The government should not be the only one to take the blame for abandoned housing projects

The Chief Secretary to the Malaysian Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan has reprimanded professional bodies including the Bar Council, Institute of Engineers (IEM), Malaysian Architects Association (PAM) and Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) at a meeting on abandoned housing projects chaired by him. It was reported that the illegal development could have been stopped at every stage of the process but oversight by some professional bodies and government agencies allowed them to proceed.

Now the public knows that the so called professional bodies are not quite what they say they are even though the culprits might just be a few black sheep among the fraternity. What exactly does it take for the professional bodies to take action on their members? I guess it will take time to gather the evidence before the hands of the law are able to catch the culprits. In the meantime, the public is at the receiving end. We bought houses, our dream houses for some, with some assurance that all the legalities has been adhered to by the developer. Unfortunately, some developers have managed to side step the rules and regulations and got away with their scams because of some oversight from some of the professional bodies.

Is it possible to have a more stringent procedure when approving housing development projects? Would that really be of help or just another excuse to have more red tape in the process. A more rigorous check and balance might need more manpower which might encourage some unscrupulous developers to grease the palms of those that make the decisions. That scenario would jeopardise the good names of all who strive to follow the rules. Most probably the current system is adequate to some extent but need tweaking so that oversights can be minimised or even eliminated altogether.

I'm not sure how that can be done but the suggestion that a committee be set up to look into the matter seems a good idea. Hopefully the committee is not a flash in the pan idea but dedicated to try and solve the problem. Tan Sri Mohd Sidek said the committee is not so much to find fault but how to resolve the issue and to ensure that the people involved followed rules. We wish them the best of luck.

Image from nst