Before I start writing, I would like to make it very clear that I don't like the idea of getting up at 5.30 a.m. to write this article when I should be sleeping. It is yarl restaurant's boss who forced me to wake up and write this.
Last night,
yarl restaurant turned off its loud and deafening kitchen hood at 10.20 p.m. but this morning at 5.30 a.m., it's loud and deafening kitchen hood noise can be heard again loud and clear, disturbing the entire neighbourhood much to the dismay of everyone. This means that we could only get 7 hours sleep. As a citizen of Malaysia, getting 8 hours sleep a day is an impossibility because yarl restaurant's boss doesn't allow that. As I am typing out this article now, the kitchen hood noise is causing vibrations in my bedroom. In actual fact, yarl restaurant's boss is turning on his noisy kitchen hood earlier and earlier with each passing day. Why is it so? To make us accept his loud and deafening kitchen hood noise gradually so that he could operate his restaurant round-the-clock. Looks like he has this intention. If there were no complaints, he would love to turn on his loud and deafening kitchen hood at 5.00 a.m. and make loud and deafening noise with his kitchen hood until 12 midnight. It has happened before and I won't be surprised if he were to turn on his noisy kitchen hood 24 hours a day. Actions speak louder than words and his selfishness is clearly manifested in the way he is torturing us with his noisy kitchen hood. He knows that his kitchen hood is making loud and deafening noise but still insists to turn it on at such an early hour in the morning. He even lied to Fong Kui Lun (MP for this area)'s assistant 4 months ago that he would solve the noise problem without any intention to so. His noisy kitchen hood is operating at maximum noise capacity and is very loud and deafening even in the afternoons. What about the early mornings when everywhere is so quiet that you can even hear a pin drop? At 5.30 a.m. in the morning, yarl restaurant's loud and deafening kitchen hood sounds louder than an earthquake to us. Where are we to sleep if we can't even sleep in our bedrooms?
Why is it that no action is taken at all by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) despite repeated complaints by the residents? According to the environmental laws, yarl restaurant's boss cannot turn on his loud and deafening kitchen hood before 7.00 a.m. and must shut it down by 10.00 p.m. Why is it that yarl restauran't boss dare to turn on his kitchen hood loudly at 5.30 a.m. in the morning? The fact that yarl restaurant's boss has the guts to turn on his noisy kitchen hood earlier and earlier each day clearly shows how redundant the DBKL is in dealing with noise pollution. If the DBKL is unable to deal with a simple issue like this, does it have the right to increase our property taxes between 100-250%? (The kitchen hood noise stopped suddenly at 5.46 a.m. but resumed again loud and clear at 6.20 a.m. Maybe someone went down to complain).
Let us look at the reasons why the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) shouldn't increase the "cukai pintu". I'll list them out one by one below.
- According to the DBKL, the value of our property increases with the property taxes. Would anyone in their right senses buy a house in an area which is plagued by noise pollution? Who wants to suffer from sleep deprivation and the health hazards that accompany yarl restaurant's noise pollution program? Those who can afford to live elsewhere would flee to avoid the sufferings that yarl restaurant's noise pollution program is causing them. Instead of increasing our "cukai pintu" the DBKL should compensate us for the sufferings that we have to endure due to yarl restaurant's noise pollution program because of their incapability in dealing with this issue. We should also be exempted from paying any property taxes because our flats have become an earthly hell not habitable by ordinary human beings. Even the animals in the zoo have a better living environment than us. So what are we paying the DBKL for? Noise pollution and the devaluation of our property? Sleep deprivation and health hazards?
- The DBKL officers cannot tell the difference between a speaker and a kitchen hood. This sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Is something fishy going on? Why pretend that the speaker is the kitchen hood when they came to check at the restaurant? Even a child can tell the difference between the speaker and the kitchen after looking at a picture of the kitchen hood. The link to my blog in my email to DBKL has a very clear photo of the kitchen hood (at the back of yarl restaurant). Why just stay in the restaurant and assume that the speaker is the kitchen hood? So what are we paying for? DBKL's Fishiness?
- The situation in the neighbourhood hasn't shown any improvements at all. It has been the same all these 30 years. But of course we have something extra that we do not want here - yarl restaurant's noisy kitchen hood which the DBKL cannot do anything about. So what are we paying the DBKL for? For Yarl restaurant's noisy kitchen hood?
- Home should be the best place on earth but yarl restaurant's victims do not even have a place they can call home. Can you call your house a home when you can't even enter your bedrooms throughout the day because of noise pollution? Can you call your house a home when you can't even sleep in your bedroom and must get up and leave your bedroom at 5.30 a.m.? Can you call your house a home when you don't even have a place to dry your clothes? Imagine the feeling of satisfaction that you have after doing your washing only to find that your clothes are soaked with yarl restaurant's curry when you put them out to dry! And now we have to dry our clothes in the living room. What are we paying the DBKL for? For not being able to stay in our home? For yarl restaurant's curry smell that pollutes the air in our bedrooms? For having no place to dry our clothes?
- Due to the loud and deafening noise in our bedrooms, our children have no place to study and ended up with bad results. What are we paying the DBKL for? For our children's bad results?
- Due to lack of sleep, I cannot perform well at work. Sleepiness is causing me to experience bouts of dizziness (I can feel my brain swinging even now). I also become very forgetful - forgetting my clients' names and my mind often goes blank whilst I am going giving a talk. So what am I paying for? For my poor performance at work?
