Dirty leaky Little India
By Arshad Khan, Harakah Daily
Hurriedly undertaken projects funded by taxpayers’ money have cost more for repairs of the shoddy works. Paintwork is peeling off, fountain developing a leak and then, a shut down.
Structures have more sand than cement, old garbage lodged in corners, cavities, drains and back-lanes can be seen everywhere. We are not only seen as ‘Apple Polishers’ but a nation possessing a culture of filth, disposing our garbage everywhere!
In the first part of his exposure of Little India, Harakahdaily’s environmental photojournalist ARSHAD KHAN lamented there was nothing to shout about in this corner carved out of Brickfields, a working class area in Kuala Lumpur. Concluding his report with this second part, he takes us on a tour of rubbish dumps and shoddy works that characterise the city’s latest and much trumpeted ‘tourist attraction’.
WHAT DRAINS ARE FOR … Clogged drains are everywhere here.
The fountain is not the only place with leakage in Brickfield’s Little India. Besides the water, perhaps some funds also leaked away.
But that is very normal here, taxpayers’ money spent, not accounted for; just like roofs, buildings and bridges collapsed without any one’s care.
When this ‘Indian town’ was first visited on November 4, 2010 following the frenzied media publicity, the crowds here were seen simply mingling around, with no one seen admiring or even taking any snaps of the new structures and paintwork.
Some commented that the former layout and work were more original than the new artificial one. True, if compared to other locations.
PAINTWORK OR PATCHWORK …A closer look reveals the shoddy works at the ‘elephant fountain’
Since I have some experience loafing around India itself and Singapore, this in Malaysia has other messages than the actual picture someone has been trying to paint.
Hurriedly undertaken projects funded by taxpayers’ money have cost more for repairs of the shoddy works. Paintwork is peeling off, fountain developing a leak and then, a shut down.
Structures have more sand than cement, old garbage lodged in corners, cavities, drains and back-lanes can be seen everywhere. We are not only seen as ‘Apple Polishers’ but a nation possessing a culture of filth, disposing our garbage everywhere!
Developed nations no longer have to display signboards reminding their citizenry not to litter or smoke. But habits and culture, it would seem, are impossible to change.
Shut down at the fountain
At the fountain someone commented ‘they’ wanted the fountain to be different, requiring major changes, hence the shut down.
TRUNKS WITHOUT WATER …The elephants stopped playing long ago after a shut down
How else to camouflage shoddy work? Why the flip flops with taxpayers’ money that also goes towards salaries of civil servants and politicians? Another mismanagement, misuse of authority and funds.
Why the leaks? Why is the paint falling off? What can the ordinary people expect out of something that benefits only certain group without the approval of taxpayers? This whole project is political in nature but disastrous in economics and returns.
