Falling down

The May tragedy at Hulu Kelang left at least four dead and over 200 people homeless. It should never have happened.

Virgin rainforest provides almost complete cover from rain – very little moisture reaches the forest floor. Forest flora is thirsty, it hoards the water as it falls from the sky, capturing it in leaves, in the nest of ferns, in pitcher plants and a host of other flora. What reaches the forest floor lands on debris, the litter of decaying plant matter, and only slowly seeps into the earth. Despite the ferocity of tropical storms, erosion tends towards zero.

As we clear the forest, we discard this protective net and the earth becomes vulnerable. Which in turn makes us vulnerable. We're more vulnerable than in areas where the earth is safe, unassaulted. We cannot follow European standards of managing development and hope for the best. We have to be better than them, because we are more vulnerable to landslides, flooding and even earthquakes.

But we're not. The mismanagment of development has left us increasing vulnerable. Safety and security are intangible assets, they cannot be taxed and they cannot be siphoned off into the pockets of the corrupt. It doesn't make them worthless.

Whether corruption has been responsible for the successive landslide tragedies that have happened under the jurisdiction of Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya will be revealed only through transparent investigation. But it is clear that environmental and safety guidelines were compromised. There is blood on the hands of the municipal council, and not for the first time. They neglected their responsibilities, whether for personal gain or for the increased status and revenue that accrues from developed areas. Trees don't pay the same rates as people. There was no incentive not to develop. Even the word 'develop' implies a positive.

And nothing that the public could do could stop them.There was no process, no reason for the council to be accountable to the public. This has to change if we want to prevent another tragedy. The intangible security that the public can feel, or the resulting intangible insecurity, need to figure in the calculations of the local council. And public fears and hopes need to be based on facts, not on a confection of PR and misinformation.

This requires a number of changes. Councillors need to be accountable to their constituents. Local elections could ensure this. Councils need to be accountable to residents. More open planning and approval processes are needed. The residents need to be able to guard against the evils of corruption, they need the information and political will to do so. And the Department of Environment needs to be able to carry out its functions without fear or favour. It needs to have resources for enforcement, and there needs to be respect for the DoE's remit. It cannot be continually sidestepped in the interests of 'development'.

It is a tall order. It is one that requires us to rethink not only our relationship with our local councils, but also that we, as citizens, as residents, take responsibility for the mishaps around us. We won't be able to blame others for the tragedies that occur, we will have to take responsibility for our own dereliction of duty. It requires rethinking our use of the word 'development', of 'wealth', so that they include the intangible benefits that come from not tearing down forests, stripping our land of its natural assets, assets that protect and benefit us all. But if we want to sleep safe, if we are tired of reading death and destruction through preventable disasters, it is an order that needs to be filled.