Accompanied by DAP officials Sdr Ng Hoo Kiang and Chin Pak Loy, I continued my constituency tour yesterday, and visited Jalan Gajah Berang, which is partly in Kota Barat and partly in Kota Tengah State constituencies.
I am glad that a few days before my visit, the Municipality health workers have gone to the area and carried out anti-mosquito sprays after about a month’s neglect.
The drains in part of Jalan Gajah Berang are clogged with blackish refuse and dirt, gives off a very great stench, and a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
The Municipality should regularly clear drains, lallangs to remove breeding grounds for mosquitoes and flies.
The disgrace in Jalan Gajah Berang is the W.C bins, which should be replaced by new ones, as the old ones are in great disrepair and stinks for several hours every morning.
I have receied numerous complaints from bicyclists in Malacca. Police and the Municipality have been clearing pavement of bicycles and seizing the bicycles, which cost $5 fine to reclaim.
The people who use bicycles are the poor and the low-income group, unlike the motor-car users. The Municipality should provide ample areas in the town centre for cyclists to park their bicycles if it wants to clear the pavement of bicycles.
This has not been done, and I call on the Municipality and the Police to stop its campaign against bicycles unless it has marked out ample areas for the free parking of bicycles.
I have received a very serious complaint about the poor and atrocious food served for students at the Asrama Bukit China, where about 130 students from Malacca rural areas of all races live.
The students at the hostel, who came from poor rural families, do not expect high-class food. But they expect decent food. In many cases, the students find the food not fit for human consumption. Students complained of being served with fish without scales being removed, cockles which stink, plates and utensils not properly washed, etc. For lunch, students are given, for instance, ikan tamban in chili water and three-days’ old taugeh.
This is indeed a shocking state of affairs, and I call on the State Education Officer and the Chief Minister of Malacca to cause an investigation, and put a stop to this atrocious food in the hostel.