KW Mak makes it a four-cornered fight in Bukit Gasing

These are two of the major issues that Mak Khuin Weng wants to champion even as he declared his intention today to run as an independent candidate in Bukit Gasing state seat.

The 36-year-old former The Star journalist and Petaling Jaya councilor today held a press conference in a home of a friend and said that one of the reasons he is standing as an independent was because he is fed up with Malaysian politicians.

“It’s not going to take a political party to help change things. Until you, the rakyat, know your rights , you will continue to be treated as fools. I want to teach you what your rights are so that all of us can progress together,” Mak told reporters this morning.

When asked if he was Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat friendly, Mak chuckled and said “I’m people friendly...”, and added "both sides also tak boleh pakai (is useless)."

Bukit Gasing, within Petaling Jaya, has more than 30,000 voters, consisting more than 70% Chinese voters.

BN has fielded its Gerakan candidate Juan Sei Chang, while DAP today announced that its candidate was R Rajiv, despite previous reports that Kasutri Rani Patto was the expected candidate.

Simon Lee Chung Hsin, the son of the former Bukit Gasing state assemblyman Edward Lee, who left the seat vacant when he died in 2011, was also standing as an independent.

Edward won the seat in 2008 when he defeated Barisan Nasional Datuk Lim Thuang Seng with a majority of 8,812.

Mak, who first got into politics by helping Edward campaign in 2008, said that his term as a councilor has shown him that he needed the mandate, and confidence of the people, to fight wrongdoings and educate voters.

Unfolding a map of Petaling Jaya from the 1950s, Mak said that serious violation of developmental rules which are not being followed by municipal councils have been happening for years.

“For example, the rule that requires two hectares of open space be set aside for every 1,000 persons. There are also rules that require condominiums to have football field sized park each. So where are our parks?”

Mak said that by educating his voters and his community, he wants to empower the public to demand that these rules be implemented.

His other campaign issue was on land titles being wrongly given out in thousands of homes in Petaling Jaya, and possibly nationwide.

“There is also sufficient evidence that the Selangor government has wrongly issued leasehold land titles. PJ section 1-16 was developed between 1952 and 1964. During this time, the land law that was used was Land Code Cap 138,” he said.

He explained that the old law has only freehold or 999 year leasehold titles, and anyone who bought those properties must be given a land title under that old law, and not the National Land Code which only came out in 1965, but this was not done.

In PJ, specifically Section 1 and 17, perhaps more than 16,000 households are affected by this problem, he said.

This, he said, creates a very serious issue as residents’ leaseholds were expiring without them knowing that they have been ‘cheated’ of their rights.

“Since 2010 I have repeated this message... what makes these local councils so powerful they can ignore the law?” said the former odd jobs worker, having been in a spectacle shop, hardware store, computer game comp with only a SPM level certification.

Asked if he would propose new laws as a lawmaker, Mak said:”We are not even following existing laws. That’s the first thing I need to do before I even make new laws”

When reporters asked how many votes he expected to get and if he might lose, Mak replied:”Honestly I’m not bothered how many votes I get. I just want to tell the public, if I am not voted in, these are the issues you can force your representative to fight for u.”

However, he said that his advantage is that he knew exactly how the rules work and how to follow up with the government, and that he was not blinded by political allegiance.

“When I was a reporter, the only way to solve problem was to highlight it. Why is it so difficult for politicians to come up with the right rules and follow them?

“As a reporter I found out we are begging politicians all the time, and I grew tired of seeing that. That’s why I quit my job and went on to be a councilor.”

“Then on, I tried to do things within the system. I represented the people,” said Mak, who said he was often a torn on MBPJ’s side and had shouting matches within the council offices.

He said as a councilor, he fought for residents seeking to halt development projects and guided residents who needed help with legal matters. One of the biggest issues he brought up was exposed ownership of low-cost flats by senior MBPJ officers, an issue that he blamed the Pakatan government for not addressing.