Discussion with Mr Daniel Kok, 31 October and 16 November.
CHRONOLOGY.
On 25th March 2021, the mayor of Subang Jaya, Noraini Roslan, said that residents in MBSJ's admin area can plant outside their homes provided that the residents' plants do not cause any obstruction or pose a nuisance to public health and safety.
Under MBSJ's bylaw, residents cannot plant anything haphazardly outside their property, and that a public space cannot be modified from its original purpose. However, as Noraini Roslan had said that MBSJ is allowing residents to do so on these two conditions (no obstruction, health/safety risk) and that MBSJ will only take action on complaints.
As the mayor had said these two conditions, it explicitly means MBSJ had given the permission for people to plant, so long as those two conditions were not breached. This was reported in The Star on 25th March 2021 after a news publication by Malay Mail said that MBSJ had prohibited planting outside homes.
Encik Azfarizal had said that the MBSJ's bylaws allow for people to have a green and comfortable living environment and that putting plants in any manner may have no harmony and also ruin the outlook of the space.
However, his comment was superseded by the mayor's directive.
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- To provide the tree planter and members of the public with a covered trail and safe pathway to walk on without getting in the way of sunlight
- To prevent soil erosion and landslides
- To curtail, minimize and mitigate flash floods
- To counter, check and balance carbon emissions and climate change
- To achieve the 100 Juta Pokok campaign launched by the Federal Government of Malaysia.
- Achieve the goal of Climate Action and Life on Land set out in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
- Recycled materials are used in the form of discarded items to save money, reduce carbon emissions and environmental impacts of landfills, and aid with the support of trees
- The recycled items and associated junk are solely used to construct stakes and tripod stands meant to aid with the growth of the tree so as to ensure it not toppling to the main road. These will be removed upon the full maturity of the plants.
- The trees are purposely planted close to each other to achieve the following objectives:
a) Create a "green wall" to block out carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles
b) Act as a "grill" to prevent snatch theft
c) Increase the tree count in the 100 Juta Pokok campaign, since the aim is to plant 100 million trees - There is no intent for the trees to be messy. Wild plants are also preserved to reflect the environmental resilience of the site.
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After listening to these comments, I went ahead to plant a total of 230 trees at the road shoulder of Persiaran Puchong Jaya Selatan. I trusted that MBSJ will keep their promises. It took me about a year to plant all 230 trees.
I used wood and recycled materials to make tripod stands to support the trees and also protect them from grass cutting machines during their growth.
On 22nd June 2022 at around 12:50pm, a Malay gentleman who was thin and wore MBSJ's corporate attire; presumably a corporate staff, was accompanied by two Bangladeshi workers with parangs, who slashed some of the trees there. The next day, on 23rd June 2022, at around the same time, between 12:30pm and 1:00pm, yellow tapes bearing the MBSJ logo were plastered on the trees. These tapes were removed on 30th June 2022 at around the same time.
On 4th October 2022, between 10:30am and 12:30pm, a 50m section of the row of trees were cut down by men wielding parang. As I had not seen the act, it was unclear how many men were involved. Nevertheless, I proceeded to restore the trees. As the trees regrew from their stumps, I protected them using new support equipment. I also planted new trees.
On 4th January 2023, Kak Ita, a member of Terus Gemilang Enterprise, begun her first day of work at the site. It was clear that MBSJ had changed the grass cutting contractor. The current contractor sweeps leaves once a week and cut the grass on the first and third week of every month. The previous one, KDEB Waste Management, only cut grass on the first 10 days of the month.
On 26th February 2023, Mr Daniel Kok approached me during the Tempua gotong royong exercise. He told me that MBSJ will cut down the trees planted by me to build a walkway connecting Tempua to Kasawari. Mr Daniel is the secretary of Ng Seow Chen and he is a staff member of MBSJ. Ng Seow Chen is a councillor of the MBSJ. I asked Mr Daniel how he knew about it. He told me everyone had known about it. I presume that even council officials knew about it. Mr Daniel told me to save as many trees as much as possible before MBSJ cut them down. He said that the trees will be cut down within the coming two months.
On 24th March 2023, at 10:30am, seven men; one Malay supervisor which I nickname Mr Ahmad, and six Bangladeshi workers, which I nickname by their shirt color, namely Mr Green, Mr Blue, Mr Brown, Mr Grey, Mr Black and Mr Tall, came in a black Proton Wira to cut the trees. The workers gave a very different reason from Mr Daniel's . The workers said that MBSJ told them to cut the trees down. Mr Ahmad warned me not to plant any more trees there. Mr Brown politely explained to me the rationale by the MBSJ, that the whole place was very bushy and messy. Mr Tall told me that they had given a letter from MBSJ dated January 2023 to cut the trees. The workers identified themselves from the Landscape Department of MBSJ. Subsequently, two workers, Mr Green and Mr Blue, made a sexual harrassing gesture at me. The workers threatened me "Nanti kena tangkap, nanti kena marah" and that the police will take me in. The workers returned on 27th March with a lorry to remove the branches and cut trees. I lodged a complaint with MBSJ on the same day before seeing the workers as requested by my uncle and another gentleman, Mr Ng. He saw the entire incident. Subsequently, Mr Ng had also wanted to stop by to talk to the workers, while the workers, after being scolded by my mum of the act, apologized. There was no news from MBSJ on the complaint, although MBSJ said it will take this as a serious case. When I called the complaints hotline, the admin asked how did I know the workers and how did the incident happened. I did not lodge a police report for the fear of my legal safety and how I would be perceived by the police. This comes in addition to police warning me of the trees on 5th June 2022 and 5th July 2022.
