PETALING JAYA, June 27 — Issues of public transportation impact and mayoral elections were among the topics discussed during a closed door dialogue session between parliamentarians and civil society organisations.

The three and a half hour CSO Platform — Backbenchers MPs Dialogue programme held yesterday afternoon saw some eleven civil society groups present their views to the MPs.

Among the groups was coalition group Penang Forum, whose steering committee member Cameron Kang spoke on public transportation, particularly the MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) line.

“Currently the national sentiment towards transportation is still car-centric, which takes awhile to change,” he told the Malay Mail.

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Although Kang acknowledge that the two-year old MRT system is a good step towards public transportation, he said the government has not done enough for a paradigm shift to push towards greater use of public transportation.

Using the SBK line as an example, Kang said the line's layout is more friendly towards developers of middle-class areas and above, rather than the wider public who need the transport the most.

“If you look carefully, the areas which are serviced by the line tend to contain either ongoing or planned development. Access of the public living in high-density or even urban poor areas is very limited,

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“Most of the line's stations are immediately situated next to condominiums or shopping malls, rather than affordable housing or People's Housing Project areas,” he said.

As a result, Kang said the SBK line is unable to fulfill its potential in servicing as many people as possible nor are Malaysians getting the best value-for-money from the MRT.

“We called for the reform of both public transportation's physical infrastructure and policies. To do so is not as simple as it seems, such as building MRT lines, buying more buses or free bus services,” he said, adding the coalition's stand was to change the mindset of Malaysians into switching from private to public transportation.

Kang said following his presentation many of the MPs were quite supportive of his ideas, although he noted it could likely be their own personal perspective instead of the government or political party's stance.

“Two MPs from Sarawak and Selangor respectively approached me and requested I contact their offices and arrange a meeting later on for further discussions on public transportation,

“Overall it was a positive outcome for both us and other civil society groups. I am looking forward to the next dialogue session when it happens,” he said.

Another organisation was Petaling Jaya Coalition (MyPJ), whose chairman Jefrey Phang pressed on the urgency of holding local council elections as soon as possible.

“We were very appreciative of (Housing and Local Government Minister) YB Zuraida Kamaruddin who said the elections would be held within three years,

“But we highlighted to the MPs that elections for the mayors of Penang, Petaling Jaya, and Kuala Lumpur should be done within a year, and then its council elections within 18 months followed by the rest of the country in three years,” he said.

Phang said the three cities were selected in tandem by MyPJ, the Penang Forum and Selamatkan Kuala Lumpur because its populace is sufficiently aware of the need for mayoral and council elections.

“They face problems that we felt cannot wait for three years before being addressed. It is widely known that KL lacks a formal city plan which means development can occur without any guidelines,

“For PJ there is trouble of councillors abusing their powers and of unqualified appointees holding office based solely on political consideration. Not to mention the loss of all councillors from NGOs since 2010,” he said, adding that Penang's main concern is several development projects dangerously situated on hillslope.

MyPJ urged the MPs to support their demand to the local councils that one-third of councillors should be NGO-nominated. For PJ it submitted seven names for considerations to Petaling Jaya City Hall (MBPJ) which were drawn from NGOs including residents and professional experts

“They were attentive, preferring to listen more than to ask questions. However when the Selangor state government publishes the list of councillors for all councils next week, it would make the supposed three-year effort doubtful if the seven names we submitted are not on MBPJ's list,” Phang said.