I was supposed to attend the talk by Vinod Shekar (organised by the Minds association together with IGA UPM) today afternoon, but since Then was going, I thought better let others go since places was limited. I had met Vinod Shekar once, when he came to UTM  for our Cultural Night, looong time ago. Anyway, good thing I didn’t book a seat because I was stuck in another programme. Sara would have been unhappy if people booked a seat and didn’t turn up since it was limited 🙂

I in fact, had an informative session today. Majlis Perbandaran Sepang (MPS) organised a Workshop on Local Agenda 21 for its JPPs (Jawatan kuasa Perwakilan Penduduk – Residents Representative Committee) and also to present letters of appoinment for the JPP members. For your info, Sepang district had 12  zones, but has been broken into 24 now after new government took over (FYI – 12 Malays, 7 Chinese and 5 Indian councillors in MPS). Each councillor in the MPS is in charge of one zone. To my amazement, I found that my zone has the biggest population among all! Guess road and transport planning will take precedence soon.

The function was held in Cyberjaya, and from the looks of it, the MPS need to improve on its event management. The function started 30 minutes late, and after people were seated, they were asked to sit according to gender. That is so PAS-like! One guy was quite upset that his front seat had to be given up and he later admitted he dozed off while seated at the far end.

Event management aside, it was quite an informative program. 3 papers were presented – but all 3 were non-Sepang based. The first is a Lee Li Shyan, from MPSJ, and the other two were reps from JPPs in Taman Datuk Harun and Kota Damansara Section 6 respectively. The first speaker gave a good account on what Local Agenda 21 is all about.

Local Agenda 21 is the outcome of the World Summit in Rio, Brazil in 1992. It has 21 principles in 40 chapters, which is supposed to create sustainable living and communities in cities. The workshop today was to create awareness among the residents representatives and also to educate us that residents also play a role in creating a city that is sustainable and liveable.

In the afternoon there was a discussion session among the participants, and I was in the 3rd group – talking about environmental issues. The guest person was a Dr Kalithasan from Global Environment Centre  who gave very useful information.

The problem was, no one informed me that is a whole day event! I ended up stuck until 5pm.

What surprised me was the admission by the YDP of Sepang that this is the biggest crowd he has seen for a long time. He was very happy that the residents are showing concern and spending time to voice their opinions.

And voice out they did. I think the residents representatives were quite outspoken at times. Generally, most were happy with the change of government (or at least sounded like it) but clearly said that they don’t want to see the current government making same excuses or mistakes as before.

As for me, since I just joined this JPP, I was just a passive participant throughout the event. It was interesting to see and talk to the participants – getting their ideas, thoughts and expectations.

As for me, I am thinking of composting garbage as one activity which can be introduced in my housing area. Other than that, need to educate residents to be proactive in making complaints and monitoring their surroundings.

* Minds – Malaysian Indian Education Development Society
* IGA UPM – Indian Graduates Association of UPM
* MPS – Majlis Perbandaran Sepang (Sepang Municipal Council).