buildings for the betterment of the rakyat?
Unlike Perikatan Nasional and Umno, if Madani really wanted to expand the cash and political will to help the urban disenfranchised, they have within their ranks the intellectual capability and fiscal savvy to carry out an urban revitalising programme, using federal and local power.
This project will not be about displacing people but rather rebuilding, if needed, repairing and recalibrating civil services for the disenfranchised rakyat. The PM can name it the Rumah Madani initiative or something.
Of course, the people who are capable of this are sidelined in favour of the sycophants, plutocrats and warlords that jostle for space on the gravy trough.
This is really about big government. This is about big politics. This is about big business.
If this were about creating urban landscapes where various disparate communities coexist with stability and security, the government would be giving more power to the rakyat, instead of to politicians and developers.
Reviving third vote
Instead of a local council election, which acts as a check and balance to a whole range of issues and where communities determine what the places they live in need, we get the URA, which concentrates power in the hands of government and where back channelling, backroom deals and corporate malfeasance get a fig leaf of legality.
Which is why PSM wants the would-be property czar to get back to holding the local council election.
Last year, PSM called on Madani to revive the local council election in Selangor after the assessment rate hike.
“One big reason for this scepticism is that funds from this tax hike will be administered by the unelected local councils.
“In particular, (to ensure) that the projects will be awarded based on an open tender basis, not just handed to cronies of political party leader,” Selangor PSM treasurer Darren Ong explained.
Now, of course, if you are a citizen with numerous properties or live in a community with the influence to compel the state to live up to its obligations, especially when it comes to its civil services, then the URA sounds pretty good.
Developers no doubt love this bill. Now that power is centralised, all they have to deal with is one source instead of the numerous tributaries.
Activist Kua Kia Soong has articulated this point, but nobody seems to be listening.
“Residents whose voices objecting to crass so-called ‘development’ projects, water disruptions and periodic floods have been ignored, are demanding that their voices be heard at the local council.
“In this sense, we can see why local authorities are considered the primary units of government. Many services, including education, housing, health, and transportation, require local knowledge and can be better coordinated and more efficiently implemented through the local authority,” he said.
Weaponising URA
The URA has been weaponised by the opposition and Umno. Weaponising the URA does two things.
First, it favours the plutocrat class, the same class that has always enabled the political class, which includes a host of top-to-bottom bureaucrats.
This allows them to play the victimhood card. If this bill is destroyed or watered down to irrelevance, they can claim victory and go back to business as usual with the plutocrat class they demonise.
Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming rightly pointed out that 81 of the proposed sites for redevelopment were in PAS-led states and proposed by PAS-led administrations.
Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor MingWhich just goes to show who the landlords of the states really are, and you can bet your last ringgit that the plutocrat class would be involved with PAS in the “development” of those sites.
Second, these types of bills distract from the genuine kind of reforms, which return power to the rakyat. It often results in racial and religious narratives overtaken by class-based dialectics.
Just last year, Nga, champion of the URA, said that local polls were not a priority for Madani. Keep in mind that it was Kuala Lumpur DAP chairperson and Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai who wanted Putrajaya to start the local council election in the capital.
Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh was horrified, claiming that Tan was “insensitive and provocative”, and Federal Territories PAS Youth chief Azmer Syazwan Ahmad Suparmin said it would lead to disunity amongst the people.
Kua reminded us that a couple of years ago, the third vote favoured the left, which has always been grassroots in its ethos.
“In fact, during the early years of independence, BN was reluctant to have the local council election because many local council elections in the towns and cities tended to be won by the opposition.
“During the 60s, many towns and cities were run by the Socialist Front. This was the real reason for not wanting local elections, not because of the so-called racial divide,” he said.
Rejuvenate, regenerate and revitalise. Of course, the 3Rs. Business as usual. - Mkini
S THAYAPARAN is commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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