Subsequently, that evening, I sent a WhatsApp message to Mr Daniel asking if the proposed walkway was to go ahead. He told me that there was no timeframe to build the walkway and that the cost and logistics of the walkway had to be decided by MBSJ and the walkway was to be delayed. The MBSJ, according to Mr Daniel himself, was to submit a request for confirmation and allocation of the funds to the state government for the walkway's construction. Mr Daniel also subsequently said that more trees will be cut if not planted by MBSJ. Mr Daniel gave the reason as that it caused burden and obstruction to future works. Mr Daniel said that most of the funds needed to build the walkway had been used to cut the trees at Persiaran Puchong Jaya Selatan and during the gotong royong in Tempua, causing the budget to be way off than initially planned. At the same time, he also said that MBSJ had to fork out a lot of money to cut the trees down, and that he hoped I understood the city council's situation and refrain from planting trees.
On 5th April 2023, Kak Ita told me that the MBSJ had instructed Terus Gemilang Enterprise, the contractor, not to allow any regrowth of the trees and maintain the condition of the site in order to prevent a repeat of the incident and intervention by MBSJ. Subsequently, the trees regrew from their stumps, and the shoots were protected by twigs, sticks and organic matter around the site. This resulted in an initial tug of war between me and Kak Ita, which occasionally grew bitter with heated interactions. Kak Ita would remove the sticks while I reinstated them instantly, thus resulting in the protection of the trees. Kak Ita and I tug-o-warred from May to July 2023. The trees soon regrew and regenerated by the end of 2023. Subsequently, I planned on how to react if MBSJ cut the trees down again.
On 14th October 2024, MBSJ instructed the site supervisor of Terus Gemilang Enterprise, whom I nickname Mr Supervisor, to cut the trees down. Mr Supervisor was accompanied by two of his grass cutting workers, which I nickname Mr Hench and Mr Wok, to cut down the trees from 10:30am until 4:00pm. They were watched by a white Malay man with a beard and glasses whom I will nickname as Mr Director. Mr Supervisor had called me over for a chat, but I ignored him on the request of my neighbor, Mr Benny, to prevent any untoward confrontation and incidents. The team spent three days to clear all the branches and stuff. On 18th October, Mr Supervisor yelled angrily at me for the tree planting fracas, accusing me of planting new trees and resulting in such incidents. This resulted in me complaining to Mr Jalal, the security guard of Bayan Hill Homes, who confronted Mr Supervisor for an explanation on 27th October. I was also told by a resident who walks dogs there, which I nickname Dog Aunty because she walks a lot of dogs, who had spoken to Kak Ita prior to the cutting on 14th October 2024. Dog Aunty told me that Kak Ita said that MBSJ had been planning to change the contractor over their oversight on the trees, and that if they failed to prevent regrowth, the MBSJ would terminate their contract. Dog Aunty explained to me the same bylaws said by Mr Azfarizal earlier. However, she did not believe the whole mayor's statement story. Subsequently, Mr Jalal told me that Mr Supervisor told him that the team were scolded, punished and given a pay cut as punishment.
From November 2024 until February 2025, Mr Supervisor, his team and I engaged in an tug o war over the trees as he scrambled to clear any barricade which I installed. The main aim of me putting the barricades was to wear down the team if they cleared them off aside from protecting the trees. By disrupting their activities, this placed pressure on them to stop. Initially, I tried disrupting their normal grass cutting activity to which it was the only time they will be there to destroy regrowth. However, this grew towards them pivoting to off-day or non grass cutting day activities. The dates of the cutting were 6th Nov 2024, 20th Nov 2024, 14th Dec 2024, 13th Jan 2025, and 28th Feb 2025 before he halted. In May, after an inspection by MBSJ, Mr supervisor once again was asked to cut the trees down. He cut the trees on 29 May on an off cutting day, then 23 July, 19 Aug, 2 Sept and 2 Oct.
