By Sherilyn Pang
KAMPUNG Tunku is a constituency surrounded by Sea Park, Taman Universiti and Icon City in Petaling Jaya, with 48,601 voters. For old-time residents, it is known as SS1, one of the oldest neighbourhoods in town. It was there on March 2, 1966, that a housing cooperative for civil servants was established, and named Kampung Tunku Abdul Rahman. As such, the area is home to many retired government workers, former military personnel and illustrious personalities (such as the late National Laureate Usman Awang). Lim Yi Wei has served as Kampung Tunku’s representative to the State Legislative Assembly since 2018.
Selangor Journal (SJ): What is the main industry in your constituency?
Lim Yi Wei (LYW): Commerce and retail. We have four vibrant commercial centres in SS2, Sungai Way New Village, Paramount Garden and Sea Park. All of them have a wide range of old school mom-and-pop shops, old-time favourite restaurants, hip cafes, fast-food joints, electronics and stationery shops, among others.
SJ: What would you say is the main attraction of Kampung Tunku and why?
LYW: Food. The SS2 commercial square is easily accessible from the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong and is known for a range of F&B outlets, from coffee shops and mamaks to bubble tea and durians stalls.
Paramount Garden is also up and coming with an array of hip-concept cafes such as Awesome Canteen, Hide and Seek as well as curated dining space Chipta11A. In fact, in 2020 TimeOut named Paramount Garden as one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the world. It’s a good recognition which attests to the vibrancy of the area. Also, the commercial areas definitely generate a tremendous amount of tax revenue for the state as well as job opportunities.
SJ: What are some of the concerns raised by your constituents and how do you address them?
LYW: As Kampung Tunku is the residence of a community of respectable retirees, safety and accessibility are important to them. Due to the low police-to-population ratio, many neighbourhoods have engaged in “gated and guarded” security schemes via their respective residents’ associations (RAs). While that is a commendable effort and demands hard work, I believe the responsibility still falls largely on Polis DiRaja Malaysia. In that sense, my office has worked to build bridges between the RAs, Rukun Tetangga and the police so that residents feel comfortable reaching out to our law enforcers should there be a need.
Another aspect to safety is infrastructure maintenance involving roads, the drainage system, lighting and playground equipment. The three councillors in our area always ensure that the public infrastructures are well maintained and that Kampung Tunku remains a safe place to live, work and travel through. Whenever the city council faces budget constraints, we step in to help. For example, an exercise group in Taman Aman requested for a better stage for their instructor as the one they had was already rusty. Another exercise group in SS2 informed us about the uneven surface of a badminton court. Both projects were properly funded using the constituency’s allocation.
When it comes to accessibility concerns, we have successfully allocated more Persons with Disabilities parking spaces around the Paramount and Sea Park commercial areas with assistance from the Petaling Jaya City Council. We are also assessing the feasibility of ramps at our shops’ ‘kaki lima’ so that the elderly and wheelchair-bound can move around more easily.
Another concern is definitely water. We have been on the ground to distribute water from tankers and residents are just hoping that water cuts do not happen again. As a backbencher, I will be following this issue closely inside and outside the Dewan Negeri.
SJ: What are some of your achievements so far for your constituency?
LYW: Apart from solving local problems and infrastructure upgrading, one of the things I set out to achieve was to build a sense of local pride and revitalise Kampung Tunku. This meant seeking out long-time residents, finding out what makes Kampung Tunku special, and building that sense of community via programmes and initiatives.
We started highlighting local businesses, talents and history through programmes including our open houses. We also decided to build on the fact that Kampung Tunku SS1 was launched by none other than our Bapa Kemerdekaan, and therefore we wanted to model Kampung Tunku as a place of national unity and for helping each other regardless of our backgrounds. We organised an interfaith ‘buka puasa’ in 2019.
For our Sungai Way New Village’s 70th anniversary in 2019, the village committee, Councillor Ong Yew Thai and my office charted an all-year calendar of programmes to commemorate Sungai Way’s history. We also worked on dengue prevention, cleanliness and recycling initiatives which led to a cleaner environment.
We also have a hashtag #StraightOuttaKgTunku, which we print on T-shirts and face masks. The heartwarming idea received good feedback from former residents, even from those who have migrated overseas, who treasure the memories of their childhood here.
SJ: What are some of your problem-solving methods?
LYW: I always try to approach a problem from the end-user point. For example, if we have a mobile application or even a Google Form for the public to use, what would the user’s experience be? Would the user find the app confusing, tedious or user-friendly?
I always study the systems and processes and ask myself how we can improve them. I can’t sit still, but I think it keeps my team on their toes and motivates us to keep innovating for the wellbeing of the people and the constituency.
This article first appeared in the Selangor Journal monthly e-paper February edition, published on February 1, 2021.
