The Journey I Have Been (1)

Here in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, at the border with KL. Have stayed here since 04 April this year. Krishnamoorthy, chief reporter of The Star, offered me the annex of his house to serve temporarily as office of Habitat Malaysia National Office and also as my residence.

Last night, Krishna and I went to the launching of the book "Malays" by Syed Hussin Ali, noted Malaysian intellectual, who now serves as vice president of the opposition political party that won here in Selangor State. He actually wrote this book thirty years ago while under detention. The book that was launched last night was the revised version.

Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition leader, was there to formally launch the book. In his speech, he stressed the message that the country is now on the road to creating opportunities not only for Malays, but also for non-Malay people. He said this is the only way to move forward.

Tan Sri Dato Ramon Navaratnam, trustee of Habitat Malaysia, was also in that jampacked hall of Armada Hotel. Krishna and I greeted him and after the event, we met a restaurant near our place. After partaking of thosae and talking about the need for Habitat to be more visible by repairing houses, he asked about our temporary office and we brought him here.

He even went to the main house and to the kitchen adjoining our office. He suggested that perhaps there should be a separate kitchen for the Annex, not really for me but for future tenants.

During the past two weeks, the 73-year old author of nine books and corporate adviser of Sunway Conglomerate has been chasing me to go after our contacts among the MPs, members of State Assemblies, NGOs, community groups to find out where the makeshift houses are and do something about these houses. Unfortunately, in the villages in Bandar Sunway and neighbouring areas, the squatter communities had been cleared. There are makeshift houses in the city, but these are scheduled to be torn down in a year or two as the KL government implements a new plan for low-cost housing.

We promised him we would continue to look for makeshift houses to repair in and around KL, but our volunteers say most of the makeshift houses are outside metropolitan KL.

Today, I will spend Father's Day in Sungai Buloh, a township less than an hour by road from Petaling Jaya. Ambrose Saminathan, president of an Indian Association, invited us to see some families living in makeshift houses. Tony Tan will pick me up here at 9.30 a.m.

The search goes on.