Can anyone in the Klang Valley familiar with the Bukit Antarabangsa area tell me why you think the landslide, which buried eight houses at dawn today, ocurred? Three people are reportedly confirmed dead while several others are believed to have perished.
What do you think? Was it just a natural disaster or was it the result of environmental degradation?
Blog reader Selangor resident has few doubts:
Let me tell you why:
RAMPANT & IRRESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT!
That’s why!
DEVELOPMENT OF HILLSLOPES DISRUPTS BODIES OF WATER
- resulting in flooding, water shortage …
- in its worst form, soil erosion and landslides
- causing destruction of property and livesWe the folks of Ampang Hills have been fighting for years for the local government to be extremely cautious when they approve hillslope projects. It’s been 16 years since Highland Towers tragedy but it still continues. How many more lives?! We have been asking – haven’t the developers learnt from the tragedies … well, OBVIOUSLY NOT! It’s time we stop asking! It’s time the Federal Government steps in and put a full STOP to it!!
Our dealings with the past Selangor state govt were not fruitful as despite many appeals, they approved over a hundred questionable hillslope projects. (No need to wonder how they got approved ….) For more info on the latest case which we are appealing (this hillslope project was approved by the former Selangor state government just before the election!), please visit this site.
And here we go again, after each landslide (Report from The Star):
KUALA LUMPUR: The Government will not be issuing any more permits for hillside developments following the landslide tragedy at Bukit Antarabangsa early Saturday morning.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said this on Saturday at a press conference after visiting the tragedy site.
He also told developers not to lobby or pressure the Government for any building permits for hillside development projects.
Every time such an incident occur, we hear the same old familiar song, “no more development on hill-slopes”. But everywhere we go, we see development on hill-slopes, don’t we?
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If fraud could be proven, then the perpetrators should be brought to justice, jailed to deter others and help prevent future tragedies.
Don’t think it is a tragedy waiting to happen to others but not to you!
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One thing BN/UMNO can’t do is to pin this tragedy on the present State Gomen.
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the woes of past Selangor UMNO/BN governemnt …..yes thecurrent PKR govt should investigate and hold the past goverment responsible ….
VOTE FOR CHANGE, VOTE THE OPPOSITION!
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Disaster at Bukit Antarabangsa is neither natural nor environmental degradation. It is primarily a human created disaster. A google search on landslides in Hulu Klang will yield at least 4 major landslides before this recent one. The body count is frightening.
I drove around Bukit Antarabangsa and was amazed at the amount of water on the roads up the various hillslopes and residential areas. What happened to proper drainage controls? There are also numerous sites where erosion have occurred and streams of water poured down from the hills at random spots.
MPAJ must put a stop to further development. No more innocent residents or buyers must be put at risks. MPAJ have to turn mitigating against further potential disasters caused by their inept, negligent and (what appears to be) corrupt approval of developments, mostly with poor planning controls to boot. Residents in Hulu Klang should consider taking class action to bring the authorities to account. The courts have given the authorities immunity from their callous past act. It does not mean the residents cannot act to demand action to force MPAJ to commence mitigation works against further loss of lives.
If any needs more evidence, read NST report of 15 Nov 2008 => http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/Focus/2402538/Article/index_html
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Masya Allah…Pray to God. I think malaysian forgot about highland tower tragedy. No more precaution after that tragedy.
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The land developers are technically inept and irresponsible.
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These BN … in their satanic quest for power and money have totally destroyed the fabric of the country by never enough plundering (nep) be it the people or the environment. Call for a snap election and vote these BN … out!
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We live in Bukit Antarabangsa, very close to where the hill went down. Drive around the area and you will see one dodgy hill after another. Right from the bottom all the way up. There is of course the entrance, up the big hill, where there was a big landslide some years ago. Just look at Jalan Wangsa Lima. There is an apartment complex built on a slope with zero reinforcement,and the slope is crumbling into the road. We have alerted the authorities, written to them. They have done nothing. Not our responsibility, it is the developer’s. Rubbish, what do we pay them taxes for? Have a look at the several years old Athenaeum complex, and how wobbly it is.
After every landslide, there is a flurry of the great cover-up: putting a plastic sheet over the slope. That is all that they do to manage and prevent. It is incredible. The sheet rots through after a few weeks, and nobody bothers. If you are lucky, they dump some rocks at the base, eg at the landslide site by the main entrance. Big deal. Go to Hong Kong and see what a responsible administration does with vulnerable slope. All the slopes are reinforced with concrete. Every slope has a number and is regularly monitored, especially in bad weather, for risk.
It is not just about new developments, it is about securing the safety of slopes across the board. Why is Malaysia not able to provide these basic kinds of facilities to its citizens? Who cares about fancy airports if people are unnecessarily dying because of totally irresponsible local governments, in their own right, and for their failure to act against irresponsible private developers?
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Penang be warned! Especially the housing projects along Tanjung Bunga and Batu Ferringhi.
