Why wait five years just to vote once when you can organise low-level neighbourhood elections to get a better say in the very place you live? This was what the residents of Taman Weng Lock asked themselves after being rudely woken up.
It all started with some trees.
One morning, the residents of Taman Weng Lock woke up to see some old shady trees in their neighbourhood being chopped down. No one informed them about it, let alone asked for their opinion. This was not something that the highly educated and opinionated residents of this Bangsar neighbourhood in KL were going to take lightly.
The trees weren’t the only thing that irked them. Playground equipment had been removed from an open space which was then paved over, and even the name of their neighbourhood had become a matter of contention. Apparently it had changed from Taman Weng Lock to Taman Bangsar Pertama, but no one had informed the residents. The road signs simply declared the difference without forewarning.
It appears that these decisions were supported by the area’s Rukun Tetangga, a neighbourhood watch group which, in the absence of a residents’ association, acts as one for Taman Weng Lock. Only it hadn’t informed the residents about it.
