KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — Resentment is building up against the Najib administration's showcase Little India project in the Brickfields neighbourhood here which is being rushed in time for Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh's official visit in November to Malaysia.Many Brickfields businessmen — many of them Indians — have threatened to withdraw their traditional support to the Barisan Nasional (BN) amid a drastic drop in business caused by the new one-way traffic system brought by the Little India project.
Restaurants, grocery stores and textile shops along Jalan Tun Sambanthan registered a sharp fall in business — up to 80 per cent — since it was changed to a one-way street early this month with authorities clamping down on drivers parking illegally.“If we cannot earn (money), how to support the government?” an Indian candy store manager Kumar Mujappan told The Malaysian Insider recently.“We are very angry. Business is bad. (There is a) 50 per cent drop,” said Kumar, 56.He said that the decline was due to people not being able to park along Jalan Tun Sambanthan as Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) officers would issue summonses to errant drivers every day, opposed to lax enforcement previously.
“They summon every day, in the morning, during lunch hour and even until night time. My friend’s car even got towed while (he was) eating lunch,” said Kumar, adding that customers were forced to buy Indian candy at his store quickly to avoid getting a ticket.Kumar also slammed the government for starting work on the new traffic system without providing parking spaces for people thronging the Indian enclave daily for food, flower garlands, salwar kameez and saris among others.
“They (MIC) must do something for Brickfields. (If there is) no parking, Brickfields is dead. Business is dead,” said Kumar.The BN component party lost significant support from the Indian community in Election 2008, but Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's effort in reaching out directly to the community has restored some measure of support for BN.Manmohan's visit in November and the Little India project is meant as a symbolic gesture of BN's concern for Indian voters.But the manner in which the project is being carried out is now breeding resentment.An Indian restaurant assistant, N. Mala, said that she would have to think twice about voting for BN as business has dropped by 70 per cent since the start of the one-way traffic system in Brickfields.“I am not happy. They are telling us to wait until this road works are done. The one-way road is affecting our business,” said Mala, 49, adding that customers have complained of having to rush off in the middle of their meals to avoid getting a summons.“That is why customers are not happy to come to our shop. Our restaurant is usually very full of people. Now, it is so few,’” she said, noting that DBKL officers would even issue summonses after 7 pm.“They should have done a parking lot first,” said Mala.
Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4, Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, Jalan Rozario and parts of Jalan Tun Sambanthan as well as Jalan Thambipillay have been converted to one-way streets.The temporary one-way traffic system will be in place until October 29 to facilitate work on the RM110mil Package 3 of the traffic upgrading system for Brickfields, Bangsar and Kuala Lumpur.Changing Jalan Tun Sambanthan into a one-way street is part of the RM35 million Little India project that is set to transform Brickfields into an Indian cultural enclave by November this year, making Kuala Lumpur and the Tamil Nadu capital city of Chennai “twin cities.”
Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk M. Saravanan has announced that the project is expected to be completed by the end of October before the official launch by India’s Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on November 9.A silk cloth shop owner criticised the government for turning Jalan Tun Sambanthan into a one-way street before creating parking lots, causing his business to fall by 80 per cent.“We usually support BN. But if you give problems for the public, how to vote for you?” asked the 46-year-old businessman who declined to be named, citing worries of being arrested by the police.A customer checks out lamps sold at a grocery store where business declined by 30 to 40 per cent according to its manager R. Ramu. - Picture by Choo Choy May“People, businessmen and customers, are very angry,” said the businessman, adding that Saravanan had yet to fulfill his promises of resolving the parking issue since meeting the business community two weeks ago.
Like other businessmen, the silk cloth shop owner pointed out that the authorities were very enthusiastic in carrying out their duties now as they would issue parking summonses even till 9 pm every day.“The (Little India) project is good, but they must take care of the businesses and the parking first. Customers do not want to come here as they are very scared (of getting summonsed),” said the businessman.R. Ramu, the manager of a grocery store that also sells religious statues and lamps, also expressed anger at the government for changing the Brickfields traffic system without allotting parking spaces.
“We are angry at the government because the government knows that every day, people are suffering. The business people are angry. Customers are angry,” said Ramu, 40, whose business declined by 30 to 40 per cent since the introduction of the one-way traffic system.He agreed that one-way streets should be introduced but stressed that parking should have been looked into first before changing the traffic flow.“Until January, we will face this parking problem,” lamented Ramu, noting that parking lots would only be created after the completion of the Little India project in October.
The RM35 million Little India project plans to set up fruit and information kiosks at Jalan Thamby Abdullah, a three-storey Indian bazaar at the end of Jalan Tun Sambanthan, a multi-storey car park near the Kuala Lumpur City Council (DBKL) sports complex, a fountain at the junction of Jalan Travers and Jalan Tun Sambanthan, decorative columns at the five-foot way of restaurants next to the Sri Kota supermarket, and Indian-style street lighting decorating the entire stretch of Jalan Tun Sambanthan.
Source : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/print/malaysia/in-brickfields-a-bn-showcase-breeds-resentment/
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