[Malaysia] A trail of deceit and lies

The Sun, Kuala Lumpur
28 October 2005

A trail of deceit and lies

AUGUST 23, 2003 was a Saturday. About 100 residents of Taman Desaria gathered at the Bilik Bunga Tanjung at the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council(MPPJ) to express their views on the development that was taking place in their neighborhood.

The meeting, a requirement under the Town and Country Planning Act, started at 9.30am and was chaired by the then council president Datuk Abdul Karim Munisar. With him were MPPJ councillors and senior officials including the director of Town Planning, Sharipah Marhaini Syed Ali.

Masngun Mon, the owner of a house along Jalan PJS2 5/6 spoke first, outlining the reasons why the residents were objecting to the construction of the flats. Derek Fernandez, the lawyer representing the residents then spoke. He wanted someone from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government to chair the meeting on several grounds, including the fact that the director of Mentari Housing Development, Capt Datuk Zahar Hashim, whose company was carrying outthe project, was also a MPPJ councillor.

He also said that MPPJ had not taken action against the developer for carrying out work without approval. Several other residents also spoke. But Fernandez posed a question to Abdul Karim: "Are you under any political pressure to approve this development?"

The answer was in the negative. Before the meeting ended, Abdul Karim thanked the residents and assured them that the Hearings and Objections Committee (of the MPPJ) would forward the residents' views to the Town and Planning Committee to make a decision. The minutes of the meeting were recorded and affirmed by Sharipah Marhaini.

Both these committees include councillors as members. Everyone except the residents at the meeting were aware that five months earlier -March 15 to be exact -MPPJ had already given the go-ahead for the project. Sharipah Marhaini had signed and issued the development order. The whole meeting was nothing but a charade to give the impression that the due process of the law had been followed.

The residents were unaware of this deceit until they filed an application for an order of mandamus in the High Court to compel MPPJ to issue a stop-work order. That was on Sept 19. When affidavits in reply were filed in court, hey presto, one important document surfaced -Borang C -Kebenaran Merancang (Planning Permission) dated March 15.

This discovery that the development order had been issued changed the entire focus of the residents' fight. They had reason to believe they had been deceived and misled into accepting that MPPJ had really called the meeting to hear their views.

The whole hearing was an eyewash and a formality, which Justice DatukAlizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin would later comment in her judgment. Because planning permission had been given, then an order of mandamus was out of the question and the residents had to change tack and apply for an order to declare the approval null and void, in which they subsequently succeeded. But that was not the end of the trail of deceit.

After having held the meeting and claimed through affidavits that they had complied with the law, towards the latter part of the trial, MPPJ filed yet another set of documents stating that the council had been granted an exemption under Section 19 of the Act. But the residents, while comparing the various documents filed by MPPJ and other parties, discovered a discrepancy -there were two sets of minutes, purported to be those of the Majilis Tindakan Ekonomi Selangor (MTES).

MPPJ contended that they were granted the exemption by MTES and this was endorsed by the Selangor Executive Council, making it legal. (The court was of the view that MTES is just a committee and thus its decisions had no bearing.) The first set of minutes of MTES was signed by 'Setiausaha Exco Majlis Tindakan Ekonomi Selangor'. But the minutes that were presented to the State Exco for endorsement were completely different - it contained two lines -the exemption clause.

Because it was a case of forgery, the residents made a police report, but nothing came of it. After six weeks, the residents made a trip to the the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Police Force complaining of inaction. But to date, nothing has happened. Also in the court documents was a letter dated Feb 17 2003 from Selangor State Secretary, Datuk Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof addressed to the MPPJ president, stating that exemption given under Section 19 of the Town andCountry Planning Act, and thus, there will be no need for planning permission. "To achieve the zero-squatter target, the MTES has directed that all workstart in March 2003 as that the project can be completed in 2004," the letter also said.

The letter was received and acknowledged by the MPPJ president and Sharipah Marhaini on Feb 19. If indeed no planning permission was required, why was the development order granted to Mentari on March 15 which presupposed a public hearing? If this was the case, why did MPPJ call for a hearing to hear the views of the residents on Aug 23?

When residents wrote to the State Planning Director who informed in writing that under MPPJ's jurisdiction, implying that no such exemption was given. Perusing the court documents, there are several other issues that point to aconcerted effort to give the impression that MPPJ acted in accordance with the law. But the court had the final say -MTES has no legal standing and Justice Alizatul Khair raised a pertinent point: If there was an exemption, they should have made it known to the residents. She was of the opinion that "it was inconceivable that there was an exemption.

"Why then have a hearing? An eyewash? A charade? A sandiwara? A wayangkulit"? Whatever term used can be justified because the people in power left a trail of lies and deceit in their attempts to hoodwink all and sundry, the judicial system included.