Save The Forest of Wangsa Maju Section 10!!

discuss ideas, not people. if you're not current, you're history

This proposed site is next to my home. Bought mine more than 20 years ago. At that time, practically everywhere is jungle. So Sam's logic is totally baseless!!!!!

Dear James, I have just read this comment this morning and am at a loss as I have not read or removed any previous comments. I am not sure what has happened here but I wish to apologize. I am open to debates on this matter and do not wish to change the way anyone thinks of this cause. I have created this campaign and petition simply to create an awareness, get some support as a resident and nature lover and to do my best in fighting for what I personally believe is worth fighting for. Once again, my sincere apologies if any technicalities came out to appear as a weakness on my side. I do hope you could repost your opinion and I will be sure to see that it does not get removed. Thank you.

Dear Sheena, thank you for your response. It could be a technical fault on my end. No need for apologies. I applaud you for your effort to create awareness. I will repost my earlier opinion. Thank you.

....and build tree houses for everybody@ Wangsa Maju?....xsen je

baseless

agreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Dear James,
Thank you very much for taking the time to post your opinion here and re-post it again after the little glitch. It means a lot to me because I truly believe that awareness could never be one sided, in fact knowing more about the nature of development will help us understand what we’re fighting for and if it’s a justifiable cause. As such, I do agree with what you have mentioned above but would like to state my reasons for starting this campaign and objecting this development in particular.

Basically, we, the residents of Wangsa Maju Section 10 have been living comfortably for many years in a place we like to call a “jungle in the city” (this was actually the marketing tagline used when we bought out units here). However, of late, this little piece of paradise has very quickly been turning into one of the busiest towns in the city. Here I’d like to clearly state that like most developments’, this one has been for the betterment of our City’s overall township plan. The opening of the Sri Rampai LRT station and improved bus services have created quite an acceptable transit hub out of the area, shopping malls and commercial developments has increased job opportunities and also increased the value of older properties in the area. However, In the process of this, a LOT of trees were cut down, animals lost their habitats, and quality of life for the previous residents were compromised and the “jungle in the city” became merely an area in the city…with some jungle.

This leads me to the real question that we’re asking here which is, where do we draw the line? We’re afraid that the answer to that question is more often than once that the line is drawn after a landslide takes place, or after congestion reaches its limits and all residents live in discomfort, or when careless contractors build less than satisfactory buildings which leads to higher maintenance problems effecting the overall development or after temperatures reaches all time highs due to the urban heat island effect which we so carelessly take for granted, or when snakes or insects or other wildlife take refuge in the nearby neighborhoods and endanger the lives of children playing in the park, or when rare species of squirrels and birds and other animals become endangered or when traffic conditions become so bad another couple of millions have to be taken away from funds for community halls, schools etc to build more infrastructure to accommodate the traffic flow?

These are the questions that I think we, as the rakyat are entitled to ask. Of course, there is never a clear answer but we feel that the developments in this area have reached that limit. We have been faced with rapid temperature increases, we have had newly built neighbouring developments face problems and have less than 80% occupancy rates, we have been complaining of parking problems and over-congestion for years, we have had wild dogs run out of their territories while soil investigations etc take place, and we have had landslide fears back in 2006 during the construction of the DUKE highway when close to 600 families had to be evacuated. In this instance, I think questioning the positive impacts of this development against the negative is very justifiable and necessary to ensure a better and more sustainable growth of the nation.

I apologize for my very long comment here I tend to get carried away but I guess my point here is that, as a resident of this area, a nature lover, and also someone who is certainly not anti-development, I think that a line has to be drawn at some point and for this township of Wangsa Maju Section 10, that line has to be drawn now. We wish that there could be a way that the developers would consider different ways of deriving monetary values out of this forest by modifying for progress but with less implication to its natural surroundings. Of course, this is a far-fetched thought but one can only hope that not all fights end in a single party success.

Once again, I thank you very much for your opinion and look forward to having more positive discussions on this matter with you.I will try to keep the following comments less than 3 paragraphs long :) It’s truly a pleasure talking to you!