by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Thursday, 3rd March 1994:
Taman Midlands Action Committee yesterday submitted to the MPPP the petition objecting to the Taman Midlands ‘One-Stop Centre’ Project signed by 177 Midlands residents
Yesterday, the Taman Midlands Action Committee submitted to the MPPP the petition objecting to the Taman Midlands ‘One-Stop Centre’ Project signed by 177 Midlands residents.
The MPPP President, Datuk Tan Gim Hwa and the MPPP Councillors should give serious weight to the objections to the Taman Midlands ‘One-Stop Centre’ Project which represent the overwhelming majority of the affected Midlands residents.
The petition signed by 177 Midlands residents is proof that the the overwhelming majority of the people who will be affected by the ‘One-Stop Centre’ project do not support the project, and that there must be the fullest consultation with the affected residents before the full MPPP Council gives final planning approval for the project to start work.
It would be most scandalous if the MPPP relies on the views of a handful of people, who do not have any representative claim to speak on behalf of the overwhelming majority of the affected Midlands residents, in order to give full approval to the Taman Midlands ‘One-Stop Centre’.
The Taman Midlands ‘One-Stop Centre’ project developer, Pangkal Permata (M) Sdn. Bhd., should be prepared to meet the Taman Midlands Action Committee and all the affected Midlands residents to fully consult them and seek their views.
So far, the developer had only met a handful of. Midlands residents and not given affected Midlands residents an opportunity to be fully consulted.
This is why whatever agreement Pangkal Permata (M) Sdr. Bhd. has reached with the handful of Midlands residents cannot be binding on the overwhelming majority of Midlands residents.
This is why it is wrong for the MPPP Planning and Development Committee to recommend approval for the Taman Midlands ‘One-Stop Centre’ project on February 7 based on the views of a handful of the affected Midlands residents instead of seeking the views of the overwhelming majority of the people concerned.
If Pangkal Permata (M) Sdn. Bhd, is prepared to meet the Taman Midlands Action Committee and all the affected Midlands residents, I am sure the developer will find that the Midlands residents are reasonable people whose concerns that Midlands does not become another KOMTAR destroying its congenial living conditions and creating grave social and environmental problems for the residents and their children are most legitimate and justfied.