For those who moved into the neighborhood of Taman TTDI Jaya in the 'planned' city of Shah Alam 15 years ago, little did they realise that it would be a non-ending nightmare of recurrent flooding.

The trust they had in the developers and all those promises that the land had been adequately raised to sustain a 100-year rain forecast was nothing more then a 'con' to entice innocent house buyers to part with their hard-earned money to buy these homes. Worse affected were the shopowners who today have to face floods almost on a monthly basis. How is this possible?

Despite all the technical explanations by the developers, the Drainage and Irrigation Department, the Shah Alam City Hall (MBSA) and the menteri besar himself, it appears plain to anyone with common sense that the area indeed is topographically the lowest point in the entire locality and water undoubtedly - whether from the area itself or from drainage upstream from KL - would indeed overflow and stagnate at this taman.

After the horrific floods of last year, the state government came up with an interim plan to raise the river banks to prevent overflowing but the floods keep coming back with even greater speed.

You see, despite knowing that this place is already flood-prone, the area between TTDI Jaya, Bukit Jelutong and the TUDM air-force base has been stripped bare to make way for industrial development. The entire area does not possess proper drains and even a kid will tell you the massive run off during heavy rain will of course pool at the housing estate located beneath Taman TTDI Jaya.

But this common sense appears to have slipped through the minds of authorities who allowed massive land clearing without a thought for parents, the infirm, children, businesses and schools who occupy this housing estate. Is this just plain negligence? Or deliberate with a touch of sadism on the part of the MBSA? It is not possible that the MBSA who seem to know this area well would not know this simple detail.

But nothing in Malaysia surprises anyone anymore, for our institutions are clearly staffed with incompetent personnel with very much a Third World mindset. The country, as acknowledged widely, is rudderless.

Whoever approved this massive land clearing for these industries without first safeguarding the lives of the people downstream must be irrational or of unsound or quite possibly paid off. Whoever it was, at most he or she would be transferred.

But for the people who need to face these repeated calamities the nightmare continues. How an elected government can ignore such incompetence which inflicts such profound damage, repeatedly, on its very own people is unbelievable.