- Yarl restaurant's noise and air pollution program is a very clear case of oppression in Malaysia. Could anyone suffer so much in the hands of another but is unable to complain because the DBKL is totally redundant? Please remember that this is already the 21st Century and not the cowboy era. The failure of the DBKL to deal with air and noise pollution clearly shows how inefficient it is. So what are we paying for? For DBKL's inefficiency and redundancy?
The DBKL should not only reduce our property taxes to RM0.00 because of our degrading living conditions caused by yarl restaurant's loud and deafening kitchen hood noise but also give us an allowance to pay for our electricity bills. This is because we have to turn on some kind of music or nature sounds to cover up yarl restaurant's loud and deafening kitchen hood noise whenever we stay in our bedrooms. The increase in electricity tariffs would mean that we have to pay more but why should we spend more on electricity for the sake of yarl restaurant's air and noise pollution program? Since the DBKL cannot do anything about yarl restaurant's noise and air pollution program, then they should compensate us this way!
More than 20,000 objection letters against the planned assessment rate hike were delivered by protestors to DBKL in Kuala Lumpur, December 16, 2013. — Picture by Saw Siow FengKUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — About 300 Kuala Lumpur property owners and residents demonstrated outside the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) headquarters here today against a controversial increase in city property taxes.
PKR’s Batu MP Chua Tian Chang said that more than 20,000 objection letters against the planned assessment rate hike were delivered to DBKL today, ahead of tomorrow’s deadline for the filing of objections.
“The assessment rate hike for KL properties is not fair and cannot be accepted,” Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai, who was also at the rally, told protesters at DBKL’s headquarters here today.
“Local elections must be held so that the mayor will be elected by the people. Only then will the mayor and DBKL understand our suffering,” he added, as protesters called for the resignation of KL Mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib.
The rally, which was organised by opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat (PR), was peaceful, with minimal police presence.
Many of the rally participants were elderly people of all races, some of whom were holding placards that said: “We demand for the KL mayor to be elected through the general elections”.
Protesters holding a banner stating their objections against the assessment hike at the DBKL building in Kuala Lumpur December 16, 2013. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
Protesters turn up in large numbers to rally against the assessment hike at the DBKL building in Kuala Lumpur December 16, 2013. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
Protesters shouting slogans against the assessment hike at the DBKL building in Kuala Lumpur December 16, 2013. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
Protesters holding up the flags of DAP, PKR and PAS during the rally against the assessment hike at the DBKL building in Kuala Lumpur December 16, 2013. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
DBKL officers forming a wall at the entrance during the rally against the assessment hike at the DBKL building in Kuala Lumpur December 16, 2013. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
Pakatan Rakyat rally against assessment hikes at the DBKL building in Kuala Lumpur December 16, 2013. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
A protester holding up a placard during the rally against the assessment hike at the DBKL building in Kuala Lumpur December 16, 2013. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
A police officer speaking to the protesters during the rally against the assessment hike at the DBKL building in Kuala Lumpur December 16, 2013. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
Key members of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition hand over objection letters to KL Mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib (red tie) at the rally against the assessment hike at the DBKL building in Kuala Lumpur December 16, 2013. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
Key members of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition hand over objection letters to KL Mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib (red tie) at the rally against the assessment hike at the DBKL building in Kuala Lumpur December 16, 2013. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng
The proposed increase on property valuation ha
The proposed increase on property valuation has sparked public outcry since last month, after property owners received DBKL notices informing them of hikes between 100 and 250 per cent to their land valuation.
Housewife Chong Shiong Pheng, 63, who was at the rally, said that the rental valuation for her condominium unit in Sri Petaling had tripled from RM3,000 to RM9,000.
“It’s very high. How can we stand this? The electricity tariff also has gone up. But our salaries have not gone up,” Chong told The Malay Mail Online.
A low-cost flat resident in Pantai Dalam, Suriyati Hussein, similarly complained about a 300 per cent increase in her assessment rate.
“Even then, the PPR houses are dirty,” Suriyati, 50, told reporters at the rally, complaining about DBKL’s services for public housing.
“Everything has gone up. I hate this,” added the single mother.
A. Subramaniam, a 69-year-old retiree, said his rental valuation had spiked from RM1,000 to RM2,880 for his two-room apartment in Brickfields.
“There’s GST. And the electricity tariff, toll, sugar are all going up. Want to have RM6 lunch at a stall also cannot,” he told reporters at the rally, referring to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that will be implemented in 2015.
“DBKL inside is like a five-star hotel. Lavishly, they’re spending money,” added Subramaniam.
Ng Wei Keong, a 33-year-old site engineer, said that DBKL should have increased assessment rates gradually, instead of implementing a sudden hike after 21 years.
“It’s not the right way to drastically increase,” Ng told reporters at the rally.
He said that his assessment rate has doubled from the initial payment of RM180 per six months for a double-storey house in Taman Desa.
On Thursday, Ahmad Phesal confirmed with The Malay Mail that DBKL has only received 35,000 objection letters so far, or just 7 per cent out of the 500,000 notices sent out last month.
Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor previously confirmed that KL property owners would not be penalised for paying old assessment rates until the quantum of the city’s proposed tax hike is announced by March.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/kl-residents-protest-property-tax-hike#sthash.5vc3Bf4s.dpuf
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