EDITORIAL: Spend Public Funds Wisely on Beneficial Initiatives

PUBLIC funds as we all know are tax payers’ money. We can rightfully expect that the funds are used for the general good of the people. We can also expect that funds are utilized to maintain existing infrastructure and facilities that had been built.

I had a glance at the traffic study report put together by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) which assessed 6 major stretches in Subang Jaya following a spate of vehicular accidents in the township. One of the things that the study identified was “road safety deficiencies along the six stretches of roads”.

Poor road furniture condition, faded road markings, insufficient road signs, sub-standard bus lay-by, poor pedestrian and motorcycle facilities condition and traffic signal coordination requires fast improvement and proper scheduled maintenance program were among the deficiencies identified by the study.

Road maintenance comes under the Subang Jaya Municipal Council. Reading the report by MIROS gives me the impression that the local council may not be putting enough attention on what has been identified as lacking. Notwithstanding that road accidents are also contributed by motorists not abiding by traffic rules; I now wonder what has caused the lapse in maintenance of our roads and signage.

We see MPSJ taking up advertisements on big billboards all over town. Surely they can’t be lacking in funds to put up sufficient road signs. So what is it? Is it an oversight or it’s not a priority? The report stated that the speed limit for vehicles entering Persiaran Tujuan from the Federal Highway is 40km/hr. I took that entrance before writing this to look for the signboard. I found none.

I urge the council to put their priorities right. Public safety is very important. There is no point in having nice billboards around town when you don’t even try to make our roads safer for everyone, including those who sit in MPSJ. Go through the report thoroughly and get the job done.

Recently there was a fuss by an individual over our article “Disabled Community Don’t Waste Time Arguing on Divisive Issues, Hannah Yeoh”. He chided Hannah for trying to tell the disabled what to do when she herself was not a disabled person. This man said only the disabled could speak for the disabled.

I found this argument ridiculous. Perhaps this “righteous” individual holds a personal ambition to be the protector and representative of the disabled. And perhaps he thinks he is a better person to speak on such matters. Hannah spoke about this (read this report here) to a crowd of 300 at a walk in Subang Jaya; the crowd understood her message and agreed with loud applause. Perhaps the crowd heard her well and the individual who criticized her didn’t really read the report properly before jumping to conclusions.

I would like to look at it in a different way. Subang Jaya looks at Hannah as the daughter of Subang Jaya and a national leader. We trust her and we understand her. We know all she thinks of is to help make our lives better. Maybe, just maybe the individual who criticized her doesn’t know her well; maybe because he doesn’t live in Subang Jaya!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr KM Loi for his years of contributing articles on transparency and anti-corruption. He has helped us understand these topics a lot better with his monthly jottings. He has decided to call it a day and we wish to thank him for his contributions.

September is here….let’s go make some noise!