Greed, lust, avarice, anger, sadness, vainglory & misplaced pride..all in KL.

When you are seventy-five, and going on to seventy-six in two months' time, you remember the past with nostalgia. You live in the present with a tiredness that all those years of living have imposed upon you. And, when the mood strikes you, you reluctantly ponder the future, not for yourself for surely you have done living at seventy-five, but you look into the future and wonder what it would be like for those who would still be around after you are gone. What awaits them?

I remember a time when the official residence of the Perdana Menteri was The Residency and there was a Department Store called Robinson in Jalan Mountbatten.

Sentul was a sleepy suburb on the fringe of KL and going to Port Dickson meant having to traverse Bukit Mantin, to Seremban and then PD. And in those days, I was young.

I never stopped to think What life was all about And every conversation That I can recall Concerns itself with me And nothing else at all

I was remembering these things while sitting in the back seat of a Grab ride recently when I was in KL. The Residency, and Robinson are now just memories of a distant past. Today, Seremban on a good day, without traffic, is only thirty minutes away.

What was real was that I was stuck in a Grab in a sea of cars in Jalan Ampang looking out to a concrete vista of buildings haphazardly built without a thought to order, function, or grace. Just condos, offices, and business premises dumped along Jalan Ampang. No beauty. No order. This, I told myself, is what a concrete jungle is! This is what KL has become.

The KL that I know is long dead, but long live KL because cities do not die. Cities evolve, but not KL. Even as KL grew by leaps and bounds, it lacks a heart.

The weather is suffocating and humid. Hot. All you see around you is chaos. KL is an urban nightmare for those that chose to live there. It is congested, polluted, and dense. Where did the Town Planners go wrong? Did the Datuk Bandars lack vision? Or did the business of making money, which plagued many government departments, also plague DBKL? Imagine...some rich guy can build a six-story office on land belonging to the Federal Territories Land and Mines Office! But like all things Malaysians...the matter has been settled. Sudah kautim!

But if you know where to go, and you have money, KL can be anything you want it to be. RSGC and the Lake Club are an oasis of calm and grace. Malay food at Serai Pavilion is magic. And the restaurants at BSC are to die for. Dancing Fish, Alexis, and my personal favorite, House and Co Cafe....casual sitting and amazing fried Kueh Teow....as Huey says, House and Co is her canteen!

But the good things in KL are enjoyed by very few.

Many hundreds of thousands live in abject poverty. Kais pagi makan pagi, kais petang makan petang. The wonder of it all is how these seething, clamoring, and restless people, living precariously in want and poverty, are able to survive at all. What does the future hold for them? Are they accepting of their lot?

Common sense will tell you that KL is a city on the edge.....on the brink...on the cusp of...in danger of, imploding! It is now paying the price of irresponsible governance, greed, and corruption. What is happening in Malaysia, is happening in KL today...only more intense and more overt. All there for you to see. Money gets you everything.....from sustenance for your tired body and soul, to planning permission for projects that has no business of being approved. KL is proof that our political leaders, past and present, have failed us. Let us stop the rot now before Malaysia becomes KL!