Palanivel unveils his vision for Brickfields

The MIC president promises a “breath of fresh air” and an “economic transformation”.

KUALA LUMPUR: A minister on a walkabout usually flits from one place to another, pausing only for a speedy round of handshakes and a couple of claps on the back. But the newest Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, G Palanivel, opted to break tradition.

During his second official visit to Brickfields yesterday he gathered his MIC posse and Brickfield’s small traders at a street corner where he spent a good chunk of time keenly listening to the latter’s woes and debating solutions with the former.

The soft-spoken man has a fondness for Brickfields. It is an area that he visited regularly during his University Malaya days and which  he still frequents weekly for provisions and religious items.

“I am one of you,” he told the small group of traders surrounding him. Having said that however he still needed to be brought up to speed on the issues that Brickfields has been forced to grapple with since the birth of Little India last year.

Among the traders’ main grouses were the exorbitant rentals, the crime rate and the threat of two malls planned by Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) in the area.

The ensuing recommendations bubbled up swiftly from Palanivel, Deputy Minister of Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing and MIC vice president M Saravanan, and Brickfields Business Community chairman and MIC senator Barath Maniam.

The traders claimed that since Little India’s launch, their rentals had sky-rocketed from RM20,000 to RM70,000. Barath Maniam suggested that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) bring back the Rent Control Act to ease the traders’ financial burden.

Saravanan proposed that the traders be given preference in purchasing shop lots in the upcoming malls to avoid a nasty and direct hit to their businesses.

Economic transformation
As for petty crime, Palanivel pointed out that police personnel needed to be stationed at the currently unmanned and abandoned police booths.

And then he proceeded to lay out his vision and ambition for Brickfields and Little India.

“This place needs to come alive beyond Deepavali,” Palanivel told the traders. “The businesses of Indians should always be booming like it is on Serangoon Road (Little India) in Singapore.”

Palanivel, who has recently been elected the Transformation Chief for the Indian Community, pledged to bring about a “fresh breath of air” and an “economic transformation” to Brickfields and its inhabitants.

“We need to bring in more international tourists, not just from India, but also from Japan, Korea and Singapore,” he stated. “After all these tourists arrive at KLIA and take the train into KL Sentral. Brickfields is just a stone’s throw away.”

Palanivel has already won the support of Tourism Minister, Ng Yen Yen, to turn Brickfields and Little India into a tourist attraction.

The first step would entail Ng meeting the people of Brickfields after which a masterplan would be drawn up incorporating input from the people as well as various government ministries and departments.

“There are two ways to promote Brickfields,” Palanivel said. “The first is to advertise Little India in tourism brochures and the second is to organise weekend festivals so that the area is always alive.”

His ideas included a sound system to broadcast music and a public TV to screen programs like cricket matches for the many tourists from India.

Up to MIC

In emphasising the need for Brickfields to undergo “continuous facelifts”, Palanivel urged the traders to seek assistance from him and promised to convey their needs to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

But he also reminded them that such projects, as large scale as they are, would require both time and adequate financing both of which he declined to provide an estimation.

“We should start the process immediately with the masterplan which involves more talks with the people,” Palanivel asserted. “Then the transformation can gradually be rolled out in stages.”

When the discussion finally broke up, the traders left with murmurs of satisfaction. Now the ball is in MIC’s court and it’s next serve will determine how the game is played in the upcoming general election.