YOURSAY | ‘Setiawangsa residents should rain questions on the council until they get the reports.’

Frank Auger: Outstanding work, R Nadeswaran. Your piece tells it like it is. We have to send the little Napoleons to their Waterloo.

Roger 5201: I often wonder how many of these little Napoleons still think they are the boss when it is the rakyat's money that is paying their salaries and bonuses. It is time these officials stop abusing the Official Secrets Act 1972 when the community has a right to basic information needed like the traffic information assessment (TIA), social impact assessment (SIA), development impact assessment (DIA) or an environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports.

The absence of these reports also suggests non-compliance with SOP by the responsible officers.

Enough Of This Nonsense: Civil servants or not, they should be sacked and kicked out of the system, not transferred.

The minister must stop sleeping. Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad, you have been appointed for over three months, is that not enough time to figure things out and get some work done?

This is not BN or Umno. If you are not up for it, just leave. The people will at least respect you for that. Otherwise, you are only digging a pit for yourself.

Mahsuri: Two working days have now passed since this issue was publicised by media, and the continued silence from Khalid is deafening. So much for ‘no-nonsense’, eh?

Anonymous_Cdb4fb5d: Harapan has been in power for five months, but in KL there have been no significant changes. Khalid has not been performing.

The Kuala Lumpur Harapan MPs are all sleeping on the city’s problems. There are traffic jams, double parking, illegal parking, private parking companies handling lots, and unreasonable clamping to collect more money.

Restaurants still occupy the walkway and carparks with chairs and tables, without news of any proposed upgrading of existing roads. The potholes before May 9 are still there and now have worsened.

DBKL enforcement is still sleeping. Thousands of abandoned vehicles are all over Kuala Lumpur. The federal territories minister and the new mayor should go over to Singapore and learn from the Singapore City Hall about good governance.

If Khalid cannot perform, then he should be replaced.

Bravemalaysian: Khalid must crack the whip on these little Napoleons. Do not shield them from past wrongdoings.

How can the people support the project without proper information? If the project, without proper studies, will endanger the lives of those living in the vicinity, then surely it must be stopped.

People's lives are important. Do we want another Highland Towers tragedy to happen?

Incidentally, nothing much came out of the investigation of that tragedy. It happened so long ago I don't remember, but it seems like it was all swept under the carpet. In new Malaysia, this should never be allowed to happen. So why wait for a tragedy to happen?

If the project is safe, and the studies show likewise, then the residents should have no grounds to oppose the project. But keeping them in the dark is not an option.

Khalid, everyone is watching what you will do about this. Will you be transparent, or continue the old practice of protecting wrongdoers?

Ravinder: This is bullying of the rakyat by those in authority. What right have these officers to make a mess of people's lives by approving projects that bring millions to the developers and misery to the existing residents?

Such ‘secret’ approvals smell of corrupt practices. Where is the minister responsible, does he condone the actions of DBKL? This lording over the taxpayers should be stopped.

In Penang, there are cases of illegal industries operating in residential zones in a very novel way – it simply re-zoned the residential/ commercial buildings occupied by the illegal industries to ‘industrial’, although the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 prohibits industries operating in residential zones.

Sunshine: The ‘easy street’ is increasingly suspected in recent decades of having become a drain on public expenditure due to a number of factors, including lack of commitment to neutrality in service, competence, efficiency, politicisation and some sort of race and entitlement-based comfort zone.

Just scrutinise the auditor-general’s reports and the various allegations of improprieties, including corrupt practices. Even our new prime minister has a strong opinion of concern.

And don’t overlook the fact that the civil service despite its huge numbers is relatively well placed or endowed with good remuneration and additional social instruments of income support when compared to the private sector.

A comprehensive national survey of the general public on a number of indicators and possible grievance issues regarding the civil service should prove quite revealing.

While the majority of civil servants may be committed to serve, there are those who are not, and this cuts across at all levels of the service from clerical to heads of departments, who seem to exude a sense of indifference to their obligations while enjoying special privileges.

Jefferson76: Time that Wangsa Maju MP Tan Yee Kew (photo) is pressured to step into this fray. Wangsa Maju is already overdeveloped. Traffic is horrendous, parking is scarce, and green and open spaces are nonexistent.

Ex-Wfw: The real issue facing the nation is the assumption that there is nothing wrong with the current system, which only needs certain adjustments to keep it running. The reality, as confirmed by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is that the system is broken.

To resolve the current issue requires a system to hold every minister and every civil servant accountable for their decisions.

We talk of Industrial Revolution 4.0, even though at the moment, our process of data handling has not even reached the second industrial revolution, based on our progress in handling processes and procedures in the government agencies.

Of course, the civil service won’t be too happy with the introduction of the fourth industrial revolution; basically, a system that will record all the decisions made by officers as well as that of the ministers. Would they be prepared to be held accountable down the line?

Indeed, it is hoped that the Harapan government puts this process into action so that we can have real accountability by everyone.

Anonymous #33227154: For its first year, the Harapan government should focus on reforming and cleaning out corrupt officials and wrongdoings from all the local town councils, GLCs and the civil service.

Many GLC heads need to be removed. These political appointees draw a ridiculously high salary without the necessary credentials or doing any work.

There should be proper elections for local town councils. It's time for the new Harapan ministers to show that they are competent enough to do the job. Their report card should reflect what reforms and improvements they have made.

That's why the people voted them in as the new government in the first place.

Pisang Goreng: Nice article. It would be really interesting if Malaysiakini could get an interview with menteris besar and chief ministers to ask them what their strategies and plans are for their states. What do they see as the biggest problems, what are they going to tackle and how?

Hmmmmmmmm: "So, what are they going to discuss at the meeting with zero information on the project?" asks Nadeswaran.

The residents can start by asking questions regarding the traffic impact, social impact, et cetera during the meeting.

Don't be afraid to rain those questions on them until they wish that they had given the residents those reports rather than having to answer them themselves. They will then need to familiarise themselves with the reports.

ABC123: At the meeting, just bombard them with questions. They definitely won’t know how to answer and soon they will learn that it is easier to just give the report.

Unfortunately, this is the way to deal with government officers. They will only do their job if not doing it causes them more work or trouble.

Headhunter: DBKL has and is acting like a government unto itself. And yes, there are little Napoleons and very fat cats running the show there. It's time the new government do something to stop the rot.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.