COMMENT This article is prompted by a Bernama news story that reported the plight of some 400 flood victims still languishing at several evacuation centres in Perak.

Year after year this has happened, yet the government of the day failed to address the need to preserve the ecology and protect the environment.

Although to the people in the power of corridor, the figure is nothing but another set of statistics, I would like to place Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir as the 405th victim, and Ipoh City Mayor Zamri Man as the 406th victim. Until they themselves become victims, they would never be able to understand the plight of the flood victims.

It saddens me that while non-governmental organisations are constantly harping on deforestation and raising important issues that impact the lives of the people, our politicians continue to remain oblivious to the suffering of the ordinary citizens, although the suffering is the result of their inactions or their direct actions.

They have forgotten that they are elected by the people, and their major accountability is to the people. The city mayor, on the other hand, is paid a salary out of the ratepayers’ fund and when a complaint is raised, he should be the first to respond. He should also revert back to the people on his findings and his actions.

The contrary is true from my own experience pursuing the matter in Tambun, where Kent Foo ( photo ), a resident and a member of the Joint-Management Body of Permai Lakeview Apartment, lives. Although I take all the trouble to visit the area from Kuala Lumpur, and wrote to Zamri at Ipoh City Council about the land clearing activities, there has been not even a single response.

As a city council, I would have expected the local authority to be prompt in responding to the residents’ complaints, but it appears that this is not the case with the Ipoh City Council. One can only ask, has this always been the case? What is wrong with the local authorities?

They wanted to be upgraded to be a city council, but after being upgraded, they end up as another big white elephant that is hard to mobilise. When a landslide happens, and lives of people are affected, their standard response is, “This is an act of God!”

While some floods may be unavoidable, there is also the human side of the destruction done to Mother Nature. Some of these floods are caused by excessive deforestation; these so-called ‘natural disasters’ could have been avoided, but the politicians vested with the powers and responsibility to enforce the laws simply did not care.

To some extent, it is like the proverbial saying, “Harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi.” (Depending on the fence, it is the fence that eventually destroys the padi).

But, when it comes to the general election, they sing to the tune of ‘People First’ top down. Would people like Foo listen to them, or would they give these politicians the boot?

Saddened

Because of the oblivion shown, I will be making another trip soon to check out on other complaints by Perakians. It is sad that, unless Zambry himself take specific interest in the land clearing activities in Tambun affecting the green belt of Ipoh, he appears to me to be as indifferent as his city mayor.

With tongue in cheek, I would suggest that Perakians take note of this - and decide how they would vote in the coming general election. After all, a piece of land which is earmarked as forest reserve is part of our inheritance, and it should never be taken away from us and the generations that come after us.

When the forest reserve located just adjacent to the Haven Lakeside Resort Residences in Tambun is finally gone, there is no need to cry over spilt milk or start pointing fingers. Perakians have to be aware that part of their green lung will soon be gone forever due to the inaction of the authorities.

The authorities should not blame the NGOs, activists or writers like me, especially when we start focusing on their lackadaisical attitude. We care enough to look into issues that affect the people and the environment, and we simply do not understand why the people in authority or in enforcement are dragging their feet over the Tambun land clearing activities.

If they had indeed done the investigation, they should have at least reported their findings to the concerned residents. To remain silent about it simply conveys a message of indifference on their part. In retrospect, this was the reason why the 1MDB scandal became a hot topic, after Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak remained silent about it.

Personally, I am peeved by the fact that despite my email being sent to Zamri at least three times, and the issue of land clearing in Tambun had been highlighted in Malaysiakini on several occasions, there is hardly any response from both the menteri besar and the city mayor.

I would have expected the menteri besar to at least visit the site and investigate the people’s complaints, but we have not heard of any such visits by Zambry. In fact, getting in touch with him is also a pain.

As menteri besar, Dr Zambry did not even publish his official email address on the website of the Perak state government, which is unusual since the federal government has always emphasised a lot on being an e-government.

Residents are, in fact, unhappy with the way the Ipoh City Council and the state government handle their concerns. Their state assemblyperson did not even make it a point to check out the concerns raised by his constituents, which raises the question of whether they are even concerned about the damage down to the forest reserve.

Neither have any federal authorities looked into the issue of possible encroachment into the forest reserve land and highlighted their actions. Land clearing is still being carried out at this point in time.

“If this is allowed to continue, soon we will be losing part of our forest reserve,” Foo said.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.