Letter to Mr Daniel

 Dear Mr Daniel, hope this message finds you well. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I would like to ask a question if given the opportunity. II decide to ask this question now as I need to have the courage to ask this, which I did not have for some time. Although it is an old story, your answers would be much appreciated as you have been knowledgeable and professional in your responses, since I had many questions that would need to be answered.

Mr Daniel, back in 2023, when you were with me during the Gotong Royong, you had informed me that the MBSJ was going to cut down the trees that I had planted at Persiaran Puchong Jaya Selatan. You informed me that the city council was about to build a walkway from Tempua to Kasawari on that site and I can remember you telling me to "save as many trees as you can" before the MBSJ comes and cut the tree down, and that MBSJ would schedule the cutting within the next two months. 

On 24th March 2023, I met the workers who identified themselves as in-house workers from the MBSJ's Landscape Department. The team of six Bangladeshi workers were led by a Malay man which I will refer to in this message via a nickname as Mr Ahmad (not his actual name). The workers, I will individualize with nicknames, since I didnt ask for their names, are Mr Green, Mr Blue, Mr Tall, Mr Brown, Mr Grey, Mr Black and Mr Short. The only people who talked to me are Mr Green, Blue, Tall, Brown and Grey, as well as Mr Ahmad. However, the workers did not wear MBSJ attire and uniforms, nor did they arrive in or use MBSJ vehicles. 

Mr Brown kept on asking me who planted the trees. I identified myself as the tree planter because identifying myself as the tree planter would allow me to receive necessary information from MBSJ on the trees as well as certain explanations. Mr Brown, Mr Grey, and Mr Tall told me that MBSJ had to cut down the trees because the trees were messy. They said the place was overgrown and like a jungle. Mr Brown told me gently as to how things went. He said that the area was not for planting. In contrast, when I first asked you about the bylaws and the mayor's press conference which allowed planting based on leeways in all public spaces which state that the greenery must not obstruct or pose a nuisance to public health and safety, you told me that I understood the bylaw well and that it still applied at the time. Mr Ahmad however, was stern but silent most of the time but said that it is prohibited to plant there. Mr Tall told me that they had received a letter from the MBSJ to carry out the work, and the letter was dated January 2023.

When I enquired to the workers on the walkway plans, the workers did not understand what I was trying to say and that I was told by you. However, the workers threatened me and said, "nanti kena marah, nanti kena tangkap". Subsequently, Mr Green and Mr Blue, two of the workers, sexually harassed me. Mr Ahmad, their supervisor, did not care about their actions. I subsequently made a complaint to MBSJ's Complaints Department. The admins said they will investigate the matter and that they will take my case as a special case. However, I was advised against lodging a police report to avoid the matter getting out of hand. To this day, the status of my case remains "aduan tidak wujud", although MBSJ had said they will investigate it manually. 

After the tree cutting, I used my mum's phone at the time to send a message by WhatsApp to you to enquire about the walkway plans. You told me that there was no set timeframe to build the walkway from Tempua to Kasawari, and that requisition had been submitted to the state government for confirmation and allocation. This was because most of the funds allocated for the proposed walkway had been used to cut the trees that wasn't supposed to be there in the first place, and hence, it would be delayed.

Mr Daniel, I remember that you also added in the WhatsApp message two years back that more trees will be cut down if they weren't planted by MBSJ as it had caused burden and obstruction to the future works, and that most of the budget planned for the walkway had been spent to cut trees and that it had caused the budget to be way more than the originally allocated amount. At the same time, you also mentioned that MBSJ had to spend a lot of money just to cut the trees down, and that I shouldn't plant any more trees. I did as you were told and did not plant any new trees. However, the cut trees had resprouted and regrown on their own accord, thus forcing MBSJ to do a second round of cutting on 14th October 2024. Subsequently, I was informed that the MBSJ had originally planned to terminate the landscape contractor for the site due to the regrowth.

The trees were cut by the landscape contractor responsible for grass cutting and leaf sweeping. I was informed that the trees were cut because it was messy, it blocked the line of sight and risked toppling over during a storm. Still, there was no mention about the walkway. It had been close to 3 years since we first met, and there wasn't any walkway yet. 

Hence, I would like to ask the following questions:

1. Does MBSJ have any in house landscape contractors aside from their Squad Pantas?

2. What do you mean by the "burden and obstruction to future works?"

3. Why is there a difference between the contractor's response, which focused on the upkeep of the place such as messiness, and your response, which focused on the walkway project and technical stuff, such as future works.