Pandan Perdana – Page 6 – Peter Tan

MPAJ Seminar And Dialogue With Disabled People, Government Agencies And The Private Sector

Tuan Abdul Hamid Hussain delivering his speech at the seminar and dialogue session with disabled people, government agencies and the private sector at Pandan Lake Club.

Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya (MPAJ) organised the Seminar dan Sesi Dialog Bersama OKU, Agensi Kerajaan dan Pihak Swasta (Seminar and Dialogue Session with Disabled People, Government Agencies and the Private Sector) at the Pandan Lake Club today. The event was to discuss the issue of environmental barriers faced by disabled people staying in the Ampang Jaya municipality together with officers from the municipal council and councillors. The welcoming speech was delivered by MPAJ Deputy President Tuan Abdul Hamid Hussain.

Four speakers were invited to present disability issues. Miss Yeoh Joo Ai from the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat (Department of Social Welfare) presented the Taklimat Dasar OKU, Pelan Tindakan dan Akta OKU (Briefing on the Policy on Disabled Persons, Action Plan and Persons with Disabilities Act). At the panel session, Miss Naziaty Mohd. Yaacob spoke on Alam Bina Bebas Halangan (Barrier Free Built Environment), Mr. Anthony Arokia on Kemudahan Aksesibiliti dan Mobiliti (Accessible Facilities and Mobility), while my presentation was titled Perspektif OKU dalam Aspek Pembangunan (Development Aspects from the Perspective of Disabled Persons). Municipal councillor Ms. Chan Su Sann was the moderator.

Basically, my presentation touched on the inaccessibility around Pandan Perdana and Pandan Indah, which is within the municipality of Ampang Jaya, and why there is a need to rectify this problem. I have been a wheelchair user for 25 years and sad to say, the built environment in Malaysia is still as inaccessible now as it was then. Hopefully, something positive will come out of this. Disabled people have been marginalized for so long that many of us do not really know the true meaning of liberty anymore.

Expensive Char Siu Pau At The Gardens Mall

This is how expensive char siu pau look like.

Would you pay RM6 for these two char siu pau? These steamed buns usually cost about RM1.20 each at roadside stalls and slightly more at dim sum restaurants. Wuan and I had these two buns together with several other dishes for dinner at one of the restaurants at The Gardens Mall in Mid Valley City last weekend.

The bun was fluffy. In fact it was fluffier than most of the steamed buns that I have ever savoured. The filling was another story altogether. The barbecue pork filling was rather tasteless. It also did not exude the aroma one would expect from a good char siu pau.

For the premium that we paid, the location aside, I would have expected something that tasted as good, if not better, as those that I normally buy from the uncles selling them by the road side. On the contrary, we paid more than twice the price for two char siu pau that did not even taste than half as good as the cheaper ones.

The next time I have a craving for char siu pau I will satiate it with one from those roadside stalls. Thank you. There are two places where I usually buy char siu pau from around Kuala Lumpur. One is outside Guardian Pharmacy at Pandan Perdana. The other is Restoran Hock Leong Hin at Jalan Sungai Besi opposite Shell petrol station. The char siu pau from both places are the better tasting ones in Kuala Lumpur.

Interrupted Journey

With the fuel price increase, my friend Robert and I wanted to take a bus to Suria KLCC two Saturdays ago. We wanted to avoid driving there like we always did to save on petrol and the exorbitant parking fees. We stay in Pandan Perdana which is about a 15-minute journey by car from the landmark. We knew that RapidKL buses serving our housing estate were inaccessible but we wanted to try our luck to see if anything has changed since. The following two pictures tell a compelling story that disabled people all over Malaysia are facing.

Photo by Wuan.

Without an accessible public transport system, most of us are stuck at home watching the world pass by. We have to miss out on educational and employment opportunities. Our social life is limited to people who come to visit us at home which is far and few in between. We are unable to participate effectively in social, cultural, religious and political activities. We are like katak di bawah tempurung (frog living under the coconut shell) not due to our own doing but because our needs are ignored and are often delegated to the lowest of priorities. If nothing is being done to address this issue, disabled people will still be in this deplorable situation when Malaysia becomes a developed nation by 2020 which is just a short 12 years away.