The ‘gated enclaves’ in Subang Jaya and USJ, Selangor, sum up the paranoia of residents and the political opportunism that is transforming the housing estates here into an ‘Auschwitz- WWII’ concentration camp lookalike. The touted ‘ community dialogue ‘ held by Subang Jaya Municipal (MPSJ) on the evening of Oct 21 to discuss the two related issues (of a high crime rate and the legality of barricading public roads) was a shocking revelation of the bureaucratic indifference and ‘blame game’ opportunism for local-level politicians.

About 50 representatives from the disparate residents associations who attended came anxiously with questions expecting answers but the response of the state assembly person present was downright condescending and incredibly manipulative. She contended that crime control is the responsibility of the police, which is the sole preserve of the home ministry (as if we don’t know) and beyond her control.

Similarly, she attributed the consequent proliferation of gated communities (and even gated sub-communities) to the failure of the police (sniping again at the failure of the minister) to ensure our safety. This theme song of ‘ Bashing the minister by bashing the cops’ was replayed by her at a community workshop discussion at Ampang on Nov 2 organised by the Selangor Housing and Property Board.

The legality of barricading public roads is also an issue to be resolved by the housing and local government ministry at the federal level as the state is by her account, powerless on this issue. The MPSJ cannot contribute even in the interim to complement security, we were told, because their funds are already contractually committed by (you-guessed-it) the previous state administration’s profligate spending and shady deals.

To the utter disappointment of many, there was no trace of any meaningful or concrete ‘my-pain-for-your-gain’ game plan. Instead, it was treated as a political opportunity for the orchestration of public dissent, as if the state rep was still from the opposition and not a part of an accountable ‘the -buck-stops-here’ type of state government.

For starters, a responsible state rep, as an already elected legislator should be reviewing the relevant laws for amendment and rectification. That’s what she was elected for. Her questionable commitment to resolving both the issues was conclusively highlighted in her unwitting self- account of how she dismissed an obstreperous lady complainant.

She said ‘I told her not to just pour her problem to me. Complainants must also be constructive and come up with a suggested solution if they expect me to help at all.’ Clearly we have a state rep who has defined her role as ‘reactive’ and not ‘proactive’ with the electorate bearing the responsibility to do her thinking for her.

This is consistent with her self- perception of her purely ‘correctional’ opposition role when on June 6, she applauded herself for the demolition of an unpopular ‘golden bird statue’ at Subang’s Millineum Park and pompously proclaimed to an incredulous audience that ‘I am here to ‘correct’ the mistakes of the previous administration’.

It’s hardly therefore any surprise that an eminent DAP stalwart, Lim Kit Siang himself, had repeatedly warned of the decline in public confidence in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition and the widespread perception of the arrogance of Pakatan politicians and non-performing ‘wakil rakyat’s, after only one year in office, while BN took 50 years to offend voters enough to trigger a change.

What is truly distressing is the ‘political mileage’ that is being wrung out of the raging controversy on ‘crime prevention and freedom of access to public roads’. Fear and insecurity are being ruthlessly exploited at the expense of the beleaguered residents who want, hope for and deserve nothing more than a safe home as their basic right as citizens and taxpayers.