Petaling Jaya City Hall (MBPJ) councillor Kandeah Subramaniam was supposed to serve some 22,000 residents in Kota Damansara; instead he allegedly undermined residents' efforts on various occasions, according to two local community leaders.

Friends of Kota Damansara (FOKD) co-chairman Jeffrey Phang and the Section 8 Project Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) flats residents associations chairman Johari Nader are now demanding his head.

Kandeah was nominated under the PKR quota in 2010, and his replacement of a Parti Socialis Malaysia's predecessor had caused a stir then.

NONE According to Phang ( left ), the low-cost PPR residents had suffered the brunt of Kandeah's sabotage as the latter allegedly threatened the MBPJ's officials into absenting themselves from a dialogue session.

The PPR flats, housing over 4000 residents had been in an abject state of repair since last year, with malfunctioning lifts and sewage plants, bad maintenance and theft problems- fertile ground for social problems among the young.

However, when Johari turned to Kandeah for help early last year, he allegedly appeared to be unhelpful , becoming visibly aggressive at one point in their conversation it was claimed.

Allegedly he had also orchestrated a mass boycott of a Johari and Phang organised dialogue session with MBPJ officials planned for June 25 last year to highlight the residents' woes.

According to Phang, Kota Damansara assemblypersons Nasir Hashim, Sivarasa, Kandeah and five MBPJ department heads were in the guest list and had initially agreed to attend the dialogue session.

"However, on the date itself, we were stunned to see Kandeah and all department heads missing, but Sivarasah and Nasir attended the function.

"The MBPJ officials told us Kandeah had instructed them not to turn up for the meeting," Phang alleged.

In November last year, he allegedly pulled off a similar stunt, warning a MBPJ corporate communication department official and a landscape department chief not to be at a press conference announcing a fund-raising event for the benefit of flats youths.

Despite this, the press coference  organised by a private hospital organised was held as scheduled.

NONE But later Kandeah ( left ) allegedly reprimanded those MBPJ officials who had defied his instruction for "working with an illegal organization", Phang alleged.

Things apparently did not improve after his re-appointment earlier this year, as Phang claimed that he again sabotaged collaboration between MBPJ and FOKD to jointly organise a drawing contest on April 7.

Kandeah's aggressive interventions, it is alleged resulted in MBPJ turning its back on the partnership with FOKD.

"What councillor goes against residents and undermines their efforts to do good for the community?" said Phang

"It's a shame for a government that claims to champion the people's welfare for its representatives to actually go against the community he supposed to serve," he added.

Phang said he had brought the matter up with Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim and MBPJ president Roslan Sakiman , only to be disappointed at Kandeah being reappointed in April.

PPR chairman: Predecessor performed better

Johari, when contacted, backed Phang's accusations, saying that he felt upset at Kandeah's attitude.

"I wonder why he was still re-appointed this year. Don't we have better candidates?"

"Even (PSM's previous councillor) V. Selvam did better than him," he said.

He said woes facing the PPR flats were only being tackled by the authorities after he challenged Khalid to visit the place which he did  with a working visit in October last year.

Phang and Johari are now urging the Pakatan-led Selangor government to respond, as the residents could not bear being sabotaged anymore.

Kandeah, when contacted, dismissed allegations that he has been the stumbling block of the local community's efforts , instead he turned on Phang, slamming his for being a bogus residents' representative.

He said Phang is without locus standi in representing some 22,000 residents in the area as FOKD's committee members, he alleged, have abandoned him.

"The committee members of FOKD have setup a new organisation called Kota Damansara Forest Reserve Association.

"So now who is Jeffrey Phang? Does he represent any legitimate NGO?" he said when contacted by phone.

Responding to the accusations, Kandeah admitted he has had disagreements with Phang mainly due to the latter's attempt to engage MBPJ without involving him and arbitrarily organising events in the name of the local council.

To prove his charges , he claimed that MBPJ's name was used when Phang organised a dialogue session in June 25 last year to highlight the PKR flats' deplorable conditions.

Contradicting Phang , Kandeah claimed he was not behind the boycott of MBPJ officials as they themselves asked him about it.

"They asked me whether I was the organiser, I said I was not. So that's why they did not attend.

"In fact, I was only informed (about the dialogue) 24 hours before the event," he said.

In the second incident where he was accused of stopping MBPJ officials from attending a press conference with Phang, Kandeah's answer was non-committal.

"Who was organising this? He uses the name of Caring Citizens Sdn Bhd which is a company owned by his daughter," he claimed, without answering directly whether sabotage did take place.

On the drawing competition this year when he had allegedly objected to a partnership with Phang, the two-term councillor claimed that he was not involved as his hasd yet to be renewed then.

NONE "At that time I was not in a position to say anything," he claimed.

He accused Phang of firing potshots at him when he should have lodged a formal complaint with MBPJ.

In response to the PPR woes, he gave a lengthy explanation that he had taken on numerous tasks to improve the residents' living conditions, including holding meetings, replacing water pumps and lifts and appointing a new joint management committee.

"I was also the councillor who recommended that every association be given a RM5,000 grant by the MBPJ," he added.

However, when asked to confirm whether he is a bogus representative of the community, Phang refuted Kandeah's claims, saying they were "lies to put me down"

While admitting that two of the FOKD committee members have quit and setup a new NGO, he said the other eight are still there.

On the cronyism charge by involving his daughter's company in a fund-raising event, he said the Caring Citizens Sdn Bhd was an agency entrusted by the FOKD to carry out social projects.

He said the RM100,000 raised during the event was managed by a Rotary Club and "not a single cent"  went to his family's company.

"It's mischievous to bring in my daughter to suggest that there is a financial mishandling," Phang said.