EDITORIAL: THEY’VE EATEN MORE SALT THAN RICE – WHY SUBANG JAYA MUST START LISTENING TO ITS ELDERS AGAIN

There’s a saying many of us grew up hearing at the dinner table, “I’ve eaten more salt than you’ve eaten rice.” It’s something our elders would say with a knowing smile, half in jest, half in gentle reminder: “I’ve walked further down life’s road. Learn from me before you repeat my mistakes.”

But these days, it feels like we’ve grown too busy, too proud, or too distracted to listen. Subang Jaya, our hometown that once prided itself on being planned, green, and neighbourly now often forgets the quiet wisdom of those who built it from the ground up.

The voices that built our neighbourhoods

If you’ve ever talked to the long-time residents of SS14, SS17, or USJ 2, you’ll know how their stories spill out like old photographs. They remember when the neighbourhood was young;  when morning market stalls bustled, when park trees cast real shade, when children cycled freely down streets without fearing reckless traffic.

Back then, community wasn’t something you posted about online; it was lived, felt, and shared every day. Gotong-royong weekends were routine. Neighbours exchanged food over the gate. And if a drain overflowed or a playground broke, the Uncles and Aunties didn’t wait for someone else to fix it; they rallied, rolled up their sleeves, and called the council until it got done.

That spirit hasn’t vanished. It’s still alive in those same older residents who continue to raise red flags today. But their warnings about garbage piling up, the vanishing green spaces, or our neglected commercial areas too often fall on deaf ears.

Progress without heart

We call it “development” whenever a new concrete block rises but progress shouldn’t mean paving over everything that made Subang Jaya feel like home. Older residents see this more clearly than anyone else. They know which roads always flood when it rains, which walkways are unsafe at night, and which open spaces once brought the community together.

When they speak up whether about waste management, tree preservation, or the sorry state of our five-foot ways they’re not being resistant to change. They’re trying to preserve the essence of a town that once balanced growth with grace.

Ignoring them isn’t just disrespectful. It’s unwise. Because no urban blueprint or fancy council plan can substitute for lived experience. In a way, these elders are our walking archives, the collective memory of Subang Jaya. Listening to them isn’t about nostalgia; it’s about sustainable progress.

Losing more than we gain

If our elected representatives and city officials choose not to heed that experience, they might gain a few more projects, but they lose something far deeper: community trust and soul. You can plant all the new lamp posts and bicycle lanes you want, but without heart; without people who care enough to call out what’s wrong a city becomes just another collection of buildings.

Subang Jaya has always prided itself on being different; a place where people know their neighbours, where residents fight for their parks, where concern isn’t a nuisance but a sign of love. Our elders still carry that fire. We just need to stop long enough to listen.

Maybe the old saying still holds true after all. They have eaten more salt than we’ve eaten rice. And maybe, in a time when everything moves too fast, what we really need is a little more salt; a little more wisdom to keep the flavour of this city alive.

We’ve Seen the Rats, But the Real Problem Lies Beneath Our Feet

For months now, we’ve been hitting the streets and drains of Subang Jaya’s busiest commercial hubs. From SS15’s buzzing café strips to the quieter corners of USJ9 and USJ10, our new councillors have been making rounds with one big mission: to bring the shine back to our city.

But after countless visits and even a few joint Ops Tikus clean-ups in SS14, SS15 and USJ10, one thing has become painfully clear – it’s not just the rats we’re fighting. It’s the drains.

Everywhere we looked, drains were in varying degrees of disrepair: cracked concrete, clogged waterways, and sludge you could probably smell before you saw. Years of cooking grease, detergent residue and random dumping have transformed what should be our city’s hidden veins into open wounds.

Back lanes, once practical spaces meant for delivery and maintenance are now being abused as unofficial dumping grounds. Broken furniture, boxes, plastic bags of who-knows-what… it’s a sight that says we’ve collectively stopped caring about the spaces behind our businesses.

Here’s the hard truth: no amount of fancy murals, upgraded shop façades or new cafés will fix the image problem if we can’t fix what’s right under our feet. Clean streets start with working drains. Safe and thriving business districts begin with proper maintenance and responsible business owners and residents.

If Subang Jaya wants to keep its shine, it’s time to go back to basics. We need drains that drain, not breed mosquitoes. We need cleaner back lanes, not rat highways. And we need stricter enforcement on those who treat public spaces like private dumpsters.

The Ops Tikus initiative was a start but real change will come only when the cleaning never stops. Keeping Subang Jaya beautiful isn’t just the council’s job. It’s all of ours.