I refer to the Federal Territory and Urban Well-being Ministry’s multi-million ringgit upgrade plan for Brickfields. The plan also involves Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) and its proposals are presented as a package that includes a ‘Little India’, apparently as an adjunct to KL Sentral.
Although the proposals come in a package, it is useful to separate elements that will enhance quality of life in this central city neighbourhood from the mainly commercial ‘Little India’ project. By ‘enhancing the people’s quality of life’, I mean anything that adds to pedestrian comfort and safety, cleanliness of streets and walkways, facilities for the disabled, public spaces for rest like park benches, unhindered traffic flow and affordable parking, among others. Not least will be a high standard of enforcement of traffic rules and city by-laws.
Plans targeted at achieving these goals, if implemented professionally, could transform Brickfields into a first-world commercial/high density residential zone. There are many laudable aims behind the current traffic plan, limited though it is, and KLites should receive it in good faith, assuming the changes dovetail into a coherent transportation infrastructure upgrade master -plan for the whole city.
A key element of the plan is to turn Jalan Tun Sambanthan and Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad into one-way streets. Reported discussions, specifically on Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, have been dominated by a group of 40 associations. Their rationale for not making the street one-way is unclear.
How could a one-way street with several zebra crossings, guardrails and overhead bridges endanger safety? Is everyone here jaywalking? Are parents and schools neglecting their duty to inculcate road safety habits among children or in supervising them? Are adults also ignorant? In which case, are they not already in danger on the two-way street? Parents and schools also need to better manage transport arrangements for school children, but that is a different issue.
Specific concern is raised about parking, despite the promise of a multi-storey car park. To put it bluntly, it seems residents who currently enjoy a bit of illegal curb parking are fearful this might not be tolerated in future. Again, is it not time we started obeying rules? The minister and his deputy as well as the Datuk Bandar have been reasonable in the adjustments made to stated proposals.
Meanwhile, the need for improvements to the traffic system is growing in urgency. In the past decade, Brickfields has turned into a filthy, chaotic mess, with walkways and streets permanently littered, illegal hawkers blocking five-foot ways, festive occasions a further excuse for street vendors to add to traffic gridlock, street night markets contributing garbage, illegal street-front dump-sites mushrooming as the solid waste disposal mechanisms of flats collapse, shoppers parking cars illegally and public amenities breaking down rapidly.
People who are happy to live, work, worship and educate their children in such an environment perhaps have a Third World mentality. Resident associations have done little to improve matters.
As for ‘Little India’, Jalan Berhala has stronger historical claims to this title. Instead it is to be a restaurant row along the busy Jalan Tun Sambanthan.
Fine, so long as the people’s quality of life is the prime criterion for City Hall’s plans. Nothing done in the name of this commercial enterprise should inconvenience citizens and visitors who walk or drive between work, home, shops, schools, places of worship, public transport, etc. No parked tourist buses belching smoke, no indiscriminate hawking and, hopefully, the streets will be cleaner.
Older KL residents will remember the brouhaha decades ago when authorities moved to make Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman one-way. Shops feared losing business. Shoppers said they would be inconvenienced. Ultimately though, it was done and the results were overwhelmingly positive.
For Brickfields today, doing nothing is not an option. By consulting with NGOs, the government is demonstrating it is mindful of the interests of citizens. Stakeholders should respond with viable suggestions for improvements to the plan and monitor its implementation instead of forming into ‘Associations of No’.
The people of Brickfields and the city authorities should work together on this. A good guiding principle for all would be the rule of law. Let us not litter. Let us not jaywalk. Let us park vehicles only in designated places. Let us obey traffic rules. Let us help preserve public amenities. Let us keep our business premises clean and honest. Let us not do unlicensed hawking, blast loud music or cause street litter.
Rules are for everybody. Unlicensed hawkers should be penalised. If they are rewarded with licences, car owners will reasonably expect their parking summonses to be forgiven as well.
A DBKL that goes by the rules will ensure it maintains public amenities in good repair, provide the basic services that property owners pay for and enforce regulations meant for everybody’s benefit.
On the other hand, if the good citizens of Brickfields do not think in terms of the common good, things could get worse.
