You wake up to the sound of metal and concrete beams being pounded into the ground. The incessant, excruciating noise of the pile driver accompanies you everywhere in your home throughout the day, making it impossible for you to do anything in peace. It is not only torture to your ears but also your entire physiological being that is being forcibly attuned to the cacophony of banging and drilling. Your entire home is shaking from the vibrations.

What would you do when your senses are being so brutally assaulted in your very home?

Last Wednesday, after three days of putting up with the piling work four to five metres away from the old block of flats where she lived in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, a distraught Evelyn Goh could not take it anymore. While she was bathing her children, the bathroom floor had trembled under her feet. Fearing that the rusty water-tank sitting precariously on old and rusty beams would collapse on her and her family, Goh ran downstairs and screamed for the workers to stop their work.

Predictably, their response was cool. Go ahead and do what you like, they told the thirty-something homemaker; the construction next to her flat would not stop. If there was a crack, they would repair it (read: if someone died, wed pay for the funeral expenses, too).

They told her to talk to their boss, Andrew Gubbins, who is the project manager (special task force) for KL Monorail Project Services Sdn Bhd, the main contractor building the monorail. However, Gubbins was reluctant to talk and sent one of his men to deal with Goh.

Desperate, Goh called the police, which was the start of a wild-goose chase for her.

Then on Monday, the construction workers broke a water pipe outside her building for their use and there was no water in the flats for a few hours.

Goh raised hell. She called the Waterworks Department (JBA) the next day to report that the workers on the site were stealing water from the pipe outside her flat  though what can one really say about a government project stealing water from the government. She also called and spoke to her constituencys member of Parliament, DAPs Fong Kui Lun, who promised to look into the matter.

Fortunately, the authorities were quick to repair the pipe and restored her water supply the same day.

When contacted by malaysiakini on Gohs plight, Gubbins responded with, I have nothing to say to you. He suggested that malaysiakini talk to the communications department who asked for time to ascertain the facts of the case. They have yet to come back on that.

Wild-goose chase

The construction taking place outside Gohs window is a part of the monorail project  a project for the good of the public and hence the residents have no redress. Even the Selangor Consumers Association admitted so; if the inconvenience, tremor and unbearable noise are of a temporary nature, then the residents would simply have to put up with it.

The only legal way to stop the work is to obtain a court injunction, by which time the damage may have been already done.

According to Gohs husband who is in the construction industry, the minimum distance for piling work is at least six metres. This is confirmed by Muhayudin Mohd Lip, engineer with City Halls City Transport Department. However, Muhayudin also chose to pass the buck. He basically said, this being a government project, either the Transport Ministry or the monorail project general manager should be the one to talk.

So the chase came almost full circle, from the police to the  tangkap ular  (snake catchers) people, to the monorail project general manager and back to the government  this time, the Transport Ministry.

What was that about the  tangkap ular  people again?

When Goh called the police, she was given a  Projek Bandaraya  (City Hall) number, which referred her to a  tangkap ular  number, which gave her yet another number to call.

Whether or not the person on the other end of the City Hall line was joking when he said Goh should call the  tangkap ular  people, only he knew. For Goh it was not so rib-tickling. The incessant pounding was driving her mad. Her neighbours had all their windows shut to minimise the noise.

The next number Goh called, she was then told to tell the construction workers to stop work herself. The lady on the other end of the line had said that if the building started to crack it would be Gohs own fault.

Through the many run-arounds that she was given, Goh hardly remembered whom she spoke to or from which agency. One thing was crystal clear  all were simply passing the buck and refused to take responsibility. It was a shameful display of typical Malaysian apathy.

The construction workers and the site supervisor could not care when Goh was measuring the distance the concrete and metal beam that had been piled next to the flat. They knew that the authorities were on their side.

And though piling work has since stopped, other construction work continues unabated, noises and all; for, as the Bukit Bintang MPs press secretary told her, the contractors have a 24-hour permit to work.

What can a puny homemaker do but put up with the nonsense, and maybe wait for another Highland Towers tragedy?

Changing face of Brickfields

Brickfields has been on the fast track of development for some time now with condominiums and transportation projects sprouting like mushrooms after rain. The suburb which is a stones throw away from the city has become a transportation hub with the completion of the KL Sentral which houses the Express Rail Link, Light Rail Transit, Komuter and KTMB train stations. The ERL connects to Sepang International Airport.

But development comes at a heavy price for some quarters, and the price is displacement. Brickfields is really a second little India after Lebuh Ampang in the city. Jalan Tun Sambanthan that stretches through the suburb is doted with shops selling sari, food, handicrafts, fragrant garlands and incense. Brickfields is perhaps one of the few places in the city where youll find Bollywood hits blaring from both shop fronts and car stereos.

Yes, Brickfields is very Indian in its make-up. Many old-timers here feel that with the onslaught of rapid physical change the suburb will lose its unique character and Indian heritage.

However, many resident have also benefitted from the high price they sold their land for. Among those displaced by the project are several old Hindu temples once located along the banks of Sungai Kelang. The temples have now been lumped together on a piece of land next to the highway at Jalan Scott. So much for serenity. So much for peaceful prayer.

And so Jalan Scott has four temples along its 500m stretch. One of the temples, the Sri Krishna, was previously moved from Pantai Dalam to Brickfields. And now it has to move yet again.

An old temple built by squatters used to occupy the site where Pines Condominium is on now. It now lies at Jalan Berhala facing the main entrance of Pines condominium. It may have to move again, some say to where the toddy shop is nearby.

Interestingly though, the infamous toddy shop on Jalan Berhala next to the monorail construction site has remained intact and untouched by development. The sight for sore eyes is still a much-frequented watering hole.

There has been talk that the Ganesha temple will be moved there but this is unconfirmed.

The group of Concerned Citizens member S Nagarajan said this shows a lack of regard for (Indian) heritage. All the temples were lumped together in a nobody-else-wants-it piece of land by a noisy highway.

The sanctity of these temples has been disregarded altogether. Couldnt they have found a way around them (the temples)? he said.

Still, there is monetary compensation from the authorities, which is received with gratitude by the temple committee and all who do not know better.