By Balachandran Naicker
I accepted my nomination as a councillor for Zone 1 in Majlis Bandaraya Subang Jaya and took the oath to serve on 18th January 2024. Having served in the Jawatan Kuasa Penduduk/Majlis Perwakilan Penduduk (JKP/MPP) since 2009, I am familiar with the local council, the manner the council delivers its service, the various Yang DiPertua who had served the council and the subtle changes that they had made to the service levels of the council. But I always felt that there was a lot more that needed doing and pushed for these wherever and whenever the opportunity presented itself.
I had always been very keen to help the community in whatever manner that I can. In school, I was very active in the Interact Club of my school In High School, Muar, working closely with the Rotary Club of Muar to provide Service Above Self, as our motto requires of us. Later in life I had become a member of the Rotary Club of Petaling Jaya and served in various capacities until my work pressures dictated that I could no longer spend time with community work.
As a trained Civil/Structural Engineer and a registered Professional Engineer with the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) and the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), with a wide spectrum of working experience in Urban Flood Alleviation, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) , Computer Aided Engineering, Ground Modelling, Vehicle Tracking Systems (using GPS), Data Logging Systems for Vehicles, Electronic Road Tax, etc., besides the bread and butter building construction using the latest Building Systems, I am always on the lookout for deficiencies/problems with public infrastructure, service level deliveries and management methods, traffic planning, town planning, etc., that can potentially lead to problems later, always with the view that our residents deserve better and a higher standard or service.
When our ADUN, Michelle Ng asked me if I could serve as a City Councillor in Subang Jaya, I felt honoured by the request and agreed, albeit with some trepidation. But on reflection, I decided that perhaps this would be an opportunity for me to provide the service to the community from within the City Council. During our induction as incoming councillors, I was indeed very encouraged by the exhortation by our Datuk Bandar Dato Mohd Fauzi Mohd Yatim that councillors should endeavour to provide service in a proactive manner – and I intend to do just that.
