Melaka grows, but residents fear lack of control
By Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider
Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam’s zeal to make Malaysia’s third smallest state globally competitive within a decade has earned him much admiration, but locals worry if the development was truly sustainable.
Melaka-born and bred businessman, Bharat Ajmera, believes Mohd Ali is a capable leader who has laboured hard to develop the state.
“He’s really done well. He has not marginalised any community. Being Indian, I have also benefitted even though I don’t lobby him for projects,” the 45-year-old who runs the Malacca Straits Hotel in the city centre and the Trend Hotel in Melaka Raya told The Malaysian Insider in an interview.
“Melaka has developed a lot under him,” Bharat stated firmly.
He highlighted the trim landscaping and cleanliness around the city — especially in the touristy Melaka River where barges carrying passengers ply the narrow waterway day and night.
He pointed to the proliferation of hotels, shopping malls, boutiques, colleges, cafes, hospitals, banks and busloads of tourists jamming up the city’s thoroughfares every weekend and public holiday as prime examples of progress.
The enterprising hotelier also runs several businesses related to the hospitality trade, including heritage tours, a café and a recreation park, the Taman Mini Malaysia in neighbouring Ayer Keroh.
Bharat noted the lively economy had created a job boom.
Similarly, a lecturer remarked that there was no shortage of jobs in the education sector. Demand for English teachers especially was high, with the proliferation of colleges in the state and influx of students from within the country as well as those abroad.
Graphic designer, Chris Lee, concurred. Business is good and he still gets to enjoy a leisurely life, said the Penang-born who chose to settle down in Melaka 12 years ago after returning from a long stint working in the US.
“Location is no problem. I have regular clients from the other states,” he said.
For hotelier Johan Ramli, “every day is peak season”.
The 63-year-old runs two hotels in Melaka Raya — a backpacker lodge and a budget inn popular with Indonesian tourists who regularly fly in for medical treatment at the nearby specialist centres.
But Bharat and Johan both lamented that the development was concentrated in the state capital, which was starting to suffer the side effects of poor supervision by the local authorities.
Taxi driver V. Sellapan, 63, bemoaned the poor traffic management in the city, especially during the weekends and public holidays when tourists from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur would drive into the city centre and add to the congestion.
“They need to improve the traffic management system,” he stressed.
Parking was another major headache with Melaka’s scratch-coupon system bewildering for the first-time visitor.
To park a vehicle in any of the street-side parking bays, the motorist is required to scratch out the date and duration the car will be parked on a coupon booklet and display it in the car windscreen.
Signs bearing the information and where the booklets can be bought are lacking in public, often resulting in a fine for the hapless motorist.
Sellapan and Johan remarked there used to be a hop-on, hop-off bus service around town for tourists, but shrugged when asked what happened to it.
A monorail project scheduled to run three months ago also appears stillborn. Its tracks can be seen clearly around the city, especially from the riverside, but locals appear to have been kept in the dark over its status.
