A group of Petaling Jaya city councillors walked out of their monthly full board meeting today, after their concerns over the development approval for the former A&W drive-in restaurant site in Lorong Sultan went unheard by the mayor.
“He (the mayor) said four times that if we didn’t like (the decision), we could ask the state to remove him as mayor.
“So I asked whether we can vote to remove him as the chair of the meeting.
“He then called the enforcement officers to remove me from the meeting,” Petaling Jaya city councillor Sean Oon told Malaysiakini today.
Mayor Mohd Azizi Mohd Zain, who chaired the meeting, also directed the enforcement officer to remove Oon’s fellow councillor Terence Tan, he said.
When contacted, Tan confirmed the mayor had asked enforcement officers to remove both of them from the meeting.
Another councillor, Jamaliah Jamaluddin, said 10 councillors decided to walk out of the meeting when the mayor summoned enforcement officers.
“So finally, those who disagreed decided to walk out.
“We all walked out when the enforcement officers came towards us,” she said.
The disagreement stemmed from a decision made by the council's One Stop Centre (OSC) committee regarding the 1:8 plot ratio given for the popular A&W restaurant site, she said.
“A lot of us disagreed and felt uncomfortable with the plot ratio approved.
“Therefore, we requested for the decision to be reviewed. The mayor refused, saying that the OSC's decision was final.
“We didn’t request for the decision to be changed at the full board meeting. We just requested for the matter to be re-discussed by the OSC.
“However, he said he was the chairperson and refused further discussions,” said Jamaliah.
Jamaliah said the councillors will be holding a press conference tomorrow to address the issue.
Malaysiakini has attempted to contact the mayor and is awaiting a response.
It was earlier reported that Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) had approved the development of a single block of 20-storey office tower at the 0.4-hectare land where the popular A&W drive-in restaurant now sits.
This comes after years of uncertainty over the fate of the restaurant. News of its closing had been circulating since 2014, and its management has since opened another outlet just down the road.- Mkini
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