Prima Setapak in Wangsa Maju is a residential area. It is surrounded with enough shops and food outlets including hawker stalls. Yet a syndicate saw it fit to clear an empty land, which belongs to the Ministry of Education, to start a “Bazar Sore 1Malaysia” that will operate from 2 pm to 2 am daily. The syndicate claims that they have signed an agreement with the said Ministry for three years to operate a “Bazar Sore 1Malaysia”.The syndicate is offering to members of the public to rent a space measuring 10 feet by 10 feet under a canopy with a monthly payment of RM1,300 to RM1,500 depending on its location. The agents of the syndicate have began to collect deposits to secure a space for trading. The said bazaar will commence operations on 10 January 2012.
Yours truly is still unable to verify whether the said Ministry has in fact signed an agreement with the syndicate to operate the “Bazar Sore 1Malaysia” and collect such exorbitant rentals. Yours truly has verified with DBKL and DBKL has not approved any licence to the syndicate to operate the “Bazar Sore 1 Malaysia” in Prima Setapak.
Yours truly is fully aware that Yg Bhg Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail, Datuk Bandar KL, is mindful of the social problems, rising crime rate, noise and air pollution, traffic congestions and etc created by the “Bazar Larut Uptown” in Danau Kota, which operates from 9 pm to 4 am nightly. Yours truly has received endless complaints from the residents of all races against “Bazar Larut Uptown”. Yours truly has brought the plight of the residents in Danau Kota and its surrounding areas to the attention of Datuk Bandar and the Minister of Wilayah Persekutuan through Parliament on many times.
Recently, the Minister of Wilayah Persekutuan, YB Senator Raja Nong Chik, has taken into account the plight of the residents by immediately cut down the operations of the said “Bazar Larut Uptown” to 5 day a week. DBKL has promised to move the said “Bazar Larut Uptown” to a suitable location i.e. that is non-residential area.
However, before DBKL could solve the social problems created by “Bazar Larut Uptown”, another syndicate trying to start another Bazar in the day time until 2 am. It is also using the “1Malaysia” logo to mislead members of the public into believing that the “Bazar Sore 1Malaysia” has been endorsed by the Government and DBKL. The used of “1Malaysia” logo was to give the said Bazaar the legitimacy. Yours truly believes that there was no such endorsement from the Government and DBKL for the said “Bazar Sore 1Malaysia”.
Yours truly has seen many outlets using the “1Malaysia” logo on their signboard, banners and other publicity materials. Whilst yours truly supports the concept of “1Malaysia” but the Government had to implement some mechanism to control the used of the said logo. The Government must prevent at all costs the abused of the said “1Malaysia” logo strictly for for commercial reasons without taking into account the miseries that such Bazaar will cause to the residents.
Coming back to the present case, it would appear that the syndicate had not received any approval from DBKL to operate the “Bazar Sore 1Malaysia”. Yours truly has been informed that agents of the syndicates are stationed on the said empty land to receive bookings and deposits.
Yours truly has officially lodged two complaints to Datuk Bandar Kuala Lumpur and the Ministry of Wilayah Persekutuan to stop the the operations of the said “Bazar Sore 1Malaysia” firstly to avoid the untold miseries that will cause to the residents in Prima Setapak and the innocent members of the public from being misled into paying the despot for the space and not able to get back their deposits in the event that the syndicate is prohibited from operating the said “Bazar Sore 1Malaysia”
Furthermore, the Ministry of Education, other Ministries or Government Agencies, DBKL and etc should not grant any permission to individual or organization to use its land to do private business. It should turn such land into playing field for the children and recreation area for the adults especially our Warga Mas. Yours truly will lodge a formal complaint to the Minister of Education about this matter.
It would appear from this case and “Bazar Larut Uptown” that empty lands owned by the Government have been used bysyndicates to make money at the expense of the rakyat. In the spirit of “Rakyat Didahulukan” and “Pencapaian Diutamakan”, yours truly calls upon the Government to provide more facilities for recreation purposes especially in Wilayah Persekutuan because we do not have enough green lungs for the rakyat.
