New road names: Umno political scheme at work?

By admin-s On Dec 1, 2014

K. Kabilan, The Ant Daily

It has become a norm for the federal government to be making conflicting and flip-flop statements, so much so that the people have become immune – but not necessarily sanguine – to them.

Last Thursday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak once again lived up to this by deciding to not only retain but also strengthen the Sedition Act.

Following his chief closely, on Saturday, Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor gave us a new story for the change in names of nine roads in Kuala Lumpur.

He said the name change had nothing to do with the Conference of Rulers. Instead it was a decision of the Federal Territories Ministry.

Interesting indeed for only five days earlier, his deputy Datuk Dr Loga Bala Mohan told reporters that the decision was made upon a request by the Conference of Rulers. “The request was made to the ministry and we brought the matter to the Cabinet and a decision was made last year,” his deputy said.

If at all there was a major slap on Loga’s face, this was it! This conflicting remarks between a minister and his deputy clearly puts on display the malady in the federal government today.

For one, it would seem as though there is a big breakdown in communication between the minister and his deputy. It also solidifies the perception that deputy ministers are only part of the furniture in a ministry, given that the role is solely for political expedience (but that is another story for another day).

It appears that changes are being made without proper consultation involving appropriate parties, not least public opinion. No one knows how long the ministry had been mulling on this name change project.

What was Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) role it in? Were affected residents, office dwellers, local historians consulted? Was there a proper public consultation undertaken before a decision was made to change the names of the roads? Mind it, at least six of the affected roads are major ones in the city.

Tengku Adnan was reported to have said, as reported by Bernama, “the decision was made because these former Yang di-Pertuan Agongs were part of the country’s history and people should remember their names”. Perhaps an acceptable justification if, and it’s a BIG if, consultations were made and things were done in a correct, transparent manner. Here, major doubt arises as even the deputy minister seems to be confused.