In 1990, Malaysia was thought of one of Asean’s 4 “Little Tigers”. In 1991, the nation introduced on its “Wawasan 2020” proclamation, to go alongside the targets of making Malaysia a developed nation. Some of us would nonetheless bear in mind this morale-lifting imaginative and prescient again then, proper?
We had a imaginative and prescient to create a extra various vary of nationwide automobiles, to construct the record-breaking Petronas Twin Towers, and to have a much-improved per capita revenue by the 12 months 2020. We even had a imaginative and prescient to obtain a high-income society boasting a excessive schooling degree, with everybody in the nation having a roof over their heads.
Fast ahead to 2023, of course everyone knows how far we now have come as we speak, and the place we rank amongst the 10 member states of Asean.
It’s good to have a dream, as it should preserve us motivated, till the dream is ultimately fulfilled. Looking again, nevertheless, have we actually fulfilled our dream, or are we nonetheless wishing for that very same dream now?
Anyway, maybe what we actually want is a large mirror that we are able to look into to see the future.
After graduating from secondary college in my hometown a few years in the past, a lot of my classmates had been making a beeline for Singapore in hopes of getting a job there and incomes profitable incomes. Unlike my contemporaries, although, I admired the glitzy cityscape of our personal Kuala Lumpur and the plentiful alternatives it provided. So I gathered my braveness, picked up my backpack, and headed to the large metropolis on their own.
Potholes in the Klang Valley have been the bane of street customers for the longest time!
More than 30 years have handed since Wawasan 2020 first happened, and we’re nonetheless not but a developed nation as we speak. And neither is our capital metropolis a “smart city”!
As the capital of the supposedly strongest nation amongst the Asean Little Tigers, KL spans over 240sq km and is split into six districts. The metropolis now has a inhabitants in extra of two million, plus most likely one other one or two million of migrant staff.
Nevertheless, for therefore a few years our Federal Territories ministers and KL mayors appear to have been simply busily dealing with issues associated to land use and the improvement of industrial and residential areas. Former public leisure and neighborhood parks, and a handful of different public areas, at the moment are high-rise buildings.
Fortunately, the federal authorities has put up extra rational infrastructure in KL, resembling the LRT, MRT, multi-level street interchanges, toll highways and flood mitigation tunnels/roads. Of course, there’s additionally the Multimedia Super Corridor, KLIA and klia2, although this final one is just not precisely the greatest instance because it normally will get a lot of complaints from worldwide travellers.
But all these are {hardware} infrastructure. Even after an workplace tower, a freeway or a bridge has been accomplished and transferred, the residual industrial waste is usually left idle by the roadside. At the identical time, our roads have gotten narrower, our inexperienced lungs fewer, and even the availability of parking areas is now a main situation.
Why not take a take a look at how Bangkok (Thailand) and Jakarta (Indonesia) are dealing with their worldwide airports? We mustn’t underestimate Vietnam’s general bodily improvement and its progress prospects, too, particularly the efforts they’ve put into the tourism business.
Has the Kuala Lumpur City Council ever proven curiosity in tackling the many “software” issues?
Well, sure areas in the metropolis have good roads, however some locations have horrible roads, with potholes that appear to by no means be coated or fastened. What a disgrace!
Also, the rubbish state of affairs in KL appears to be getting from dangerous to worse. Sure sufficient the litterbugs themselves are to be blamed for this, however what about the native enterprise homeowners? Why can’t they organise a gotong-royong to clean-up the space every week or one thing?
The state of affairs is quickly deteriorating, and that is positively not the “Garden City” we as soon as aspired KL to be. Every at times a main authority determine will lament on the metropolis’s cleanliness and inside 48 hours the place will likely be cleaned up. But what occurs afterwards? Do we now have to get the authorities to preserve calling our mayors and ministers to remind them of their very own obligations? Can’t they simply repair all the issues as soon as and for all for?
Just a slogan, not a actuality.
The listing of issues that want to be fastened is certainly very lengthy. Take a take a look at our roads and highways: The drawback of site visitors bottlenecks throughout peak hours has remained a lot the identical all through the years with out a lot enchancment. We can see that there are increasingly high-rise towers and automobiles round us, however couldn’t the metropolis authorities rent some city consultants to draw up a complete street site visitors technique for our metropolis?
Take for instance, the site visitors in entrance of Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, which is is perpetually stalled as a result of of the unsolved site visitors mild drawback at the junction of Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Sultan Ismail. Perhaps the metropolis council can contemplate flexibly adjusting the intervals of site visitors indicators in accordance to the site visitors circumstances?
This suggestion could not work in actuality (I’m not an skilled!), however not less than the metropolis council can provide it a attempt or provide you with a extra workable various answer.
Anyway, this space is the assembly place for vacationers from throughout the globe, and we merely can not afford to threat tarnishing our good worldwide popularity simply because of the nightmarish site visitors right here.
To be truthful, we aren’t attempting to discover fault with politicians, ministers or authorities, however this entails the most basic wants of metropolis people. At the very least, the elected consultant of that exact space should take up the duty of fixing issues, and the related authorities departments ought to do their jobs dutifully.
If you might be like me, a white/blue collar employee who has contributed in the direction of the nation’s improvement, naturally you’ll anticipate one thing from this nation.
Take, for instance, a good friend of mine named Ling, who has to depart her home day by day at 7am and stroll quarter-hour to the nearest LRT station. It is handy for her, and she or he is grateful for the metropolis’s speedy transformation and progress over the years.
But the factor is, the second Ling steps out of the LRT station, she is confronted with both a non-existent walkway, or one that’s not coated. If it’s raining and Ling has to get to one other station or bus cease earlier than reaching her last vacation spot, it will be troublesome for her to accomplish that, except she carries an umbrella together with her always.
And we mustn’t suppose that a sunny day is certainly higher than a wet one. If you stroll alongside the streets and alleys in the Golden Triangle, you can be “greeted” with vibrant undergarments which can be held on bamboo poles simply above you from the flats. Many of these are problematic for people who take public transportation, and it has been occurring for years.
I ponder why our LRT or MRT can’t be designed like the ones in Bangkok or Hong Kong, the place there are indoor or coated out of doors walkways linking adjoining buildings, to shield pedestrians from the scorching solar, rain … and undergarments?
In quick, I really feel that the federal authorities ought to pay extra consideration to Kuala Lumpur!
The views expressed are completely the author’s personal.
Leesan, the founder of Apple Vacations, has travelled to 137 international locations, seven continents and enjoys sharing his journey tales and insights. He has additionally authored 5 books.
