Strange happenings in downtown Bukit Bintang. (follow up to "Street Rubbish") 13th August 1997 Join the APMF email list Monthly updates on new content Back to Asia Pacific Management News Menu | Asia Business News Portal | Asia Business News Feeds | Asia Pacific Management Forum

Eat your heart out Bill Clinton, Tony Blair,...and even General Chavalit... When Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad says something on home base, it gets done. Barely two hours after we sent our ever suffering and increasingly bleary eyed Rat correspondent down to Bukit Bintang to check whether the rubbish that a crotchety Dr Mahathir had grizzilled about was still there, Bukit Bintang is clean and pristine enough to even eat your Nasi Goreng off. And its been the same ever since, according to daily reports. From the untidiest street in Kuala Lumpur to the tidiest, in less than 24 hours. The man who had succeeded in amassing the finest international business minds in IT to support his "Multi-media Super Corridor" on the world stage had succeeded yet again, more modestly, on his home turf. Tabloids have had a field day ever since sending hidden cameramen down for candid snaps of unsuspecting victims leaving their drink carton on the street bench, and ashing their cigarettes on the pavement. The Malay Mail won first prize for investigative journalism by catching a time release series of snaps of a lady sitting down, eating her lunch, and leaving the remains on the seat. No faces blacked out here, .. ...hey,..this is Malaysia.. This lady will be a social outcast no doubt for quite a few months to come... ..presuming her mates read the Malay Mail... Now there is a 500 Ringitt on-the-spot fine for littering as well, following our example of Bangkok and Singapore... Maybe Dr Mahathir does read the Rat despatches after all... Apart from the rubbish, other familiar aspects of Bukit Bitang ("Star Hill" before KL streets were all renamed in Bahasa in belated celebration of the departure of the British a while back), have also disappeared... GONE: The street food stalls on the corner of Cangkat Bukit Bintang. You can still get your Ayam Goreng at double the price at Kentucky Fried Chicken a couple of yards away.. ..Still they DO serve their Nasi Goreng in nice boxes rather than yesterday's New Straits Times. GONE: The big Malay lady with that wonderful modest smile that served up the best street Nasi Lemak in KL.. ..and she never asked "Would you like fries with that too, Sir?..".. ..(Bless her heart..) GONE: The grandpops, father and son team who fried up some great Pisang Goreng on the corner and added an extra one for "regular customer". HANGING AROUND: The grubby pimps who make sure that no single male cannot walk the street without being accosted several times in a few minutes 20 hours a day with offers of young ladies with dubious charms. HANGING AROUND: The street "lepak" youths who drink their Tiger under the big tree near the Regent. These are the ones who started it all of course and the ones that our city fathers encouraged to say home by closing pubs and clubs at 1am. and midnight in Petaling Jaya (but not "video arcades" which can stay open all night as there is a "gaming" element). This new ordinance enacted during this years Ramadan has made KL a less welcoming place for all, and has had as much effect as banning elephants on Bangkok streets had on Bangkok traffic jams. Like the closing of many bars in the area, it has only served to drive "objectionable behaviour" into more public and unsupervised arenas. Thursday lunchtime, and six of KL's best kept an amassed crowd of 60 or so fascinated with the removal of a small band of Indian entrepreneurs who had the audacity to set up their dried food stall in the lovely clean stretch of pavement vacated a couple of days earlier by the previously errant stallholders. ...These guys lasted all of 3 hours... Dr Mahathir is on record as saying he does not see street stalls as part of Vision 2020, because they are unhygenic and eyesores. The year 2020 will see a cleaner, but maybe less colourful KL.. Nevertheless, strong leadership is what Malaysia is getting, and the results are clear for all to see...

© Asia Pacific Management Forum 1997
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