Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Ipoh council foils attempt to re-build ‘tree of democracy’ plaque - Malaysian Insider

IPOH, April 28 – The Ipoh City Council (MBI) today foiled an attempt by a group of men to re-build the ‘Tree of Democracy’ plaque that it had earlier demolished on March 15.

The Pakatan Rakyat coalition in Perak had built the monument to mark an emergency state assembly meeting held under the rain tree on March 3.

According to a MBI spokesman, enforcement officers from the council had ordered a group of men to stop work immediately since no approval had been given to carry out such work.

“When the MBI enforcement unit arrived, two workers were busy working on the 2m by 0.6m site while the rest left the area upon seeing the officers,” said the MBI spokesman.

He added that the two men were asked to stop work and remove all building material from the site.

Meanwhile, Kepayang state assemblyman Loke Chee Yan said since the Opposition had intended to re-build the memorial monument, they should have submitted an application.

“Maybe there was a miscommunication in the date to start work or the contractor had started work before the approval. However, we will try to resolve the matter. If need be, we will follow the proper procedure in submitting an application,” Loke said.

The plaque was put up by the DAP, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and PAS coalition to mark the site where a “state assembly” was held by 27 state assemblymen after they were disallowed entry into the Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan.

The original plaque at the memorial monument was demolished by MBI last month since it was deemed an illegal structure under Section 46 (1) (a) of the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974.

Fragments of the damaged plaque were later auctioned by the Pakatan coalition and RM42,900 was collected to re-build the plaque. – Bernama

No comments: