Stark tales of slums on the mainland

GEORGE TOWN: The tough life in many parts of the mainland came up starkly when Jason H’ng Mooi Lye (PHJawi) told the State Assembly what his constituents are going through in South Seberang Prai.

From illegal factories that operate with seeming impunity to lowcost flats that have degraded into slums, H’ng had the Hall in silence as he highlighted these issues.

“Government agencies act on illegal factories that operate 24/7 but the operators take legal action and get court injunctions to stop the Seberang Prai Municipal Council and the Department of Environment from closing them down.

“They are now court cases, stuck in legal proceedings and the authorities can do nothing while the factories keep operating illegally.

“They are destroying the quality of life in Jawi and polluting our environment and I plead with the state exco to find a way to enforce the law quickly,” he said here yesterday.

This is the second day H’ng told the Hall about the problems shared by many constituencies on the mainland.

On Tuesday evening, he revealed that the 15 privateowned lowcost flats in his area have no joint management bodies because none of the residents wanted to take up the burden of managing the blocks.

“In many of them, the occupancy rate is only 30%. The remaining units, I believe, were seized by banks because the owners didn’t service the loans.

“These units have no doors, no windows. They are full of rubbish and drug addicts use them.

“The government must form a taskforce to look into the problems. The lowcost flats can be good homes but they are now slums.

“It’s not just in my constituency. It is happening in so many parts of the mainland,” H’ng said when later met outside the Hall yesterday.

He said tourism potential in Nibong Tebal has not been tapped.

“There are no proper jetties for operators to bring people to see the fireflies of Sungai Kerian, or to chase after the many dolphins that like to play near the estuaries of Sungai Udang.

“I urge the Tourism Development exco member to focus on this and help the people of Jawi benefit from Penang’s tourism appeal,” he said.

He said the six pump houses and two floodgates in south Seberang Prai were frequently damaged by vandals, turning flood problems into nightmares for locals when they do not work.

Separately, backbencher Joseph Ng Soon Siang (PHAir Itam) wanted to know what is the correct spelling was for his constituency.

The first term assemblyman, in debating the motion of thanks to the Yang diPertua Negri, began his speech by expressing dismay that his constituency name is spelled in so many ways.

“How do we spell it? Air Itam? Ayer Itam? Air Hitam? or Ayer Hitam?

“I believe it should be Air Itam, and definitely not Air Hitam, which is in Johor,” he said.

Ng urged state Local Government Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo and state Works Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari to check all the public signages to fix the decadeslong issue.

Residents of this suburb have long faced the minor but annoying trouble of the spelling of their geographical locality.

As a state constituency, it is spelled Air Itam by the Election Commission.

On maps, the old town at the foothills of Kek Lok Si Temple is labelled Pekan Ayer Itam.

The road from Jalan Masjid Negeri junction until Paya Terubong is named Jalan Air Itam, while the new township locally nicknamed ‘Farlim’ is properly called Bandar Baru Air Itam.

A small housing estate near Rifle Range flats is called Taman Ayer Itam.

Flowing down from Kek Lok Si is a stream named Sungai Air Hitam.