Selangor state assemblyperson Elizabeth Wong has warned all hillside developers and land owners to reinforce their sites or face the risk of being blacklisted by the state.

landslide eli wong with officer "We have recently received complaints from Ampang, Kajang, Cheras and Pandan where private land owners and developers have neglected to protect their hill slopes and there are already signs of wear and tear.

"Some put plastic sheets and some said they are bankrupt, they don't have funds to repair their slopes. Whatever... If they do not do the necessary, we will blacklist them in the state and beyond," said the Bukit Lanjan assemblyperson in her blog.

She said developers should put 'people' ahead of 'profits' and expressed that the Selangor state government is "heartened" that the federal government has supported Selangor's policies as the prime minister had announced that all hillside projects are banned until further notice.

"We can only hope the federal government doesn't forget after three or four months, Dec 6, 2008, will not be forgotten - like what had happened in 1993 (Highland Towers), 2002 (Taman Hillview) and 2006 (Kg Pasir - which was less than one kilometre away from the landslide on Saturday) and the lives lost, both yesterday and in the past will not be in vain," she added.

Labelled as 'anti-business', 'anti-development'

The opposition ruled Selangor made a strict policy decision on April 2 to ban development projects on slopes having a gradient of 25 degrees and above, technically referred to as Class 3 and Class 4 slopes to protect environmentally sensitive areas.

landslide bukit antarabangsa car "Developers thought it was a late April Fool's joke. Since our ban, they have used all means - the media, blogs, lobbying of Aduns and MPs etcetera... to change our minds.

"We were labelled and vilified as 'anti-business' and 'anti-development'... I have even had some of our Pakatan MPs asking us to make exceptions for Class 3," said Wong.

"And every couple of months, we have to repeat our policy decision again. Even as recent as last month developers were insisting that they had the right to develop hill slopes and some had told a couple of exco members that they were planning to sue us.

"One of them said we would have to compensate them RM330 million (25 percent of our state budget) of possible loss of profits. Imagine the pressure of a lobby group whose combined income and assets dwarfs the state government," she added.

'Bitter vindication'

Wong reiterated that the Bukit Antarabangsa tragedy on Saturday proved the validity of the decision by the Selangor state government.

landslide bukit antarabangsa crowd "But vindication which comes after the loss of four lives and more homes is unspeakably bitter. There are some 5,000 residents living within the vicinity of the landslide who face uncertainty and possibly have to vacate their houses.

"We ask that developers stop pursuing and pressuring us to review our policy, and instead they should thoroughly go through every single technicality of their existing hill slope projects," she said.

Wong reassured that the state government will immediately review all approved hill slope projects by the previous administration, standing or partially constructed while the public works department find the cause of the landslide disaster.

"We had come too late. Many of the hill slope projects have already been standing for a number of years, some were half completed when we came into power.

"Without proper maintenance of slopes and drainage on these private lands, tragedy will strike after many years, always after the period of indemnity is over," said Wong.

She added that projects that were passed before the opposition came into power should also not be allowed to proceed, particularly those of the same range of Bukit Antarabangsa and Ulu Kelang.