They said they use ISA as a preventive actions before it happens. Why can’t they do the same with hillside developments? It’s all about profits and making money! $$$$$$$$ and more $$$$$$$$
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To those who say:
Don’t blame the local councils, govt, etc. it’s the buyers. Well, please be reminded that your local government are elected officials voted in by the People, to safeguard the interests of the People. They live off your taxes, money from the People. Therefore, it is their job to make sure the home you buy, along with all the certificates of fitness, which costs has been passed along to you, is indeed fit and sound. I hope this simplistic explanation is clear enough for some of you. By the way, according to the present local state planning legislation, the MPAJ is not held accountable and will not be liable, even though they had given out all the necessary approvals and building permits, when such a tragedy happens. Don’t you think it’s time we amend the legislation to protect the People, and not this entity called the local council?
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Politicians whether from BN or PR have penchant like to be seem as pro development, they will fulfill the request of developers regardless of what happened. We should ask Guan Eng about his position on hill slope development. Why there is a hill slope clearing activity going on? Tak takut mati kah?
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It is all very well to assign blame to government and developer’s greed for the environmental degradation that results in such forseeable disasters.
However if we do enough soul searching we’d realise what breeds such greed in the first place. Commenter silong is right – “no demand, no supply”.
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Anil,
Najib said it all here:
“He also told developers not to lobby or pressure the Government for any building permits for hillside development projects.”
What does that say? The gomen and authorities can be bought? what kind of lobbying and pressure? The housing laws also need to be changed because now all the developers do is take the money and RUN.The councils need to bick up and be CLEANED UP (The MPAJ also does not have a record of all the slope developments/sensitive areas to monitor.)
So many things have to be changed. Attitudes, laws, enforcement.
ENFORCEMENT IS THE KEY WORD.
MAYBE WE THE PEOPLE SHOULD SET UP OUR OWN POWERFUL LOBBY GROUP TO DEMAND CHANGE.
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In theory elected officials are supposed to look after your interest, but in reality, local council and public employees are not elected but appointed in Malaysia. Who ever has the biggest “ringgit” sign will get their interests taken care of in this Bolehland! my friend…
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massive, tremendously massive land clearing in Melawati,hills upon hills are cut for upmarket housing in the neighbourhood of bukit antarabangsa pics taken from the ridge of bukit tabur in klang gate go to http://thetrekkers.blogspot.com
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I say, leave the hills, jungle and forests to its rightful residents. Humans have no business living there.
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The next action taken will be finger pointing among cabinet ministers.
Same old sandiwara again in Bolehland.
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It’s the Malaysian problem of viewing money as more than just a nice to have element. If we start to place doing the right thing above making money, then we may start to head in the right direction. Until then tragedies like this will continue to happen and at every turn, politicians will make the right noises for a while before reverting to their approve-for-the-right-price approach.
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Even our honorable director of science,technology and environment department is saying tragedy of hill slope construction is a common occurrence in Bolehland, nothing exciting about it, we citizens should not try to exacerbate it as a problem, sigh!!!
DPM already warned private developers not to FORCE government approve their project, he is serious about massive loss of Malaysian life caused by housing developers only.
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it’s true “no demand , no supply”. Calling my fren who reside on Hillside to ask about his reaction, still the same, ‘my house is quite far from the landslide prone area”.
Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups.
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As one who have lived in Bukit Antarabangsa for more than 5 years, we have vwitnessed the rapid development (eg Laman Oakleaf, Seri Ukay, Bukit Utama bungalows projects) around the area. We had chose to buy a property (a condo unit) here because 1) the natural surroundings; 2) we like the layout and size of the unit; 3) the reasonable price. We did have concerns about landslides but we were reassured by the relatively flat terrain, the analysis and opinion of an engineer and the developer (PJD Development) that the area and the building structure is safe and sound, otherwise the authorities will not give their approval or issue certificate of fitness for people to live there.
It is rather simplistic to say that hillslope developments are unsafe and should not be allowed. Look at Hong Kong, Monaco, San Francisco, Austria… people do and can live in hilly areas, and Bukit Antarabangsa is not the first, and will not be the last place where houses are built on hilly terrain.
The questions should be, when buildings were constructed, were there sufficient work done to ensure that the earth or structure will not give way. Even if the building is sound, there must be maintenance done by the occupier to the building and/or the environment to maintain its “livability”. The same is true for any buildings actually, not just for building on hillslopes.
My point is that, there are many reasons for things to happen and it is too simplistic to just point the finger at one party to say, you are to blame for what happened. Rather than playing the blame game, it would be more useful to move forward and do something to ensure no repeat of the tragedy like this.
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Our world class university and college are producing quite many first class civil engineers judging from this tragedy, do not surprise me at all.
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the landslide occured due to soil erosion made by human at the top of the hill…there is housing development in that area which maybe affect the soil stability of the hill…the middle of the hill has a row of abandoned housing project which is the main cause of the landslide tragedy pressing down the soil with a great force and forcing the soil to a long distance pushing the 14 bungalows…..most of the landslide occured not as great as this distance if not the abandoned project left there for many years…..
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There won’t be a tendency for white elephant projects for PR goverments, because they prefer to play safe, there won’t be no development projects at all.
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