On 29th May, Mr Sadam, another security guard from Bayan, spoke to Mr Supervisor. He tried to persuade Mr Supervisor not to cut the trees down. Mr Supervisor responded by saying he will no longer be proactive and listen to MBSJ directives. However, he returned on 23rd July. Mr Sadam then directed my queries to Ms Suzan, the RA president of Bayan Hill Homes, who spoke to the MBSJ. The MBSJ told her that it was the job and responsibility of Mr Supervisor.
On 1st September 2025, Mr Hench, one of the grass cutters, told me that because I placed branches and foliage to protect the trees, the entire team were scolded by Mr Krir, a higher-level individual within their team, for failing to act on the site. This was confirmed by Mr Newbie, another nicknamed worker who told me that Mr Krir was the one inspecting their site performance.
As of this date of writing, the case remains ongoing. The next grass cutting dates are scheduled for 4th November, 18th November, 2nd December and 16th December in 2025, and 6th January, 20th January, 3rd February, 17th February, 3rd March, 17th March, 2nd April, 16th April, 5th May, 19th May, 2nd June, 16th June, 2nd July, 16th July, 4th August, 18th August, 2nd September, 16th September, 6th October, 19th October, 3rd November, 17th November, 2nd December and 16th December in 2026.
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The points mentioned by Mr Azfarizal:
- Residents cannot plant plants outside homes
- To plant outside homes, permission must be obtained from the Majlis Pewakilian Penduduk
- Any application must be a joint application by the residents and individual applications are not entertained
- Fruit trees, vegetables and potted plants are strictly prohibited
The points said by the mayor (March 2021) after Mr Azfarizal's statement:
- There are bylaws restricting planting outside homes enacted by MBSJ
- Residents will be given leeway to plant outside homes, provided that two (or three) conditions are met:
1) No obstruction (blocking access or movement)
2) No major health or safety risk (eg thorns, ability to house snakes, pests, etc)
3) No complaints nor the plants affect fellow residents - The mayor had not mentioned any restricted areas from planting. Hence, it is clear that it is referring to any space outside homes that are able to fulfill these conditions.
The points said by Mr Daniel:
26th February 2023:
- MBSJ wants to use the road curb where the trees are to build a walkway.
- Confirmed that the mayor's directive on 25th March 2021 was still valid, even after Subang Jaya changing mayors.
- Mr Daniel said that everyone within Tempua and across Puchong are aware of the trees. Most likely city council staff knew about it, since he said everyone knows about it.
- There is no set timeframe to build the walkway
- MBSJ had sent an application to the Selangor State Government to request for allocation and confirmation of funds to build the walkway
- MBSJ had to reallocate funds to cut the trees down and it cost an arm and a leg
- As the cutting of trees at Persiaran Puchong Jaya Selatan and within Tempua had exceeded the original budget, the walkway will be delayed.
The Points mentioned by Mr Ahmad (contractor) and his team:
24th March 2023:
- The trees will need to be cut down as instructed by MBSJ
- MBSJ will penalize, summon and charge me for illegal planting
- The trees are cut down as they are messy.
The points mentioned by Mr Supervisor (contractor) on behalf of Mr Director:
October 2024:
- The trees are messy.
- The trees obstruct the visual view of road drivers.
- The trees can topple down during a storm.
- MBSJ had threatened to terminate the contractor's contract for poor performance.
- MBSJ can summon and fine for illegal planting.
- If MBSJ intends to build a walkway at the site, why cut the trees before the walkway is constructed and not when the time had come to build the footpath? If the reason is for surveying the site, how come there are no surveyors?
- Why the difference in interpretation between contractors and city council officials?
- If the true intention is to build a walkway, why cut 2 times before the conversation with Mr Daniel?
- If the trees are truly messy, pose a hazard or so on, why not MBSJ prune the trees instead of cutting them down? Only MBSJ has the manpower to do so.
- Why is MBSJ acting irrationally and unreasonably on all parties involved (eg pressing the contractor, pressing the planter)
- Why MBSJ did not give further conditions before giving the leeway? MBSJ could have had issued guidelines on how to plant to further resolve any grey areas.
- Why threaten to terminate the contractor? Why not diplomatically find other channels to resolve the situation?
- What is Mr Daniel's definition of 2 months? Is it within 2 calendar months (February and March) or a duration of 2 months (26th Feb + 2 months = 26th April)
- Why make the decision to even fork out money to cut trees? There are more pressing issues to be resolved first.
- If MBSJ truly honored its promises, it would not even interfere or cut down trees like that.
- If the intention is to build a walkway, the walkway would've been built by now.
- If MBSJ continued to act in such a manner, such as threatening contractors, the public and the like, it sets a bad example for the city council.
- If MBSJ gave such a leeway, it must have had accepted that residents can do as they please if they did not affect the public. If MBSJ was worried of such concerns, a guideline should be published.
- MBSJ should practice good governance. While trees planted by residents remain untouched, the trees I planted had been interfered upon.
- Residents critique the trees I planted but stay mum on their own even if they do the same (planting in public spaces)
- No complaints had been recorded so far.
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